Money advice and information
Like all carers, financial issues can affect the lives of young adult carers. Being a carer may mean there’s less money in your household, and affect whether you can work.
Benefits team
At Action for Carers we have a benefits team, who can advise on benefits – what’s out there for unpaid carers – as well as help with forms. To get a referral to the team, please register with us and get in touch with our Helpline team, who’ll put you in touch.
You can also check eligibility for Universal Credit yourself, visit:
Check your Universal Credit eligibility – Citizens Advice
or
Can I get Universal Credit (UC)? Eligibility criteria | Turn2us
Carers Allowance
Working will always be better than benefits. Carers Allowance is £83.30 /week.
You can apply for Carer’s allowance if:
- Your caring activity takes at least 35 hours a week – and you are NOT in full time education. This is defined as 21 hours or more of supervised study a week. Every college admissions office can tell you the exact number of hours for each course.
- The person you care for receives Personal Independence Payment (PIP) daily living component OR Disability Living Allowance with the middle or highest care rate, OR Attendance Allowance OR Constant Attendance Allowance with War Pension or Industrial Injuries OR Armed Forces Independence Payment.
You are permitted to earn up to £196/week alongside receiving Carers Allowance. If you can manage to work (just a little bit) as well as receiving Carer’s Allowance, it will be helpful for your future. Don’t forget to cancel Carers Allowance when you earn more, or you will have to pay it back from when your wages went up.
There’s no restriction on doing volunteer work. This is a great way to meet people, keep some interests outside of home and improve your job prospects, even if you can only manage a couple of hours a week.
We can advise you about grants
Money that is available from other organisations changes very frequently. We can make applications for you if possible.
Carers Trust grants
This national charity awards grants to help you in your caring role. This could be home essentials, like a clothes dryer or bed. There are sometimes grants for learning that can be used for an evening course to help you into employment.
Carers Trust gave me £300 so I could travel to visit my brother in a psychiatric hospital in Bristol.
Action for Carers is able to make a limited number of applications every month. The form requires details of your family income and expenditure so that money is given to those who really need it. If you live with your parents, you’ll need them to provide details.
My tumble dryer is here, set up and drying bed linen. I’m so appreciative of your help
Grants from other organisations
Our team can help in other ways too
Sometimes we have funds to help with education and employment. Do you need…
- IT equipment or software for a college course?
- College revision books?
- Clothes for job interviews?
- Anything to help with your job hunting?
Thank you very much for this grant of £200, this has really made me happy as I could buy textbooks for college and some uniform for myself and my siblings.
Emergency situations
Foodbanks – these are run by local charities. You’ll need either a voucher or a referral to use them. This national charity has several locations in Surrey. If you don’t find a local one, contact the 18-24 team for others, for example, in Cranleigh, Godalming and Guildford. Some towns also have charities that supply home cooked meals.
Find a foodbank
Surrey Crisis Fund – every borough in Surrey has funds you can apply for in an absolute emergency. You can only apply for specific things, like food, toiletries, emergency travel costs and essential clothes if you have nowhere else to turn.
Visit Surrey Crisis Fund
