Jersey / Guernsey reciprocal agreement

Saw a case yesterday where the claimant has been refused Carers Allowance because until recently she was living in the Channel Islands and therefore failed the 2/3 years past presence in GB test.

I found a reciprocal agreement from 1994 in which the UK recognises residence in Jersey or Guernsey (where the client was) as qualifying residence for Attendance Allowance, but I could not find anything that updates it to include the modern day suite of disability and carers’ benefits.  Given the thematic similarities between the residence and presence tests for all these benefits, you would expect there to be something.

Anyone had a similar case and did you persuade DWP to recognise residence in CI as residence in GB?

Thanks

Regulation 10B and 12 of the Social Security (Persons from Abroad ) Regulations 1975 SI1975/563 should cover it

F1Modification of the Act in relation to invalid care allowance

10B.  A person shall not be disqualified for receiving [F2 a carer’s allowance] by reason of being absent from Great Britain.]

F1 Reg. 10B inserted (12.4.1976) by The Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations 1976 (S.I. 1976/409), regs. 1, 20

F2 Words in reg. 10B substituted (1.4.2003) by The Social Security Amendment (Carer’s Allowance) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2497), reg. 1(b), Sch. 2 paras. 1, 2

Modification of the Act in relation to the Channel Islands
12.—(1) Notwithstanding any provision of the Act or of these regulations a person shall not—

(a)be disqualified for receiving any benefit under the Act by reason of absence from Great BritainF1…;
(b)be disentitled to a maternity grant in respect of a confinement outside Great Britain; or
(c)be disqualified for receiving a death grant in respect of a death occurring outside Great Britain,
if that person is, or, as the case may be, that confinement or that death occurred, in any part of the Channel Islands which is not subject to an order made under section 143 of the Act or section 105 of the former Principal Act.

(2) A person who—

(a)(i)is in any part of the Channel Islands which is not the subject of an order made under section 143 of the Act or section 84 of the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1965, or
(ii)is going from (or to) Great Britain to (or from) such a part of the Channel Islands; and who
(b)suffers an industrial accident in the course of his employment (being employed earner’s employment by virtue of regulation 94 of the Contributions Regulations),
shall, subject to the provisions of section 51 of the Act, be treated as if the employment were employed earner’s employment for the purposes of industrial injuries and as if the accident occurred in Great Britain.

F1Words in reg. 12(1)(a) omitted (7.10.1996) by virtue of The Social Security and Child Support (Jobseeker’s Allowance) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1345), regs. 1, 15(2)

Thanks Stainsby.

Doesn’t quite nail it, does it: nothing there that specifically provides for aggregation of past presence.

Found in my somewhat out-of-date Benefits for Migrants handbook (2014 addition) a list of reciprocal agreements and what they cover.  Worryingly, it seems to confirm that, at least in 2014, Carers Allowance was excluded from the Jersey/Guernsey reciprocal arrangements

The 1994 Agreement and Order are the most recent. There was a past presence test in what would have still been Invalid Care Allowance at that time and evidently it was not included in the agreement. According to the chart at DMG 070333 only the Isle of Man agreement covers Carers Allowance and all of the others omit it.

The provision Derek refers to is rather curious but I am not sure it helps. Reg 12 applies only to the extent that the relevant part of the Channel Islands is “not subject to an order made under section 143 of the Act or section 105 of the former Principal Act.”  - i.e. to somewhere in which no reciprocal agreement has been reached. Essentially it seems to be there to hold the position where there is no agreement in place. Apparently, in 1976, there was no reciprocal agreement with Guernsey although there was one with Jersey.

Thanks Elliot.  I’ll pass on the bad news