NIM41335 - Home Responsibilities Protection: what is HRP and who qualifies for it: as a foster parent or foster carer

Definition of ‘foster parent’ in regulations 1(2); and regulations 2(2)(c) and 2(5)(aa) of the Social Security Pensions (Home Responsibilities) Regulations 1994 (SI 1994/704) (the 1994 regulations)

Section 44A (2)(c)(ii) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act (SSCBA) 1992

“Foster parent” is a person approved as a:

• foster parent in accordance with the provisions of Part IV of the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 (approval of foster parents); or
• foster carer in accordance with the provisions of Part II of the Fostering of Children (Scotland) Regulations 1996 (approval of foster carers)

Foster parents are entitled to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) for any tax year(s) from 6 April 2003 to 5 April 2010 throughout which they were an approved foster parent or foster carer. They do not normally receive Child Benefit for the children that they care for.

To claim HRP, foster parents had to complete form CF411 and provide a ‘letter of confirmation’ that they had been appropriately registered as a foster parent/carer throughout the relevant tax year. The ‘letter of confirmation’ was available from the local authority or fostering agency with which they were registered.

Entitlement to HRP was not dependent on the foster parent having a child living with them for 52 weeks of the year. It was awarded to those who were registered as foster parents for a whole tax year.

A foster parent could qualify for HRP if they were registered for only part of a tax year, if, for the remainder of that tax year they were regularly engaged, for at least 35 hours per week, in caring for a person in respect of whom there was payable certain prescribed benefits. See NIM41340.

Unlike the HRP awarded to other carers or parents, the HRP awarded to registered foster parents does not count towards their entitlement to a State Second Pension (see section 44A(2)(c)(ii) of the SSCBA 1992).