Carer's allowance for cross border family

cargielass

Hi,

My family live in the north but my partner and I both worked in the south up until I had to quit work 3 years ago to care for our two autistic children. My partner still works in the south. We applied and received domiciliary care allowance for our children and were told that we could apply for carers allowance. However we have been rejected due to the issue surrounding habitual residency. There is a loophole in the law that has now left us unable to claim for carers allowance either side of the border. It has been a struggle for us financially due to only one income coming into the house. I have contacted ministers and trawled the internet to try to find out where we can go from here and to try to find out if any other cross border family find themselves in the same situation but to no avail. The wording around habitual residency is grainy and states that you have to prove a close link to Ireland, which I thought would be safised with my partner being from the Republic and the fact that we both worked there. I could have applied for carers benefit when I first took leave from work but wasn't aware of it then.

I'm just wondering if any other family has had the same issue or if anyone can offer any advice or help.

I would be extremely grateful for any info anyone can give me. I keep hitting against a brick wall with this and it's so frustrating that I can't work yet I can't seem to claim for carers.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

cargielass

Cross border family and carers allowance

cargielass

Cross border and carers allowance issue

Spear

Try asking in an appropriate forum instead, such as the benefits forum: