From 10 December 2025, Northern Ireland will place on a statutory footing the continued payment of certain disability and carer benefits to claimants living in an EEA state or Switzerland where EU coordination rules applied on 31 December 2020. The change covers Carer’s Allowance, the care component of Disability Living Allowance and the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment.
Eligibility is tightly defined. A claimant must have been within scope of a relevant EU Regulation on 31 December 2020, must have been in continuous receipt of the relevant benefit since that date, and must not have been habitually resident in the United Kingdom at any point after 31 December 2020. This preserves existing entitlements rather than opening a route for new claims.
The amendments are targeted. They provide for export of Carer’s Allowance, DLA (care component) and PIP (daily living) only; other components, including mobility components, are not expanded by this instrument.
The Department for Communities describes the affected group as a small cohort not explicitly covered by the Withdrawal Agreement or the equivalent EEA EFTA and Swiss arrangements, and confirms that payments have been maintained on an extra‑statutory basis pending legislation. The Regulations now provide legal certainty.
Residence history is critical. A claimant must not have been habitually resident in the UK after 31 December 2020; this familiar test in NI social security law is used here to define who remains within the protected export group, rather than to change how habitual residence is assessed.
For administration, the law requires evidence of continuous receipt from 31 December 2020. Casework will turn on payment and entitlement records rather than fresh applications, with the Department indicating that staff guidance will issue.
The Northern Ireland measure aligns with Great Britain, where a corresponding instrument, S.I. 2025/1198, was made on 17 November and comes into force on 10 December 2025. Parity is maintained across the UK on this specific export of benefits.
For claimants already receiving these payments while living in the EEA or Switzerland, no new claim pathway is created. The Regulations provide the legal basis to continue paying where the conditions are met; they are not a mechanism to start new awards from abroad.
Policy intent has been consistent since the end of the transition period: to avoid unintended loss of support for a defined group who fell outside the precise wording of the international agreements. The Department’s screening found no need for a full equality impact assessment.