Martin Lewis’ urgent warning for anyone providing unpaid care – you need to act fast

Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has issued an important message for anyone aged 16 to 65 who provides unpaid care. He says you can apply for carer’s credit to help boost your state pension, but you need to do it by this Friday (April 5).

In the latest MSE newsletter, Martin explained that the credit is a national insurance ‘credit’ for people who provide care for at least 20 hours a week and aren’t yet at state pension age. The credit is designed to protect your NI record from gaps, as many carers might need to give up paid work to provide care for someone, reports Bristol Live.

The credit could potentially boost your state pension entitlement by £1,000s. Currently, the full state pension (for those reaching the state pension age on or after April 16, 2016) is £203.85 a week. But to get this maximum amount, you’ll usually need around 35 full NI years in place.

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Now, according to Martin, you need to be caring for someone for at least 20 hours a week to get any help. Then you might fall into one of these two categories:

• Caring for 20 to 35 hours a week? You can apply for carer’s credit. If you’re of working age and providing 20 to 35 hours of weekly unpaid care for one or more people, and they need daily living help and receive certain benefits, you could get carer’s credit.
• Caring for 35+ hours a week? You can apply for carer’s allowance. If you’re aged 16 and over, earning less than £139 a week (after tax), and providing 35+ hours of weekly care for someone who needs daily living help and is claiming certain benefits, you could be due carer’s allowance, worth £76.75 a week.

For anyone who thinks this may apply to them, you’ll need to fulfill these three criteria:

• You must be aged between 16 and state pension age. It’s possible to calculate with the Government’s state pension age calculator.
• You need to care for one or more people for at least 20 hours a week to qualify. Even if you take breaks from caring (up to 12 weeks in a row), you can still receive carer’s credit.
• The person or persons you’re caring for usually also needs to receive at least one benefit.

However, if they don’t, you could still be eligible for carer’s credit. The applicable benefits to this include:

• Disability living allowance (‘care component’ at the middle or highest rate)
• Attendance allowance
• Constant attendance allowance
• Personal independence payment (the daily living part at the standard or enhanced rate)
• Armed forces independence payment
• Child disability payment at the middle or highest rate
• Adult disability payment daily living component at the standard or enhanced rate

How to claim carer’s credit

Check your state pension forecast. If you’re already on track to get the full state pension, adding extra carer’s credit won’t increase your entitlement beyond the maximum level. So the first thing you need to do is check your state pension forecast.

You can do that using the state pension forecast calculator. The full state pension is £203.85 a week, so if you’re not predicted to get that, move on to the next step.

Check your eligibility

As detailed above, there are three criteria you need to meet. In short, these are:

• You must be aged between 16 and state pension age.
• You must look after one or more people for at least 20 hours a week.
• The person you’re caring for must also receive at least one qualifying benefit

If you’re not entirely sure whether you’re still eligible, you can call the Carer’s Allowance Unit on 0800 731 0297. More information can be found on the Government website.