The Housing Benefit and State Pension Credit (Temporary Absence) (Amendment) Regulations 2016

Transitional provisions

5.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), regulations 2 and 3 shall not apply in respect of a person who is temporarily absent from Great Britain on 28th July 2016 until the day that person returns to Great Britain.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person who, on 28th July 2016, is temporarily absent from Great Britain and is—

(a) a member of Her Majesty’s forces posted overseas;

(b) absent in the capacity of a continental shelf worker; or

(c) absent in the capacity of a mariner.

(3) Regulation 4 shall not apply in respect of a person who is temporarily absent from Great Britain on 28th July 2016 until the day that person returns to Great Britain.

(4) In this regulation—

“continental shelf worker” means a person who is employed, whether under a contract of service or not, in a designated area or a prescribed area in connection with any activity mentioned in section 11(2) of the Petroleum Act 1998;

“designated area” means any area which may from time to time be designated by Order in Council under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 as an area within which the rights of the United Kingdom with respect to the seabed and subsoil and their natural resources may be exercised;

“mariner” means a person who is employed under a contract of service either as a master or member of the crew of any ship or vessel, or in any other capacity on board any ship or vessel, where—

(a)

the employment in that capacity is for the purposes of that ship or vessel or its crew or any passengers or cargo or mails carried by the ship or vessel; and

(b)

the contract is entered into in the United Kingdom with a view to its performance (in whole or in part) while the ship or vessel is on its voyage;

“member of Her Majesty’s forces posted overseas” means a person who is a member of the regular forces or the reserve forces (within the meaning of section 374 of the Armed Forces Act 2006), who is absent from the dwelling that the person normally occupies as his home because the person has been posted outside of Great Britain to perform the duties of a member of Her Majesty’s regular forces or reserve forces; and

“prescribed area” means any area over which Norway or any member State (other than the United Kingdom) exercises sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring the seabed and subsoil and exploiting their natural resources, being an area outside the territorial seas of Norway or such member State, or any other area which is from time to time specified under section 10(8) of the Petroleum Act 1998.