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How to fill in form DS700SP — claiming Carer's Allowance while getting State Pension

DS700SP is the Carer's Allowance claim form for someone already getting State Pension — a separate version of the standard DS700, used because a State Pensioner's claim runs into the overlapping benefit rule from the start.

Where State Pension already matches or exceeds the Carer's Allowance rate, DWP pays no cash — but a successful claim still establishes 'underlying entitlement', which can raise means-tested benefits like Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax reduction.

This walkthrough covers who should use this form instead of the standard DS700, the 3-month backdating window, the care-hours detail DWP asks for, and what a claim does to the benefits of the person being cared for.

✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last revised this form 6 April 2026DS700SP on GOV.UK
Caring for a Parent — £79
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United KingdomInformational, not legal or financial adviceOfficial source: GOV.UK
Official form · always current

This is the same official DS700SP file Department for Work and Pensions publishes on GOV.UK — the link below fetches the current version live from GOV.UK the moment you click it, so it can never go out of date.

The button gives you If you get a State Pension: Carer's Allowance claim form (DS700SP).

Current version: April 2026 · confirmed on GOV.UK 23 August 2026

This walkthrough takes DS700SP field by field, in plain English. The form itself is long — 74 numbered questions across 16 pages, but the part that actually decides whether it's worth doing is easy to miss: claiming still matters even when State Pension means no cash is paid.

The thing most people get wrong
Assuming there's no point claiming because State Pension already exceeds the Carer's Allowance rate.

The overlapping benefit rule means DWP won't pay cash on top in that case — but the claim still establishes 'underlying entitlement', which can increase means-tested benefits like Pension Credit even when nothing is paid directly.

Skipping the claim on that assumption can quietly cost money elsewhere.
The form, in summary
Valoren
DS700SP16 pages74 fields guided
With Valoren30 minutes
Without Valoren1–2 hours
working out the 35-hours pattern across any gaps, and gathering both NI numbers and the qualifying benefit reference
Deadline
3 monthsto backdate to the
benefit decision date
Who Files
The carernot the person
you care for
£
Fee
Freeto claim —
no charge either way
Filed with DWP — Carer's Allowance Unit, Wolverhampton
Draws from your Estate File
the records this form is built from
PersonalDigital Access Map·Financial Accounts·Asset Inventory·Income & Outgoings·Civil Dossier·Policy Index·Legal Instruments·Medical Abstract·Property Folio·Succession Plan·Digital Legacy Registry·Business Interests & Directorships·Funeral & Committal Wishes·Dependent Care & Handoff·Personal Record·RegistryPeople, Authority & Contacts·Master Registry·Renewal Register·Designated Places·Kinship & Succession Map·SecureAccess Controls·Recovery Routes·Custody & Contingency·EventsDeath & Estate Activation·Incapacity & Medical Proxy·Absence & Continuity Cover·Access Loss & Identity Recovery·Legal Dispute & Evidence Protocol·Theft & Asset Compromise·Property Damage & Incident Response·Relocation & Address Update Protocol·Separation & Custody Documentation·Business Interruption & Continuity·PersonalDigital Access Map·Financial Accounts·Asset Inventory·Income & Outgoings·Civil Dossier·Policy Index·Legal Instruments·Medical Abstract·Property Folio·Succession Plan·Digital Legacy Registry·Business Interests & Directorships·Funeral & Committal Wishes·Dependent Care & Handoff·Personal Record·RegistryPeople, Authority & Contacts·Master Registry·Renewal Register·Designated Places·Kinship & Succession Map·SecureAccess Controls·Recovery Routes·Custody & Contingency·EventsDeath & Estate Activation·Incapacity & Medical Proxy·Absence & Continuity Cover·Access Loss & Identity Recovery·Legal Dispute & Evidence Protocol·Theft & Asset Compromise·Property Damage & Incident Response·Relocation & Address Update Protocol·Separation & Custody Documentation·Business Interruption & Continuity·
Legal basisStatute

DS700SP is the version of the Carer's Allowance claim form for someone already getting State Pension — the form's own front page says to only use it on that basis; anyone not on State Pension uses the standard DS700 or claims online instead.

Carer's Allowance and State Pension are both income-replacement benefits, so the 'overlapping benefit rule' generally prevents both being paid in full together — where State Pension already matches or exceeds the Carer's Allowance rate, DWP won't pay cash on top.

A successful claim still matters even then, because it establishes 'underlying entitlement', which can unlock a carer premium or addition inside means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax reduction.

Section by section

The form, section by section.

Before you start, you’ll need:
  • Who Files — The carer themselves — the form is explicit that 'you, the carer, must fill in this form, not the person you provide care for', and even where someone else fills it in on the carer's behalf, the carer must personally sign the declaration. In practice this is often a State Pension-age person, or their family helping them, claiming for care given to a disabled relative — commonly a spouse or an adult child.
  • 16 pages · 74 fields guided
  • Draws from your Estate File — People, Authority & Contacts
Section 1

Before you start — is this the right form, and what's the backdating clock

DS700SP has a narrow eligibility gate of its own, on top of Carer's Allowance's usual conditions. Confirm you're on the right form before working through it.

Only for people already getting State Pension

The form's front page is explicit: 'only use this form to claim Carer's Allowance if you are getting State Pension.'

Anyone not yet getting State Pension should use the standard DS700, or claim online instead.

The carer fills it in, not the person being cared for

'You, the carer, must fill in this form, not the person you provide care for.'

Someone else can complete it on the carer's behalf, but the carer must still sign the declaration personally.

The backdating window

A claim can be backdated to the start date of the disabled person's qualifying benefit — but only if made within 3 months of that benefit's decision date, and only for periods where 35+ hours of care a week were provided.

This is the one genuine deadline in an otherwise open-ended claim: there's no statutory time limit on claiming as such, only this backdating window, and missing it can mean losing money permanently rather than simply claiming from a later date.

Only one carer can be paid per person

If two people care for the same disabled person, only one of you can get Carer's Allowance, Carer Support Payment, or the Universal Credit carer element for looking after them.

If you can't agree between yourselves who claims, DWP decides for you.

DS700SP has a narrow eligibility gate of its own, on top of Carer's Allowance's usual conditions. Confirm you're on the right form before working through it.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — administered by the Carer's Allowance Unit · DS700SP
Section 2

About you, your partner, and the person you care for

The first run of questions establishes who everyone is — you as the carer, your household, and the person you're claiming for.

About you

Name, National Insurance number, and a contact phone number — a mobile is flagged for text updates on the claim.

Further questions cover date of birth, marital or civil-partnership status, address, and nationality.

Residence history

Your normal and current country of residence, and — for most claimants — whether you've lived in Great Britain throughout the 3 years before the claim date.

Scottish residents are routed to Carer Support Payment instead of Carer's Allowance. Anyone with time spent abroad in that 3-year window fills in a separate 'period' block for each stay, with dates and reasons.

About your partner

Whether you've had a partner since the claim date — their income can be relevant to eligibility — and, if so, their name, National Insurance number, date of birth and nationality.

About the person you provide care for

Their name, National Insurance number (or DLA/child reference if they're under 16), date of birth, address if different from yours, and their relationship to you.

Also whether they get Armed Forces Independence Payment or an EEA/Swiss disability benefit, and whether anyone else is already claiming a carer benefit for looking after them.

The first run of questions establishes who everyone is — you as the carer, your household, and the person you're claiming for.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — administered by the Carer's Allowance Unit · DS700SP
Section 3

The care-hours detail — the largest part of the form

This is where most of the 74 questions sit: establishing that 35+ hours of care a week were provided, and accounting honestly for any weeks that fell below that.

The 35-hours condition, since the claim date and before it

You're asked whether you've provided at least 35 hours of care a week since the claim date, and whether the same was true before it.

Gaps caused by hospital, care home or respite stays

Separate 'period' blocks cover any time — in the 26 weeks before the claim date — that the person you care for was in hospital, a care home, or respite care, and any time you yourself were.

Each block asks for exact dates, and whether 35 hours of care was still being given during that time.

Any other gap under 35 hours a week

Further period blocks capture any other stretch below the 35-hour threshold — exact from/to dates and times, and where both you and the person you care for were.

Where more than three periods apply in any category, the form directs you to the free-text 'More information' box at the end rather than trying to force extra periods into the numbered blocks.

Education and employment

Whether you've been on a course of education since the claim date — 21+ hours a week of supervised study counts as full-time education and can disqualify a claim.

Whether you've been employed at any point in the 6 months before the claim date (sick leave, paid or unpaid leave, and company directorships all count as 'yes'), and whether you've been self-employed since the week before the claim date — which the form defines to include renting out part of your home, such as taking in a lodger.

Any payments you've received for caring for this or any other person — fostering, adult placement, direct payments, council payments — with the amount, frequency, and who paid it.

This is where most of the 74 questions sit: establishing that 35+ hours of care a week were provided, and accounting honestly for any weeks that fell below that.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — administered by the Carer's Allowance Unit · DS700SP
Section 4

Declaration, and what happens after you claim

The last pages are the signature and the practical follow-through — what a successful claim changes, and what you're now obliged to report.

Sign personally, whoever filled the form in

Even where someone else has completed DS700SP on your behalf, you as the carer must sign the declaration yourself.

Tell the person you care for before you claim

A successful claim can reduce or stop a severe disability premium, or extra Pension Credit, that the person you care for is receiving.

The form and notes both require you to tell them — or their legal representative — in advance, not after the fact.

Report changes immediately

Once awarded, any change of circumstance must be reported straight away, by phone or at gov.uk/carers-allowance-report-change.

The form warns that wrong or incomplete information, or a late report, can lead to prosecution, a financial penalty, a reduced or stopped payment, or being asked to repay an overpayment — DWP commits, in return, to backdating any underpayment it finds.

Where it goes

The completed form is sent free of charge — no stamp needed — to the Carer's Allowance Unit, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton WV98 2AB.

The last pages are the signature and the practical follow-through — what a successful claim changes, and what you're now obliged to report.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — administered by the Carer's Allowance Unit · DS700SP

Many people file DS700SP themselves — that is what this walkthrough is for. If the situation behind it has stopped being simple — an objection raised, a donor whose capacity is questioned, a Court of Protection application in view — Signum, Valoren’s own specialist desk, can take it on, and we say so plainly: it starts with a free intake, and if you do not need us, we will tell you. Prefer an independent adviser? STEP and the Chartered Institute of Taxation both keep public member directories, and neither pays Valoren a referral fee.

FAQ

DS700SP questions, answered.

DS700SP lets someone already getting State Pension claim Carer's Allowance for looking after a disabled relative or other person.

It exists as a separate form from the standard DS700 because a State Pensioner's claim is affected by the overlapping benefit rule from the outset — the form's own front page says to only use it if you're getting State Pension.
Yes. DWP won't pay Carer's Allowance in cash on top of a State Pension that already matches or exceeds the rate — that's the overlapping benefit rule.

But the claim still establishes 'underlying entitlement', which can increase means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax reduction, even where no Carer's Allowance is actually paid.
You can backdate a claim to the start date of the disabled person's qualifying benefit, but only if you make the claim within 3 months of that benefit's decision date, and only for periods where you provided at least 35 hours of care a week.

Miss that 3-month window and, per DWP's own notes, 'you may lose money' rather than simply claim from a later date.
No. Only one person can be paid Carer's Allowance, Carer Support Payment, or the Universal Credit carer element for the same disabled person at a time.

If more than one relative provides care and can't agree between themselves who claims, DWP will decide for you.
Yes — the form and notes both require it. A successful Carer's Allowance claim can reduce or stop a severe disability premium, or extra Pension Credit, that the person you care for is receiving.

They (or their attorney or deputy, if they lack capacity) need advance notice of that, not a surprise change to their own benefits.
DWP's own guidance says 'normally, you can expect us to get back to you within 6 weeks' — though it notes this may change at busy times of year.

Library

Free guides behind this form

These free institutional briefs cover the records and context that make this form easier — what to gather before you start.

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Capacity Action Pack

Caring for a Parent extends this pack — a personalised operating brief for the household you're now managing, with your specific contacts and records.

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Capacity Planning — Action Pack

Caring for a Parent provides the personalised action plan this guide introduces — your parent's specific LPA, medical, and financial records captured.

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Capacity Tomorrow Brief

Caring for a Parent extends this brief into an operational plan — the specific documents, contacts, and LPA steps for your parent's situation.

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Care Home Financial Planning Brief

Caring for a Parent captures the care home cost structure and financial plan — so the threshold calculations and local authority position are documented.

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Where this fits

DS700SP is one form. The file behind it is the rest.

The claim rests on who the carer and the cared-for person are, both National Insurance numbers, and the qualifying benefit reference — exactly what People, Authority & Contacts is built to hold ready, rather than dug out of an award letter at the point of claiming.

For the household where a parent is ageing and an LPA is not yet registered — the planning conversations your family needs to have, in one place. Caring for a Parent — £79

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — administered by the Carer's Allowance Unit74 fieldsFree to claim30 minutes with Valoren
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