The Young Carer Grant is money for young carers who live in Scotland.

It is only available to people who live in Scotland. If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, read our Young People and Benefits guide to see if there is other help you might be able to get.
 

You can get a Young Carer Grant if you

• Live in Scotland, and
• Are 16, 17 or 18 years old, and
• You provide 16 or more hours of care per week for someone who has been getting one of these benefits for at least three months:
  • the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), or
  • the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment Scotland
  • the middle or high rate care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or
  • the middle or highest rate of Child Disability Payment Scotland
  • Attendance Allowance, or
  • Armed Forces Independence Payment, or
  • Constant Attendance Allowance.

You have to have been providing care for them for at least three months.

If you care for more than one person who gets one of the disability benefits, you can add up the hours you spend caring. You can add up hours caring for up to three people, as long as they all get a disability benefit.

For example, Alina is 16.

Her younger sister gets Disability Living Allowance and Alina spends four hours per week providing care for her.

Alina’s grandpa gets Attendance Allowance and Alina spends 12 hours per week looking after him.

Alina can add up the hours she spends caring for her grandpa and her sister so she is providing 16 hours of care in total.

Young Carer Grant and Carer's Allowance

You can’t usually get a Young Carer Grant if you’re already getting Carer's Allowance. If you are entitled to Carer’s Allowance but aren’t getting it, you should wait until after you have been paid your Young Carer Grant before you apply for Carer's Allowance. 

You can get a Young Carer Grant if someone else gets Carer's Allowance for looking after the same person.

How many people can get a Young Carer Grant?

Only one person can get a Young Carer Grant for looking after each disabled person.

For example, Dan, 16, and Pete, 17, both provide more than 16 hours per week care for their mum, who gets Personal Independence Payment. Only one of them can get a Young Carer Grant for looking after her. They agree between themselves that Dan should get the Young Carer Grant, so he makes the application for it. 


 

You will get a grant of £359.65 per year in 2023. You can get a grant each year until you turn 19. The amount increases with inflation, so this is likely to go up each year.

You can spend the money however you like.

Updated: April 2023

If you have a bank account, you can claim a Young Carer Grant online.

If you don’t have a bank account, you will need to make your claim over the phone on: 0800 182 2222 (Monday - Friday 8.00 am to 6.00 pm).

You can claim by British Sign Language using the Contact Scotland app. 

You will need to provide evidence of your identity and evidence that you live in Scotland. You can find out more about the kind of things you can use to show this on Young Carer Grant: Sending Documents page of the mygov.scot website.

You'll need to fill in a new form or call Social Security Scotland each year you want to apply.

If you don’t agree with a decision on your claim for a Young Carer Grant, you should read the decision letter carefully to see how to challenge the decision.

You might want to get help from an independent adviser to help you to challenge the decision.