The government has announced that the Carer's Allowance "cliff edge" will be replaced with a taper. It's a change carers have needed for a long time. Right now, carers can earn up to £204 a week (after tax and some expenses) and keep their full Carer's Allowance of £86.45 a week. Earn a penny more, and the whole allowance disappears.
From the 2030/31 financial year, that will change. For every £1 a carer earns over the limit, they'll lose £1 of allowance, rather than all of it at once. No more sudden drop. No more turning down an extra shift for fear of losing everything.
The National Audit Office said around one million people received Carer’s Allowance in 2024-25, with payments totalling over £4.2 billion.
Not a new idea
Tapers aren't new. They're already used across the benefits system. Universal Credit, for example, reduces gradually as people earn more: for every £1 earned above the work allowance, the payment falls by 55p.
The principle is simple. People should never be worse off for working a little more. Until now, Carer's Allowance has been an exception. This change brings carers in line.
Recognising the work carers do
Caring is skilled work. Carers manage medication, coordinate appointments, handle emergencies and provide round-the-clock support, often alongside a paid job. Together, unpaid carers save the UK £184bn a year, more than the entire NHS budget. And they too, need support to continue.
A system that penalises carers for earning a little more doesn't reflect that. A taper does. It recognises that carers can and should be able to work, without being punished for it. We hope this is the start of a wider recognition: that carers aren't a cost to the system, but one of its foundations.
How change happens
This didn't come from nowhere. Martin Lewis and MoneySavingExpert have championed this change since 2024, raising it with successive Chancellors. Carers' organisations gathered evidence. And carers shared their own stories, again and again, about turning down work or facing overpayment bills they could never have seen coming.
Announcing the change, Andy Burnham said he'd heard from many carers caught out by the rules, people made to choose between earning more and keeping the support they rely on. As he put it: "Carers hold this country together."
That's how policy changes happen. Real experiences, shared clearly, by people who care about getting it right. The government has listened, and now there's a better system on the way.
It's a reminder that every voice counts. If you're a carer, your experience matters, and telling it can help shape what comes next.
Help that can't wait
The taper won't start until 2030/31. For carers who are exhausted right now, that's a long time to wait.
We know that a break won't fix the finances, but it does make a real difference. After a Carefree break, 94% of carers say their wellbeing improved and 84% say their ability to cope improved. For 75% it was a break they couldn't have taken without us.
And there's more we could do with what the country already has. Around a million hotel rooms sit empty every week. A small tax offset for hotels that donate rooms to unpaid carers would turn more of those vacancies into breaks, using a resource that's already there.
What it means for you now
The new taper starts in 2030/31, and the current rules apply until then. If you're close to the £204 weekly earnings limit, keep a careful eye on your income. The change is confirmed for England and Wales, with details for the rest of the UK still to come.
If you care for someone for 35 hours a week or more, you may be able to claim Carer's Allowance now. Check your eligibility on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance
If you're due a break, you don't have to wait. Apply for yours today: https://carefreespace.org/register
If you'd like to hear real carer reactions to the budget news, feel free to drop us a line at press@carefree.org.
