The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2013

Claimants subject to no work-related requirements

47.—(1) A claimant falls within section 11D of the Act (persons subject to no work-related requirements) if they are a claimant who—

(a) has caring responsibilities for one or more severely disabled persons for at least 35 hours a week but does not meet the conditions of entitlement to a carer’s allowance;

(b) is the responsible foster parent of a child under the age of one;

(c) is an adopter and it is 52 weeks or less since—

(i) the date on which the child was placed with the claimant; or

(ii) if the claimant requested that the 52 weeks should run from a date within 14 days before the child was expected to be placed, that date;

(d) has been enrolled on, been accepted for or is undertaking, a full-time course of study or training which is not a course of advanced education and—

(i) is under the age of 21, or is 21 and reached that age whilst undertaking the course; and

(ii) is without parental support;

(e) is entitled to an employment and support allowance which is payable at a nil rate;

(f) is pregnant and it is 11 weeks or less before her expected week of confinement; or

(g) was pregnant and it is 15 weeks or less since the date of her confinement.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), for the purposes of section 11D of the Act, a person has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person if the person—

(a) satisfies the conditions for entitlement to a carer’s allowance; or

(b) would satisfy those conditions but for the fact that their earnings have exceeded the limit prescribed for the purposes of that allowance.

(3) A person does not have regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person if the person derives earnings from those caring responsibilities.

(4) Paragraph (2) applies whether or not the person has made a claim for a carer’s allowance.

(5) In this regulation—

“adopter” means a person who has been matched with a child for adoption and who is, or is intended to be, the responsible carer for the child, but excluding a person who is a foster parent or close relative of the child;

“matched with a child for adoption” means an adoption agency has decided that the person would be a suitable adoptive parent for the child;

“severely disabled” has the meaning in section 70 of the Contributions and Benefits Act(1);

“without parental support” means the person is not being looked after by a local authority and—

(a)

has no parent (in this definition, “parent” includes any person acting in the place of a parent);

(b)

cannot live with their parents because the person is estranged from them or there is a serious risk—

(i)

to the person’s physical or mental health; or

(ii)

that the person would suffer significant harm if the person lived with them; or

(c)

is living away from their parents, and neither parent is able to support the person financially because that parent—

(i)

has a physical or mental impairment;

(ii)

is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court; or

(iii)

is prohibited from entering or re-entering Great Britain.

(1)

Section 70 was amended by S.I.s 1994/2556, 2002/1457 and 2011/2426.