Carer's Credit: protecting your State Pension while you care
If caring has cut your working hours, Carer's Credit can stop gaps building up in your National Insurance record. Who qualifies, and how to claim it.
Cutting your hours or stepping away from work to look after someone can leave gaps in your National Insurance record. Those gaps can mean a smaller State Pension later. Carer's Credit is designed to fill them.
Why your record matters
You need 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any new State Pension (GOV.UK), and usually 35 for the full amount (GOV.UK). The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27 (DWP, Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, confirmed 16 February 2026). A qualifying year can come from paid work, from voluntary contributions, or from National Insurance credits, including credits for carers.
Who can get Carer's Credit
According to GOV.UK (as of 3 October 2026), you can get Carer's Credit if you are 16 or over, under State Pension age and look after one or more people for at least 20 hours a week in total (GOV.UK, Carer's Credit). The person you look after must get a qualifying benefit, such as Attendance Allowance, the daily living part of Personal Independence Payment, or Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland. If they don't, a health or social care professional can sign a Care Certificate on the form instead.
You can have breaks in caring of up to 12 weeks in a row, for example a holiday or a hospital stay, and still keep the credit (GOV.UK).
It is not a cash payment. It is a credit on your record, and it is aimed at carers who don't get Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment, which give credits automatically.
What this means for you
- If you care for 20 hours a week or more and don't get Carer's Allowance, look at whether Carer's Credit applies to you.
- Apply in good time. DWP's guidance notes say you must apply before the end of the tax year after the one you cared in (DWP, CC1 notes). So for 2025/26, apply before 5 April 2027.
- See your National Insurance record online, and how much State Pension you might get, through GOV.UK or the HMRC app.
- Get free advice from Carers UK, Citizens Advice or the Pension Service if your record is complicated.
If you're worried about their health, contact their GP or NHS 111. In an emergency call 999.
Guidance only. DWP makes the decision.
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Original source: Carer's Credit: Eligibility, GOV.UK