The person you cared for has died, or gone into hospital, or you need a fortnight away, and the question is what happens to the £86.45. The law is kinder than people expect after a death and stricter than they expect during a hospital stay. Each rule below is from the Act, the DWP’s own guide to its decision makers, or GOV.UK, and each carries a duty to report.
The eight weeks after a death
The Act says a person who was entitled to Carer’s Allowance immediately before the death of the person they cared for continues to be entitled, even though no longer caring, until the end of the week in which they stop satisfying any other condition or the end of eight weeks beginning with the Sunday after the death, whichever comes first.
That is section 70 of the Act (Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, section 70, checked 1 November 2026).
The DWP’s guide to its decision makers puts it the same way: entitlement can continue for up to eight weeks after the death provided the other conditions are satisfied (DWP Decision Makers’ Guide, chapter 60 (PDF), checked 1 November 2026). The other conditions matter: a carer who starts a job over the £204 earnings limit in week three loses the run-on then. Our when someone dies hub covers the rest of the first weeks.
Reporting the death
GOV.UK’s Carer’s Allowance page says you must tell the Department for Work and Pensions if the person you are caring for dies (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance, checked 1 November 2026). It does not mention Tell Us Once, the service that reports a death to government departments, and puts the duty on the carer.
So ring the Carer’s Allowance Unit on the number on our contact page even if Tell Us Once has been used, and note the date. The eight weeks then run and stop by themselves. A carer who is paid beyond them is overpaid, and GOV.UK says you may have to repay money if you did not report a change straight away.
Hospital and care home stays
A hospital stay does not end Carer’s Allowance by itself. The DWP’s guide says that where the reason for a break in care is that the disabled person is in hospital, entitlement depends on the continuing payment of their Attendance Allowance, the care component of DLA or the equivalent (DWP Decision Makers’ Guide, chapter 60 (PDF), checked 1 November 2026).
If payment of those benefits ends, the guide says, there can be no entitlement to Carer’s Allowance.
Their benefit is the trigger, not the admission. GOV.UK says 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 (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance, checked 1 November 2026). Our Attendance Allowance care homes page covers when that benefit stops in hospital and in a home, which is the date the carer’s ends.
Breaks from caring
Short breaks are built in. The DWP’s guide, its internal handbook for the staff who decide claims, says a temporary break, or a series of them, may be ignored, and entitlement continues provided the breaks total no more than four weeks in any period of 26 weeks for any reason (DWP Decision Makers’ Guide, chapter 60 (PDF), checked 1 November 2026).
The limit is twelve weeks where the carer or the disabled person has spent at least eight of them as a hospital in-patient. Both limits come from the 1976 regulations, which the guide explains (Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations 1976, regulation 4, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK states the reporting side. It says you can still get Carer’s Allowance if you temporarily stop providing care, meaning spending less than 35 hours a week caring, as long as the person still gets their disability benefit. You must tell the DWP if you stop caring for more than 28 days for any other reason (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance, checked 1 November 2026). A fortnight in Spain is within the rule; a second fortnight three months later is not.
When you stop for another reason
Caring ends for reasons other than death: the person moves to a care home permanently, another relative takes over, or you cannot go on. GOV.UK’s list of changes you must report includes stopping being a carer and the person no longer getting their disability benefit (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance, checked 1 November 2026).
It also includes someone else who cares for the same person claiming Carer’s Allowance or the Universal Credit carer element instead of you.
There is no run-on for those; the eight weeks is for a death only. Where a relative is taking over, our what counts as caring page covers the rule that only one carer can claim for one person, and the stopped or suspended page what to do when the payment stops without a reason you recognise.
What goes with it
The benefits that hang on Carer’s Allowance move when it does. GOV.UK says the Pension Credit carer addition of £48.15 a week is paid if you get Carer’s Allowance, or have claimed it but are not paid because you already get another benefit paying more (GOV.UK, Pension Credit, checked 1 November 2026).
It rests on the entitlement, so it runs while the run-on does; GOV.UK gives no separate rule for the addition, so tell the Pension Service too.
Carer’s Credit has its own breaks: GOV.UK says you can still get it through breaks of up to 12 weeks in a row, and to keep the Carer’s Allowance Unit updated if a break is longer (GOV.UK, Carer's Credit, checked 1 November 2026). Our Carer’s Credit page covers the 20-hour version that protects the State Pension record, and the Carer’s Allowance hub the severe disability addition the cared-for person may have lost while you claimed.
Scotland
Carer Support Payment is Scotland’s version, paid by Social Security Scotland at up to £86.45 a week, with a Scottish Carer Supplement of £11.70 a week paid automatically on top, which mygov.scot says has replaced the old Carer’s Allowance Supplement (mygov.scot, https: //www.mygov.scot/carer-support-payment, checked 1 November 2026).
Its pages fetched for this guide do not state what happens to the payment after the death of the person cared for, so this page does not put a figure on it. Report the death to Social Security Scotland and ask; the DWP rules above do not carry across.