Informal carer allowance: how much does a self-employed person receive when they stop work to care for a loved one?

Who can apply for the informal carer allowance?

The allowance is for self-employed people, their helpers and assisting spouses who temporarily stop their activity to look after a loved one. It is open whether you are self-employed as a main or a secondary occupation, and even after pension age, provided you pay at least the provisional contributions of someone self-employed as a main occupation.

That last point rules out most people self-employed as a secondary occupation, who contribute on a reduced basis. There is also a payment condition: the contributions for the 2 quarters before the start of the break must have been paid. Late payment can therefore shut the door just when you need it.

Your relationship with the person you care for matters as much as your status. For family, the limit is the second degree, in-laws included: your parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and, by marriage, those of your spouse. An uncle, an aunt or a cousin only open the right if they are registered at your address.

• A seriously ill relative or one in palliative care: partner, relative or in-law up to the second degree, or anyone registered at your address.
• A disabled child under 25.

How much is the allowance, and for how long?

The allowance is a flat monthly amount: €1,704.40 if you stop your activity completely, €852.20 if you reduce it by at least 50%. It does not depend on your income. The break must last at least 1 month, unless the person being cared for dies before then.

Each application covers 6 months at most. You can submit several, but the total never exceeds 12 months over your whole career. So it is better to pace yourself: a few months for a parent at the end of life can use up part of the credit you may need later for a child.

Payment starts in the month after the start of the break, unless the break begins on the first day of a month. Stopping on 15 November opens the allowance in December; so does stopping on 1 December. For a full allowance, setting your stop date on the first of the month avoids losing half a month.

Do you have to keep paying social security contributions?

Yes, in principle: you remain self-employed during the break, and your contributions remain due. The exception is a full break. Each period of 3 consecutive months of allowance opens one quarter in which your social security rights are maintained without contributions, up to 4 quarters over your career.

In practice, 6 months of full break give two quarters without contributions, with your pension and healthcare rights preserved. A partial reduction does not open this maintenance of rights: you have to keep paying. If your income drops during this period, you can ask your fund for a reduction in provisional contributions, and the contributions simulator works out the saving.

How do you apply without losing months?

You apply to your social insurance fund. The allowance can start no earlier than one month before the date of the application: if you apply three months after stopping, you lose two months of allowance. The right reflex is to submit the file as soon as the date of the break is set.

A typical case shows this. A graphic designer, self-employed as a main occupation, stops completely on 1 February to be with her mother in palliative care and applies on 10 February, with a certificate: the allowance runs from February. If she waits until 10 May, the allowance can only go back to 10 April, and both February and March are lost.

For a seriously ill relative or one in palliative care, attach a medical certificate on the seriousness of the illness or the palliative care. For a partial break, explain how you are reducing your activity by at least 50%. If the break goes on beyond the allowance, see whether the bridging right or income protection insurance can take over.

Further reading

The pages on this site that explore each of the points covered here in more depth.

• Foster care parental leave for the self-employedTaking in a foster child: leave paid by the health insurance fund.
• Birth leave for the self-employed: days and allowanceThe other break paid by the NISSE, when a child is born.
• Social and private protection for the self-employedWhat the NISSE, the health insurance fund and private insurance cover.
• Bridging right: conditions and pitfallsThe NISSE's other allowance, when you are forced to stop your activity.
• Incapacity for work: what a self-employed person receivesIf it is you, and not a loved one, who falls ill.
• Contribution exemptions and reductionsEasing your contributions when income drops during the break.
• Social security contributions simulatorWork out your contributions on a reduced income.

Frequently asked questions