There is one number for Carer’s Allowance, 0800 731 0297, which is simpler than Pension Credit manages. The more useful thing to know is that one reason for ringing has been taken off the list entirely, and GOV.UK says so at the top of its own contact page.
What is the Carer’s Allowance phone number, and when is it open?
The Carer’s Allowance Unit takes general enquiries on 0800 731 0297, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Relay UK users dial 18001 followed by that number, and there is a British Sign Language video relay service for anyone on a computer, with separate instructions for mobile and tablet.
The Carer’s Allowance Unit line covers information about Carer’s Allowance and how to make a claim (GOV.UK, Contact the Carer's Allowance Unit, checked 1 November 2026).
If you cannot apply online, you can ring the same number to ask for a paper claim form (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance: make a claim, checked 1 November 2026). The DWP’s claim-form notes say the number also takes requests for braille, British Sign Language, a hearing loop, translations, large print, Easy Read or audio, and that calls to 0800 numbers are free from personal mobiles and landlines (DWP, Carer’s Allowance notes booklet (PDF), checked 1 November 2026).
Do I need to ring about the Carer’s Allowance overpayment reassessment?
If your reason for ringing is the overpayment reassessment, GOV.UK’s instruction is not to. The DWP is reassessing Carer’s Allowance overpayments that happened between 10 April 2015 and 2 September 2025, and if you were affected you may get a refund, or have a debt reduced or cancelled.
GOV.UK states plainly that you do not need to contact the Carer’s Allowance Unit about a reassessment, and that the DWP will contact you with a decision or if they need more information (GOV.UK, Contact the Carer's Allowance Unit, checked 1 November 2026).
If the overpayment reassessment is your reason for ringing, you can skip the call, because the DWP will contact you. If somebody has told you to chase it, GOV.UK’s notice says that is not needed.
What changes do I have to report for Carer’s Allowance?
Nine changes have to be reported if you are claiming or have applied. They cover work and study, money, address, the caring itself, and what happens at the other end of the arrangement — because your claim depends on the other person’s benefit as much as on your own hours.
The list is: starting a job; starting or ending full-time education; changes to your income; you or the person you care for changing address; stopping being a carer; the person you care for no longer getting their disability benefit; someone else who cares for the same person claiming Carer’s Allowance instead of you; someone else claiming the carer’s element of Universal Credit for them; and changes to your immigration status if you are not a British citizen.
You must also tell the DWP if the person you are caring for dies (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 1 November 2026).
The two thresholds for a break in caring
A break does not automatically end the claim, and there are two numbers that decide when it has to be reported. Carer’s Allowance continues through a temporary stop — any period when you spend less than 35 hours a week caring — provided the person you care for still receives their disability benefit.
You must tell the DWP if you or the person you care for will be in hospital, a nursing home or respite care for more than 12 weeks, or if you stop caring for more than 28 days for any other reason (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 1 November 2026).
Write down 12 weeks and 28 days: a fortnight away is inside both limits, while a hospital stay of more than 12 weeks is past the first.
If you have been paid too much
Repayment is not automatic, and the reasons matter. GOV.UK says you may have to repay if you did not report a change straight away, if you gave wrong information, or if you were overpaid by mistake — that last one covering cases where nothing was your doing at all.
There is a separate and harder consequence. You could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty for giving wrong information or failing to report a change (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 1 November 2026).
The gap between those two sentences is the reason to report a change the week it happens rather than the month after.
If you would rather write
Post goes to Freepost DWP Carers Allowance Unit, which is the whole address. GOV.UK is specific about the envelope: write nothing except the freepost address on it, and you need neither a postcode nor a stamp, so there is nothing else to find before you post it.
There is no address to look up beyond those four words (GOV.UK, Contact the Carer's Allowance Unit, checked 1 November 2026).
Is there a Carer’s Allowance email address?
GOV.UK publishes no email address for the Carer’s Allowance Unit. Neither its contact page nor the full Carer’s Allowance guide carries one (GOV.UK, Contact the Carer's Allowance Unit, checked 1 November 2026). The routes are the phone line, Relay UK, the British Sign Language video relay service, the freepost address and one online service.
| Route | What GOV.UK gives |
|---|---|
| Phone | 0800 731 0297, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm |
| Relay UK | 18001 then 0800 731 0297 |
| British Sign Language | A video relay service on a computer, with separate instructions for mobile and tablet |
| Post | Freepost DWP Carers Allowance Unit, with nothing else on the envelope, no postcode and no stamp |
| Online | Report a change of circumstances, if you already receive Carer’s Allowance |
| None published |
Sources: GOV.UK, Contact the Carer’s Allowance Unit and GOV.UK, Carer’s Allowance: report changes, both checked 30 October 2026.
The online change-of-circumstances service is the nearest thing to writing to the Carer’s Allowance Unit. If you already receive Carer’s Allowance you can report a change of circumstances online, which GOV.UK says takes around 10 minutes and needs your National Insurance number, details of the person you care for, and details of the change (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance: report changes, checked 1 November 2026). The online service cannot be used to report the death of the person you care for; GOV.UK says to use Tell Us Once instead.
The missing email address is worth remembering. An email address presented as the Carer’s Allowance Unit’s is not one GOV.UK publishes, and your National Insurance number should not be going to it.
It is not the same number as the other two
This trips people dealing with more than one benefit for the same household, which is the ordinary situation when one person cares for another and both are claiming. Three benefits between them, four separate numbers, and none of the four is interchangeable with any other.
Carer’s Allowance is 0800 731 0297. Attendance Allowance is 0800 731 0122 — close enough to misdial. Pension Credit has two: 0800 99 1234 to claim and 0800 731 0469 to report a change. Our Attendance Allowance contact page and Pension Credit contact page cover each of those in full.
The freepost addresses differ too, so a form sent to the wrong one has gone to the wrong department rather than merely the wrong desk.
If you live in Scotland
Scotland replaced Carer’s Allowance with Carer Support Payment, run by Social Security Scotland rather than the Department for Work and Pensions, so the number above is not the one to ring at all. mygov.scot is where the Scottish contact details are published instead.
The money differs as well as the office. Social Security Scotland adds a Scottish Carer Supplement of £11.70 a week automatically on top of the payment, and £10.40 a week for each additional person cared for (mygov.scot, https: //www.mygov.scot/carer-support-payment, checked 1 November 2026). Our Carer’s Allowance guide sets out that comparison.
If the question is when the money arrives
Carer’s Allowance is paid weekly in advance or every 4 weeks, and a payment due on a bank holiday is usually paid on the working day before. Our payment dates page lists every date that moves between now and the end of 2027, which answers the question without a call.
Before you ring to ask whether to claim
If the call you are planning is “should I claim at all”, that question has an answer worth reaching before the queue does. Claiming can reduce what the person you care for receives, and the arithmetic is worth doing first rather than afterwards.
Our see what you can claim tool asks three questions and gives the answer before it asks anything of you. Nothing you enter leaves your browser, and there is no name or email to give.