No past presence test

To be eligible for Carer Support Payment, carers normally have to meet a ‘past presence test’. The ‘past presence test’ is a residence requirement that means the carer needs to have been ‘present; in the Common Travel Area for 26 of the past 52 weeks on their chosen award start date. The Common Travel Area is the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.

If a carer applying for Carer Support Payment is terminally ill, or they are caring for someone who is terminally ill, they do not have to meet the ‘past presence test’. The other residence requirements will apply as normal (CSP regs, Regulation 6(6)).

If a client is exempt from the past presence test based on terminal illness, but would otherwise fail the test, their award can only start from the date the relevant disability benefit was awarded under special rules, and where all other eligibility criteria were met on this date. The relevant disability benefit is the benefit paid to either the carer or cared for person under either SRTI for devolved Scottish benefits or SREL for reserved DWP or NIDfC administered benefits.

Where any other eligibility criteria have only been met for some of the period since the relevant disability benefit was awarded, the client should only be paid from the first date after the award week that they met all of the criteria.

Past presence exemption for backdated claims

To ensure that carers are not disadvantaged by living in a local authority outside of the initial pilot areas for Carer Support Payment, eligible clients will be able to backdate their applications as far as 19 November 2023 if they apply within 13 weeks of the benefit being available in their local authority area, or later if they have a good reason for not applying within the 13 weeks.

If a client has been exempted from the past presence test due to terminal illness, it won’t be possible to backdate their claim past 19 November 2023 when the Carer Support Payment regulations came into force. This is because there is no equivalent exemption for Carer’s Allowance so the client would not have qualified for Carer’s Allowance at this time.

The date that Carer Support Payment can be paid to a client who would otherwise fail the past presence test but is exempt based on terminal illness is from the date of award of the relevant disability benefit, given that all other eligibility criteria have been met during this period. This is a disability benefit paid to either the carer or cared for person under either SRTI for devolved Scottish benefits or SREL for reserved DWP or NIDfC administered benefits. Where all other eligibility criteria have only been met for some of the period since the relevant disability benefit was awarded, the client should only be paid for the period in which both the disability benefit was awarded under special rules and all other eligibility criteria were met. 

If a client has been exempted from the past presence test due to terminal illness, it won’t be possible to backdate their claim past 19 November 2023 when the Carer Support Payment regulations came into force. This is because there is no equivalent exemption for Carer’s Allowance so the client would not have qualified for Carers Allowance and this is a prerequisite for backdating Carer Support Payment to prior to 19 November 2023.