A detailed guide to State Pensions for advisers and others

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How to qualify for Home Responsibilities Protection?
To qualify for Home Responsibilities Protection in a given tax year since 1978,
a person must have:
• been awarded Child Benefit throughout the year for a child aged under 16;
• regularly spent 35 hours a week throughout the year looking after a person who
received Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance or the middle
or highest care components of Disability Living Allowance for at least 48 weeks
in the year;
• got Income Support throughout the year and did not need to look for work
because they were caring for a disabled person;
• been an approved foster parent throughout the year from 2003; or
• had a combination of some of the above circumstances apply to them.
It can help people who do not do any paid work and those who do some work but
do not have enough earnings in the tax year to make it a qualifying year.
Exclusion from Home Responsibilities Protection
Married women and widows cannot get Home Responsibilities Protection for any
tax year in which they would be paying married women’s reduced rate National
Insurance contributions if they were working. However, women lose their right to
reduced liability if for any two whole consecutive tax years since 6 April 1978,
they have not had any earnings on which Class 1 National Insurance contributions
needed to be paid or treated as paid and they have not been self-employed. This
is known as the two-year test. Unless they are sure what their position is, they
should check it with HMRC. They may find that they no longer have reduced
liability and so can get Home Responsibilities Protection if they claim it or it may
have been awarded to them automatically.
When to claim Home Responsibilities Protection
Since April 2002, Home Responsibilities Protection must be claimed within three
years of providing care if a person is caring for a sick or disabled person. It is
important to regularly let the HMRC know the situation.
People must apply for Home Responsibilities Protection for each tax year using
form CF411 Home Responsibilities Protection form. This will apply if they are:
• looking after someone who is getting Attendance Allowance, Constant
Attendance Allowance or the middle or highest care component of Disability
Living Allowance;
• covered for the whole tax year only by a combination of the qualifying reasons –
for example, if their youngest child reaches 16 in August, and from August to
5 April of that tax year they look after someone who is sick or disabled; or
• a foster carer. (They must also enclose a letter from the local authority or
agency which employs them to confirm that they have been an approved foster
carer throughout the full tax year.)