The Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006

Persons from abroad

10.—(1) A person from abroad who is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling shall be treated as if he were not so liable but this paragraph shall not have effect in respect of a person to whom and for a period to which regulation 10A (entitlement of a refugee to housing benefit) and Schedule A1(1) (treatment of claims for housing benefit by refugees) apply.

(2) In paragraph (1) “person from abroad” also means any person other than a person to whom paragraph (3) applies who is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland, but for this purpose no person shall be treated as not habitually resident in the United Kingdom who is—

(a) a worker for the purposes of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 or (EEC) No 1251/70 or a person with a right to reside in the United Kingdom pursuant to Council Directive No 68/360/EEC or No 73/148/EEC or a person who is an accession State worker requiring registration who is treated as a worker for the purpose of the definition of “qualified person” in regulation 5(1) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2000(2) pursuant to regulation 5 of the Accession (Immigration and Worker Registration) Regulations 2004(3); or

(b) a refugee; or

(c) a person who has been granted exceptional leave to enter the United Kingdom by an immigration officer within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971(4), or to remain in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State; or

(d) a person who is not a person subject to immigration control within the meaning of section 115(9) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999(5) and who is in the United Kingdom as a result of his deportation, expulsion or other removal by compulsion of law from another country to the United Kingdom.

(3) This paragraph applies to a person who—

(a) is on state pension credit; or

(b) is in Great Britain and who left the territory of Montserrat after 1st November 1995 because of the effect on that territory of a volcanic eruption.

(4) In this regulation, for the purposes of the definition of a person from abroad no person shall be treated as habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland if he does not have a right to reside in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.

(5) Paragraph (1) of Part 1 of the Schedule to, and regulation 2 as it applies to that paragraph of, the Social Security (Immigration and Asylum) Consequential Amendments Regulations 2000(6) shall not apply to a person who has been temporarily without funds for any period, or the aggregate of any periods, exceeding 42 days during any one period of limited leave (including any such period as extended).

(6) In this regulation—

“a European Economic Area State” means a Member State or Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Austria or Finland;

“refugee” in this regulation means a person recorded by the Secretary of State as a refugee within the definition in Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees(7).

(1)

See the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/217), regulation 7 and Schedule 4, paragraph 2 for regulation 10A and Schedule A1 (claims by refugees).

(2)

S.I. 2000/2326, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(3)

S.I. 2004/1219.

(4)

1971 c. 77.

(5)

1999 c. 33.

(6)

S.I. 2000/636.

(7)

Cmd. 9171.