The Social Security (Habitual Residence and Past Presence) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021

Regulation 1 provides for citation and commencement.

Regulations 2 and 3 enable certain persons to access income-related benefits upon arrival in Northern Ireland from Afghanistan, provided they meet the other relevant entitlement conditions.

Those regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (“the State Pension Credit Regulations”), the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 and the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the Universal Credit Regulations”) - “the income-related benefit regulations”.

The income-related benefit regulations provide that a person is ineligible for benefit where he or she is a “person from abroad”, “a person not in Northern Ireland” (for the purposes of the State Pension Credit Regulations), or “a person treated as not being in Northern Ireland” (for the purposes of the Universal Credit Regulations); that is to say where he or she is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland, subject to a list of exceptions. The amendments made by these Regulations insert a new category of persons into the list of persons who are exempted from having to satisfy the habitual residence test. Those persons are those to whom leave is granted under the immigration rules by virtue of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the previous scheme for locally-employed staff in Afghanistan (otherwise known as the ex-gratia scheme) or to whom leave is granted under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. A further category of persons not coming within the schemes is also inserted, provided that they arrived in Northern Ireland from Afghanistan in connection with the fall of the Afghan government that took place on 15th August 2021.

Regulation 4 enables certain persons to access disability and carer’s benefits upon arrival in Northern Ireland from Afghanistan, provided they meet the other relevant entitlement conditions.

That regulation amends the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1976, the Social Security (Attendance Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992, the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 and the Personal Independence Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, to exempt those arriving under a Home Office scheme from the past presence test and the habitual residence test. These are the tests which normally have to be fulfilled in order to claim Carer’s Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment respectively. The past presence test normally requires that an individual has been present in Northern Ireland for a specified period of time to be eligible for those benefits.

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.