Disability and carer payments when moving between Scotland and the rest of the UK

Disability and carer benefits are no longer the same across the United Kingdom. Responsibility for certain disability and carer benefits was devolved from the UK Government to the Scottish Government by the Scotland Act 2016, and between 2021 and 2025 the Scottish Government replaced Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment with new, Scotland-only benefits¹. All Scottish recipients of those four benefits have now been transferred from the DWP to Social Security Scotland, and the DWP no longer administers them in Scotland².

That means a move across the border is not just a change of address. It changes which benefit you are on, which body pays it, and how you apply. The single most important figure is this: if you move from Scotland to England or Wales, your Adult Disability Payment stops 13 weeks after you move, and you have to ask for PIP instead³. Moving the other way, PIP has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment in Scotland, and since 6 November 2025 anyone who moves to Scotland and was getting PIP at the time of their move can apply for it⁴.

The same split applies to carers. Carer Support Payment replaced Carer's Allowance for carers living in Scotland, and if you live in Scotland you must apply for Carer Support Payment instead of Carer's Allowance⁵. It is paid at a standard rate of £86.45 a week in 2026/27⁵.

Scotland pays different disability and carer benefits from the rest of the UK

The dividing line runs through the middle of the benefit system, not around it. Disability and carer benefits are devolved; means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit are not. So a Scottish claimant can be on a Scottish disability payment and a UK-wide means-tested benefit at the same time, and a move across the border changes one and not the other.

The four benefits that moved are Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment. Their Scottish replacements are Pension Age Disability Payment, Carer Support Payment, Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment respectively. Pension Age Disability Payment has replaced Attendance Allowance in Scotland⁹. Adult Disability Payment has replaced PIP in Scotland¹⁰. Child Disability Payment is the replacement for Disability Living Allowance for Children¹¹.

The transfer is complete. Social Security Scotland finished transferring people getting PIP to Adult Disability Payment, and by the end of June 2025 the case transfer process for PIP claimants in Scotland was done¹². Anyone with a Scottish postcode who is still getting PIP and has not received a letter about it should call Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222¹².

For a reader, the practical consequence is simple to state and easy to get wrong: the benefit follows the address, not the person. The award, the assessment and the payment all sit with whichever system covers where you live now.

Moving from Scotland to England or Wales: claiming PIP instead of Adult Disability Payment

This is the move with the hard deadline. If you move from Scotland to England or Wales, you have to ask for PIP, and your Adult Disability Payment stops 13 weeks after you move³. Thirteen weeks is the window in which to get a PIP claim running.

PIP is not available in Scotland, and it has been replaced there¹³. In England and Wales it remains the working-age disability benefit for people who need help with daily living or mobility, and it is administered by the DWP. Claiming it means going through the DWP's process, including the assessment, rather than the Social Security Scotland process you may be used to.

There is a small amount of online claiming available. People in selected postcode districts may be able to apply online if they live in England, are claiming for themselves or helping someone with their claim, are not already claiming PIP or DLA and have no previous PIP or DLA claim, and are not claiming under the Special Rules for End of Life¹⁴. Outside those districts, the claim starts by phone.

Moving to Scotland on PIP: how Adult Disability Payment works

Coming the other way, the rule changed on 6 November 2025. From that date, anyone who moves to Scotland and was getting Personal Independence Payment at the time of their move can apply for Adult Disability Payment⁴. Before that date the process happened automatically; now a new claim is required¹⁵.

Adult Disability Payment is the Scottish equivalent of PIP, having replaced new claims for PIP in Scotland, and all existing PIP claimants in Scotland have now been transferred onto it¹⁰. Initially it has very similar rules to PIP, though the Scottish Government intends to carry out a full review¹⁶. That matters for anyone weighing up a move: the structure of the award, the components and the way need is assessed follow the PIP model for now, and the Scottish Government has said it plans to revisit the detail.

There is a separate benefit for people over State Pension age. Pension Age Disability Payment has replaced Attendance Allowance in Scotland, and it can be applied for online at mygov.scot/pension-age-disability-payment, in person, over the phone, or by paper form by post on 0800 182 2222¹⁷.

For children, the position is different again. Clients moving to Scotland from the rest of the UK who have been in receipt of Disability Living Allowance for Children need to make a new application for a corresponding Social Security Scotland benefit¹¹. The deadlines are longer than for adults: register the child's name and date of birth with Social Security Scotland within 26 weeks of the move, and submit the completed part 2 application within 32 weeks, to have the award backdated to the day after the Disability Living Allowance for Children award ends¹¹.

Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment: what changes when you move

Carer Support Payment replaced Carer's Allowance for carers residing in Scotland²⁰. If you live in Scotland, you must apply for Carer Support Payment instead of Carer's Allowance⁵. The two are not paid side by side; the Scottish benefit takes the place of the UK one for Scottish residents.

Moving to Scotland with an existing Carer's Allowance award now requires action. From 6 November 2025, if you are getting Carer's Allowance and move to Scotland, you need to make a new claim for Carer Support Payment¹⁵. The first step is to contact the department that currently pays your Carer's Allowance and tell them about your change of address²¹. Then make a new application to Social Security Scotland for the replacement Scottish benefit¹⁸.

Once you are on Carer Support Payment, the reporting duty continues. Tell Social Security Scotland if your details or circumstances change after you move to Carer Support Payment²². Social Security Scotland will contact you to let you know if the changes you reported may affect your payments and if it needs any more information to make a decision¹⁹.

There is one group for whom the move is automatic rather than a fresh claim. If you live in Scotland and are currently receiving Carer's Allowance, you will be automatically moved on to Carer Support Payment, and you do not need to apply for it²³. That covers carers already resident in Scotland; the new-claim rule applies to people arriving from elsewhere in the UK.

Carer Support Payment: £86.45 a week in Scotland

Carer Support Payment is paid at a standard rate of £86.45 a week in 2026/27⁵. On top of that, carers in Scotland get the Scottish Carer Supplement of £11.70 a week, which replaces the Carer's Allowance Supplement⁵. The supplement is worth £11.70 a week in 2026/27 and is paid at the same time as Carer Support Payment⁶.

The earnings limit is the condition most carers bump into. You can earn up to £204 per week from 6 April 2026 to the end of March 2027, measured after deductions including tax, National Insurance and certain expenses⁷. Some costs of paying someone else to provide care while you work can be deducted before the limit is applied; a carer earning £280 per week with replacement care costs of £80 per week can still qualify²¹.

Carers who are still on Carer's Allowance in Scotland rather than Carer Support Payment receive the Carer's Allowance Supplement instead, issued as two payments of £304.65 in June and December⁶. The two supplements are different payments for different benefits, so which one arrives depends on which benefit is in payment.

Will payments stop while a new claim is assessed?

The rules build in a period rather than an instant cut-off, and the length of that period depends on which direction you are moving and which benefit is involved.

Moving to Scotland, Social Security Scotland allows time to complete the paperwork. Clients have up to 26 weeks from their date of move to provide their details to Social Security Scotland, and 34 weeks from their date of move to submit their Scottish Adult DLA request form⁴. For children moving to Scotland on Disability Living Allowance for Children, the equivalent deadlines are 26 weeks to register the child's name and date of birth and 32 weeks to submit the completed part 2 application, with backdating to the day after the previous award ends if those deadlines are met¹¹.

Moving from Scotland to England or Wales, the period is shorter: Adult Disability Payment stops 13 weeks after the move³.

One thing that does not wait is tax. You must tell HMRC of your new address if you move to or from Scotland, because Scottish Income Tax rates apply to Scottish taxpayers and the change of address affects which rates apply to you²⁴.

How long an Adult Disability Payment application takes

Not every application is decided quickly, and the official figures are worth knowing before you rely on a fast turnaround. Of Adult Disability Payment applications decided by 31 July 2026, 48% had been processed within 60 working days, which is about three months, and 4% had taken 141 or more working days⁸.

Those figures describe decisions already made by that date. They do not predict how long a claim started today will take, and the mix of cases changes over time. The practical point is that a cross-border move involves two application processes, one ending and one beginning, and the overlap period is what protects the household income in between.

For Carer Support Payment, the published processing figures are less settled. Official statistics give a median processing time of 48 working days in one measure and 71 working days in another, and the two have not been reconciled²⁵. Treat the range as indicative rather than exact.

Challenging a decision and getting help

If a decision goes the wrong way, there is a route through it. Challenging a DWP benefit decision is a process that applies in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so the same framework covers a PIP decision wherever in the UK it was made¹³. The first step is usually a mandatory reconsideration, asking the same office to look again, before any appeal to a tribunal.

Social Security Scotland offers help at the point where people most often get stuck. It can help if you have any questions, if you are not sure whether you need to tell it about a change, if you are calling from abroad, if you need support completing the change of circumstances form, or if you need help getting information about a health change or sending documents²⁶. That support is free and comes from the body making the decision, which is separate from the independent advice route.

For free, impartial help with benefits and money more widely, MoneyHelper is the government-backed service, and it covers what you can claim as a carer²⁷. Carers UK publishes Scotland-specific financial support guidance²⁸, and Turn2us covers transferring from PIP to Adult Disability Payment¹². For debt problems that build up during a gap in payments, StepChange's advice applies to people living in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland²⁹.