If you need to take a break from caring, special rules will be used to decide whether your Carer's Allowance will continue or be suspended.

The basic rules are below. However, they are quite complicated, so you will need to get some specialist advice.

Basic rules

If you have been receiving Carer's Allowance for 22 weeks or more out of the last 26 weeks (or you can show that you would have qualified for it during this period):

• you can take up to four weeks holiday every six months without losing your Carer's Allowance; and
• if you or the person you care for goes into hospital, you can get Carer's Allowance for a further eight weeks (giving a total limit of 12 weeks off caring every six months); but
• your Carer's Allowance will stop before you reach the 12-week limit if the person you care for loses their disability benefit.

Top

Your Carer's allowance will be stopped if you have a break and have been caring for less than 22 weeks out of the last 26 (or 14 weeks out of the last 26 if the reason you didn't give care was because you, or the person you care for, was in hospital).

Find out more about what happens to benefits during hospital stays in the section on Going to Hospital.

Keeping track

When you have a break from caring you must always inform the Carer's Allowance Unit where you made your claim (or the Disability and Carer's Service in Northern Ireland). They will add up the amount of time you have off in each six-month period from the date your Carer's Allowance starts.

If you are taking quite a bit of time off from caring, keep a diary to track the breaks you have. This will help you to plan the maximum amount of time off without losing your benefit.

See our Carer's Allowance section for further information.