Excuse me for joining in here, I hope I'm not totaly out of order, but I'm wondering about the wording in Gipimann's reply, namely "outside the home for more than 15 hours a week". I care for my elderly parent with whom I live, and I work from home as well. I work "full time" but it's very much on a flexible arrangement with my employer which means I work quite a lot at night, over the weekends and on holidays. I'm grateful for an understanding employer but it's still extremely difficult to keep on top of everything. In the past I was advised by various people to apply for some kind of carers assistance and the respite allowance but I understood from everything I could find to read on the subject that the work limit was 15 hours per week, full stop. I am struggling financially, and while my parent does contribute to the shopping, it's on a hit or miss basis, mostly due to forgetfulness and a total ignorance of the cost of things. I make up the balance for everything, I pay totally for the running of the car which isn't mine and I pay for quite a lot of the routine maintenance of the house, which also isn't mine. Was I wrong to think that I am automatically ruled out because I work? I would normally be out of the house just for weekly grocery shopping, and a document pick up from head office about every two weeks. Other than that, I am on call day and night here. Is it worth while applying or would I just be laying out the private details of my life to strangers, privacy gone and nothing achieved? I'd be grateful for any advice at all, starting to feel very vulnerable these days!