The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2021

Persons not entitled to council tax reduction: persons treated as not being in Great Britain S

16.—(1) Subject to paragraph (6), a person is not entitled to council tax reduction in respect of a day and a dwelling of which the person is a resident if the person is throughout that day treated as not being in Great Britain in accordance with this regulation.

(2) Subject to paragraph (6), a person is to be treated as not being in Great Britain if that person is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.

(3) A person is not to be treated as habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland unless the person has a right to reside in one of those places.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), a right to reside does not include a right which exists by virtue of, or in accordance with—

(a) regulation 13 of the EEA Regulations (initial right of residence)(1),

(b) regulation 14 of the EEA Regulations (extended right of residence)(2), but only where the right exists under that regulation because the person is—

(i) a jobseeker for the purpose of the definition of “qualified person” in regulation 6(1) of the EEA Regulations, or

(ii) a family member within the meaning of regulation 7 of the EEA Regulations of such a jobseeker,

(c) regulation 16 of the EEA Regulations (derivative right to reside)(3), but only where the right exists because the applicant satisfies the criteria in paragraph (5) of that regulation,

(d) a person having been granted limited leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom under the Immigration Act 1971(4) by virtue of—

(i) Appendix EU to the immigration rules, unless paragraph (5) applies to the person,

(ii) being a person with a Zambrano right to reside as defined in Annex 1 of Appendix EU to the immigration rules, or

(iii) having arrived in the United Kingdom with an entry clearance that was granted under Appendix EU (Family Permit) to the immigration rules.

(5) This paragraph applies to a person who has a right to reside granted by virtue of being a family member of a relevant person of Northern Ireland who would have a right to reside under the EEA Regulations if the relevant person of Northern Ireland were an EEA national, provided that the right to reside does not fall within paragraph (4)(a) or (c).

(6) A person is not to be treated as not being in Great Britain if that person is—

(a) a qualified person for the purposes of regulation 6 of the EEA Regulations(5) as a worker or a self-employed person,

(b) a family member of—

(i) a person referred to in sub-paragraph (a), or

(ii) a relevant person of Northern Ireland with a right to reside which falls within paragraph (4)(d)(i), provided that the relevant person of Northern Ireland falls within sub-paragraph (a) or would do so but for the fact that they are not an EEA national within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the EEA Regulations (general interpretation)(6),

(c) a person who has a right to reside permanently in the United Kingdom by virtue of regulation 15(1)(c), (d) or (e) of the EEA Regulations (right of permanent residence)(7),

(d) a frontier worker within the meaning of regulation 3 of the Citizens’ Rights (Frontier Workers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020(8), or a family member of such a worker where that family member has been granted limited leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom by virtue of Appendix EU of the immigration rules,

(e) a refugee within the definition in Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July 1951(9), as extended by Article 1(2) of the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31 January 1967(10),

(f) a person who has been granted, or is deemed to have been granted, leave outside the immigration rules F1 ...

(g) a person who has humanitarian protection granted under the immigration rules,

(h) a person who is in the United Kingdom as a result of their deportation, expulsion or other removal by compulsion of law from another country to the United Kingdom and is not a person subject to immigration control within the meaning of section 115(9) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999(11),

(i) a person in receipt of a qualifying income-related benefit, but in the case of a person in receipt of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance only where that person has a right to reside other than the rights to reside described in paragraph (4)(a) to (c), F2 ...

(j) a person described in regulation 17(2)(c) or (e) who is posted overseas to perform duties and immediately before the person was so posted, or was first so posted in the case of a series of consecutive postings, the person was habitually resident in the United Kingdom,

[F3 (k) a person granted leave in accordance with the rules referred to in sub-paragraph (f), where such leave is granted by virtue of—

(i) the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, or

(ii) the previous scheme for locally-employed staff in Afghanistan (sometimes referred to as the ex-gratia scheme), F4 ...

(l) a person in Great Britain not coming within sub-paragraph [F5 (f)] or (k) who left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government that took place on 15 August 2021][F6 , F7 ...

(m) a person in Great Britain who was residing in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022, left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion which took place on 24 February 2022 and—

(i) has been granted leave in accordance with the rules referred to in sub-paragraph (f), or

(ii) has a right of abode in the United Kingdom within the meaning of section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 or [F8 does not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in accordance with section 3ZA of that Act]] [F9 , F10 ...

(n) a person in Great Britain who was residing in Sudan before 15 April 2023, left Sudan in connection with the violence which rapidly escalated on 15 April 2023 in Khartoum and across Sudan and—

(i) has been granted leave in accordance with the rules referred to in sub-paragraph (f), or

(ii) has a right of abode in the United Kingdom within the meaning of section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 or does not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in accordance with section 3ZA of that Act][F11 , or

(o) a person in Great Britain who was residing in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights or Lebanon immediately before 7 October 2023, left Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights or Lebanon in connection with the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 or the violence which rapidly escalated in the region following the attack and—

(i) has been granted leave in accordance with the rules referred to in sub-paragraph (f), or

(ii) has a right of abode in the United Kingdom within the meaning of section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 or does not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in accordance with section 3ZA of that Act.]

(7) In this regulation—

(a) “the EEA Regulations” means the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016(12) and references to those Regulations are to be read with schedule 4 of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 (Consequential, Saving, Transitional and Transitory Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020(13),

(b) “EEA national” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the EEA Regulations,

(c) “family member” has the meaning given in regulation 7(1)(a), (b) or (c) of the EEA Regulations, except that regulation 7(4) of those Regulations does not apply for the purposes of paragraph (5) and (6)(b)(ii),

(d) “immigration rules” means the immigration rules made under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971(14), and

(e) “relevant person of Northern Ireland” has the meaning given in Annex 1 of Appendix EU to the immigration rules.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 16(6)(f) omitted (1.4.2023) by virtue of The Council Tax Reduction and Council Tax (Discounts) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/38), regs. 1, 6(a)

F2 Word in reg. 16(6)(i) omitted (31.3.2022) by virtue of The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (S.S.I. 2022/52), regs. 1(2), 5(b)

F3 Reg. 16(6)(k)(l) inserted (31.3.2022) by The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (S.S.I. 2022/52), regs. 1(2), 5(c)

F4 Word in reg. 16(6)(k) omitted (1.4.2023) by virtue of The Council Tax Reduction and Council Tax (Discounts) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/38), regs. 1, 6(b)

F5 Word in reg. 16(6)(l) substituted (1.4.2023) by The Council Tax Reduction and Council Tax (Discounts) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/38), regs. 1, 6(c)

F6 Reg. 16(6)(m) and word inserted (1.4.2023) by The Council Tax Reduction and Council Tax (Discounts) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/38), regs. 1, 6(d)

F7 Word in reg. 16(6)(l) omitted (17.5.2023 at 5.54 p.m.) by virtue of The Social Security (Residence Requirements) (Sudan) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(1), 9(2)(a)

F8 Words in reg. 16(6)(m)(ii) substituted (5.11.2023) by The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/268), regs. 1, 3(3)

F9 Reg. 16(6)(n) and word inserted (17.5.2023 at 5.54 p.m.) by The Social Security (Residence Requirements) (Sudan) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(1), 9(2)(b)

F10 Word in reg. 16(6)(m) omitted (26.10.2023 at 5.38 p.m.) by virtue of The Social Security (Residence and Presence Requirements) (Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Lebanon) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/309), regs. 1(2), 9(2)(a)

F11 Reg. 16(6)(o) and word inserted (26.10.2023 at 5.38 p.m.) by The Social Security (Residence and Presence Requirements) (Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Lebanon) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/309), regs. 1(2), 9(2)(b)

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 16 in force at 1.4.2022, see reg. 1

(1)

S.I. 2016/1052, which were revoked by paragraph 2(2) of schedule 1 of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 (c.20), but are subject to saving provisions in S.I. 2020/1210 and S.I. 2020/1309. Regulation 13 was amended by S.I. 2018/801.

(2)

Regulation 14 was amended by S.I. 2018/801. There is an amendment to regulation 6(1) that is not relevant to this paragraph. Regulation 7 was amended by S.I. 2019/468 and S.I. 2019/1155.

(3)

Regulation 16 was amended by S.I. 2018/801 and S.I. 2019/468.

(4)

1971 c.77.

(5)

Regulation 6 was amended by S.I. 2018/801.

(6)

The definition of “EEA national” was substituted by S.I. 2018/801.

(7)

There was an amendment to regulation 15(4) by S.I 2018/801 that is relevant to this provision.

(8)

S.I. 2020/1213.

(9)

Cmnd 9171.

(10)

Cmnd 3906.

(11)

1999 c.33. Section 115(9) was amended by S.I. 2020/1309.

(12)

S.I. 2016/1052.

(13)

S.I. 2020/1309.

(14)

1971 c.77.