Carer Support Payment first introduced in Scotland

Carer Support Payment (CSP) was introduced in Scotland as a replacement for Carer's Allowance (CA), piloted from November 2023, with full roll-out from November 2024 and case transfer completed in Autumn 2025¹. Administrative responsibility for Carer's Allowance had transferred to the Scottish Government in September 2018¹.

The change is part of a wider pattern of devolved disability and carer payments replacing UK-wide benefits in Scotland. Child Disability Payment replaced Disability Living Allowance for children, piloted July 2021, rolled out November 2021, with case transfer in Summer 2023; Adult Disability Payment replaced Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance for adults, piloted March 2022 and rolled out August 2022; Pension Age Disability Payment replaced Attendance Allowance, piloted October 2024, rolled out April 2025, with case transfer in Winter 2025; and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance followed in March 2025¹.

Source: Benefit Combinations: Official Statistics to March 2026¹

Further changes to CSP are set out for March 2026. From that date, among other changes, the Scottish Government will introduce a Carer Additional Person Payment, described as an additional payment to someone caring for more than one person in receipt of a qualifying benefit, and will replace Carer's Allowance Supplement with Scottish Carer Supplement¹.

Devolved Scottish benefits including CSP, Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Scottish Adult DLA, Carer's Allowance Supplement and Pension Age Disability Payment are not included in the DWP benefit combination release, which covers England, Scotland and Wales but presents figures separately for England and Wales and for Scotland because of devolution¹. In Scotland there were 1.8 million people claiming DWP benefits in March 2026: 1.1 million of State Pension Age, 18% of whom claimed more than one benefit, and 800,000 of Working Age, 10% of whom claimed more than one benefit¹. Across Great Britain, 24.5 million people claimed some combination of the 17 DWP benefits covered, the highest level since the series began in 2013¹.

Separately, legislation introduced in November 2025 provides for an extension of entitlement to DWP benefits, commonly referred to as a run-on period, of up to 13 weeks for PIP and 13 weeks and 6 days for CA, DLA and AA from the date of move¹. The release does not state how this interacts with CSP for carers in Scotland; that has not been reported.

Why it matters for households

Carers in Scotland who claim Carer's Allowance have been moved onto Carer Support Payment, with case transfer completed in Autumn 2025¹. Because CSP is administered by Social Security Scotland rather than the DWP, it does not appear in the DWP benefit combination statistics, so the published totals for Scotland understate the number of people receiving carer support¹. From March 2026, carers looking after more than one person who receives a qualifying benefit are covered by the new Carer Additional Person Payment, and Carer's Allowance Supplement is replaced by Scottish Carer Supplement¹. The run-on period for Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance of up to 13 weeks and 6 days, and 13 weeks for PIP, applies from the date of a move under the November 2025 legislation¹.

What happens next

The Carer Additional Person Payment and Scottish Carer Supplement take effect from March 2026¹. The DWP benefit combination release is now published once a year, covering data to the end of the previous financial year in March¹. From May 2025, benefit combination statistics no longer include Income Support, since all IS claims are within scope of Move to Universal Credit¹. Maternity Allowance statistics were suspended from the quarterly release on 13 August 2024 until data can be extracted from the new system¹.

For background on how the Scottish payment differs from the UK benefit, see Carer's Allowance vs Carer Support Payment and Carer Support Payment and Young Carer Grant. The Carer's Allowance guide covers eligibility, the earnings limit and overlapping payments, with more on the limit in Carer's Allowance Earnings Limit and Breaks from Caring. For wider support, see Money Help for Unpaid Carers and Money help in Scotland. Payments when moving across the border are covered in Disability and carer payments when moving between Scotland and the rest of the UK.