In research by NextWealth for Scottish Widows, published in September 2026, advised clients named caring for someone as their commonest big life event of the last three years. The same research found it is the life event financial advisers feel least able to help with.
What going part-time costs
Take someone earning £50,000 who drops to three days a week. Their salary falls to £30,000. After income tax and National Insurance at 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, take-home pay falls from about £39,520 to about £25,120. That is about £1,200 a month.
If 8% of salary was going into a workplace pension, contributions fall by £1,600 a year. Five years of that is £8,000 of contributions, worth about £11,400 at 67 if it had grown at 3% a year above inflation.
Help you can claim
- Carer's Allowance is £86.45 a week. You must care for someone for at least 35 hours a week, they must get a qualifying benefit, and your earnings must be £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses. It comes with National Insurance credits. In Scotland, Carer Support Payment has replaced it.
- Carer's Credit protects your State Pension if you care for someone for at least 20 hours a week and don't get Carer's Allowance. Your income and savings don't affect it.
- Attendance Allowance is paid to the person you care for if they are over State Pension age and need help. Our note on claiming Attendance Allowance explains why you never need to pay anyone to claim it.
- A carer's assessment from the local council looks at what support you need. Ask the council where your parent lives.
Agree it with the family
When there are brothers and sisters, caring is often shared unevenly. The one who lives nearest, or earns least, tends to take on most of it. Put it on the table early and agree four things:
- who does the hours, and how many
- who contributes money, and how much
- whether your parent's own income and savings pay for help
- what happens if your parent needs more care
Price paid care at the same time. carehome.co.uk puts the UK average weekly cost of a care home at £1,298 for residential care and £1,535 for nursing care. Home care costs vary by area, and the council can give you local rates.
Statutory Carer's Leave
Most employees have a legal right to take up to one week of unpaid carer's leave a year, which can be taken as single days, half days, or in one block, to arrange or give care to someone with a long-term care need. It is a day-one right — you don't need a minimum length of service to use it. Some employers pay it. Ask HR whether your contract offers more than the legal minimum.
Carer's Allowance and Carer's Credit, side by side
- Carer's Allowance pays money every week (£86.45) and comes with National Insurance credits automatically. You need to care for at least 35 hours a week for one person, that person needs a qualifying disability benefit, and your own earnings need to be £204 a week or less after deductions.
- Carer's Credit pays no money. It protects your State Pension record for the years your caring means you're not earning enough to build up National Insurance yourself. You need to care for at least 20 hours a week, and your own income and savings don't affect whether you qualify.
Many people who don't qualify for Carer's Allowance, because they care for fewer than 35 hours a week or the person they care for doesn't get a qualifying benefit, still qualify for Carer's Credit. Check both separately on GOV.UK.
Look after your own plans
- Find out what happens to your pension contributions when your hours fall. Your employer's share often falls with your pay.
- Apply for Carer's Credit if you don't qualify for Carer's Allowance.
- Set a date six months ahead to review the arrangement with the family.
- Check your household numbers before you agree to cut your hours further.
Sources: GOV.UK (Carer's Allowance, Carer's Credit, National Insurance credits, Statutory Carer's Leave); income tax and National Insurance at 2026/27 rates; Scottish Widows and NextWealth, Closing the advice participation gap, September 2026, including carehome.co.uk care costs quoted there. Figures checked 15 October 2026.