Moving Back to the UK - Claiming Benefits

[Guest The Pom Queen]

If you're a UK or an Irish citizen coming to live in the UK from abroad you may want to claim certain means-tested benefits. Depending on how long you've been out of the country, you may have to satisfy the conditions of a test, known as the habitual residence test (HRT) before you're allowed to make a claim.

 

To meet the conditions of the test you must show:

 

you've a legal right to live in the UK and claim these benefits. This is called right to reside and

you intend to settle in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands or Ireland (the 'common travel area') and make it your home for the time being. This is known as habitual residence.

This page explains whether you may need to satisfy the conditions of the HRT when you return to the UK.

 

Getting advice

 

Showing your right to reside and intention to settle in the UK can be difficult. If you're unsure about your rights and status you can get help from an adviser.

 

If you need more help

UK citizens

 

If you're a British citizen you have an automatic right to reside in the UK, as well as in Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. This is known as the common travel area and you will also be considered to be habitually resident in the UK if you've been living in any of these places.

 

However, if you've recently returned to the UK after a period living outside of the common travel area, you may have to show that you satisfy the habitual residence test in order to claim certain means-tested benefits. You should not be subject to the test if you've simply been abroad on a long holiday. In these cases you should be treated as a 'returning resident'. However, if you've spent three months or more living or working abroad you could find yourself subject to the test when you return to the UK, particularly if you no longer have property or close family in the UK.

 

The HRT looks at what ties you already have in the UK and what you are doing to make the UK the centre of your life. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or other benefit agencies will also want to know how much you have cut ties with the country where you were living before. You will be asked a series of questions tailored to your individual circumstances to try and find out this information. You should be ready to give as much evidence and documentation as you can if you are asked these type of questions.

 

The DWP, your local authority or HMRC will decide at what point you can be viewed as habitually resident, depending on how long you have been away, why you were abroad, and what ties you kept with the UK during this time.

 

Rules that came into force on 1 January 2014 mean that, if you're claiming income-based jobseeker's allowance and do need to show that you are habitually resident, you cannot be viewed as habitually resident until you've been living in the UK or elsewhere in the common travel area for at least three months. This means that if you claim income-based jobseeker's allowance immediately on your return to the UK from outside this area you won't receive this benefit for at least three months.

 

If you're planning to move back to the UK and you think you will need means-tested benefits and housing straight away, think about how you would cope if you can't meet the conditions of the HRT for three months or more

 

Irish citizens

 

Irish citizens automatically have a right to reside in the UK as part of the common travel area. If you were habitually resident in Ireland or any of the other places in the common travel area before you came to the UK, you will automatically satisfy the conditions of the HRT.

 

However, if you come to the UK from a country outside the common travel area, you will have to prove you're habitually resident here to meet those conditions. As with UK citizens returning from abroad, from 1 January 2014 you cannot satisfy the HRT in order to claim income-based jobseeker's allowance until you have been living in the UK for at least three months.

 

 

 

If you're an EEA national and want to claim certain means-tested benefits, you must normally meet the conditions of the habitual residence test. The purpose of the test is to show whether you have the right to live in the UK (known as the right to reside) and whether you intend to settle in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, or Ireland (the 'Common Travel Area') for the time being (this is known as habitual residence).

 

Even if you satisfy the habitual residence test you must also satisfy the normal conditions for the benefit you are claiming. For example, if you are claiming income-based jobseeker's allowance you must show that you are unemployed and that you are available for and actively seeking work.

 

This page explains what you need to know about the habitual residence test.

 

Getting advice

 

Showing your right to reside and intention to settle in the UK can be difficult. If you're unsure about anything, seek the help of an adviser.

 

If you need more help

 

What is the habitual residence test

 

The habitual residence test (HRT) is carried out on most EEA nationals who apply for benefits. The habitual residence part of the test is also carried out on some UK nationals who have been living or working abroad. However, UK nationals automatically have the right to reside so don't have to satisfy the right to reside part of the HRT.

 

To satisfy the test you must show:

 

you have a right to reside in the UK. This means you have a right to live here, and

you intend to settle in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands or Ireland (the Common Travel Area) and make it your home for the time being. This is known as habitual residence.

The right to reside part of the HRT was introduced in May 2004. If you're an EEA national who was entitled to income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, pension credit, housing benefit or council tax benefit on 30 April 2004 you don't have to satisfy the right to reside part of the test if you have not had any break in your claim. You may still need to show that you are habitually resident in the Common Travel Area.

 

You can argue that you have a right to reside if you:

 

are working or self-employed

are jobseeking

are a former worker

are self-sufficient

are a student

have been living in the UK for at least five years and have acquired a permanent right to reside

are the primary carer of a child who themselves has the right to reside

are the family member of someone with the right to reside.

You are working or self-employed

 

You are are a jobseeker

 

You are a former worker

 

You are self-sufficient

 

You are a student

 

You have been living in the UK for at least five years

 

You look after a child

 

You are a family member of an EEA national

 

Even if you can show that you have a right to reside you may still need to show that you are habitually resident.

 

You will be asked questions to find out if you satisfy the habitual residence test. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) will then decide whether you have a right to reside and, if they decide that you do, they will then decide whether you are habitually resident. If you do not satisfy the test you will be refused most means-tested benefits. If this happens to you you should seek advice.

 

What benefits does the test apply to?

 

The habitual residence test applies to claims for the following benefits:

 

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Pension Credit

Housing Benefit

Council Tax Reduction

Universal Credit

The right to reside part of the test also applies to Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit, but you don't have to show you are habitually resident to claim these benefits. Instead you have to show that you are 'ordinarily resident'. If you have come to the UK since 1 July 2014 and you are not a worker or self-employed, for example, you are a jobseeker, you need to live in the UK for at least three months before you can claim Child Tax Credits or Child Benefit. However, this rule will not apply to you if you were previously ordinarily resident in the UK and have returned to the UK after an absence of less than one year.

 

You may need to seek advice if you want to claim Child Tax Credits or Child Benefit.

 

Some people are exempt from the habitual residence part of the test. If you are exempt you will not have to show that you are habitually resident. For example, you may be exempt if you:

 

are a refugee or have been granted discretionary leave or leave under humanitarian rules

have been granted leave under a domestic violence concession

are not subject to immigration control and have been deported, expelled or removed from another country to the UK

are an EEA worker or an EEA self-employed person, or a family member of that person

are an EEA national who has worked in the UK but is now unable to work because of incapacity, or involuntary unemployment, or you have retired, or you are the family member of that person.

You are not exempt from the test if you are a jobseeker.

 

 

 

Immigration control

 

If you're a non-EEA and non-UK national you may be subject to immigration control and you can't normally claim benefits. Making a claim may affect your right to stay in the UK.

 

You are subject to immigration control if you:

 

need permission to enter or remain in the UK but don't yet have it

have permission to enter or remain in the UK only if you don't claim benefits or use other public services

were given permission to enter or remain in the UK because someone formally agreed to support you.