Carer's Allowance

Muttleythefrog

Quickly checking my understanding of the rules are correct.

My estranged wife gets Universal Credit with carer element. She intends to drop her UC claim (and any income related other support) when she receives inheritance. To get that inheritance she's going to have to help the executor outside of the UK and it is unclear how long she'd have to stay out of the country to assist. 

Her idea was to claim Carer's Allowance upon return from being abroad (having dropped UC after exceeding a month abroad). Am I correct in saying the previous 6 months without more than 28 days abroad rule would not apply with a new application like this or would she indeed face no entitlement until those >28 days are beyond 6 months from claim start date?

If she were to start her claim now and in due course go abroad for more than 28 days and so lose the award would standard procedure be to wait until the >28 days period abroad was outside the last 6 months and reclaim?

NedS

I don't know the rules for Carers Allowance, but I wonder if this may help from the general eligibility page:

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

• You’ve been in England, Scotland or Wales for at least 2 of the last 3 years 
• You normally live in England, Scotland or Wales

Robbie64

If she was to claim now and knew in advance her absence abroad would be longer than 28 days, from what I can see, her CA would cease upon leaving the country and not after 28 days. I have CPAG's Welfare Rights Handbook and skim read through the chapter on Carer's Allowance but couldn't really find an answer to your specific questions.

However, what NedS has posted is mentioned in the handbook. The Carer's Allowance form asks if a person has lived in GB throughout the three years prior to the date the claim runs from and if not, asks for details of any absences including date(s) and a question asking the reason for being abroad.