NIM41325 - Home Responsibilities Protection: what was HRP and who qualified for it: overview of conditions for entitlement

Regulation 2 of the Social Security Pensions (Home Responsibilities) Regulations 1994 (SI 1994/704) (the 1994 regulations)

Conditions for entitlement to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP)

To be entitled to HRP a person had to be precluded from regular employment by responsibilities at home for a full tax year (i.e. tax years 1978 to 2010) throughout which they satisfied at least one of the following conditions:

  1. Child Benefit was awarded to them for a child under 16, see NIM41330 and NIM41331.
  2. Child Benefit was awarded to their partner (defined as someone they resided with and shared the care of a child with) for a child under 16.
  3. They received Income Support because they were caring for a sick or disabled person, see NIM41345.
  4. They were registered as a foster parent throughout the year 2003 to 2004 or any subsequent tax year, see NIM41335,
  5. They were regularly engaged (for at least 35 hours per week) in caring for a person in respect of whom prescribed disability benefits were paid; and those disability benefits were payable to that person for at least 48 weeks of the year, see NIM41340.

A person is also entitled to HRP if they satisfy one of the conditions 1 to 4 above for part of the year and condition 5 for the remainder of that year; in that case, the requirement that the person cared for received disability benefits for at least 48 weeks of the year does not apply.

Example

A person was in receipt of Child Benefit from 6 April to August of a tax year. They were also in receipt of Income Support and not required to be available for work because they were caring for an adult family member until the end of the tax year. They are entitled to HRP as they were precluded from employment, within the meaning of regulations, for the whole of the tax year.

Applications for HRP

HMRC awards HRP automatically if the:

  • first condition is satisfied and the person supplied the required information to the Child Benefit Office
  • third condition is satisfied

HMRC requires an application for HRP on form CF411 for the second, fourth and fifth conditions (see NIM41335, NIM41340 and NIM41350).

Married women and widows with a reduced rate election

As a general rule a married woman or widow was not eligible for HRP for any year where, at the start of the year, they held a Married Woman’s or Widow’s Reduced Rate election. For more information about such elections, see NIM30000.

Regulation 2(6) of the 1994 regulations provides an exception for women (or widows) who, throughout the period from 6 April 1975 to 5 April 1980, held such an election but had no earnings on which Class 1 NICs were payable and were not at any time a self-employed earner (i.e. she did not work during this period). Under these circumstances, HMRC disregards her election for HRP purposes. In effect, HMRC treats the election as if it lapsed from 5 April 1978 and awards HRP from 6 April 1978 onwards provided other entitlement conditions are satisfied.