The Habitual Residence Test applies to the following benefits:

• Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland) 
• Attendance Allowance 
• Best Start Grant (in Scotland), but only if you are under 20 and not in receipt of a qualifying benefit 
• Carer's Allowance 
• Child Disability Payment (in Scotland)
• Council Tax Support 
• Disability Living Allowance 
• Housing Benefit  
• Income Support* 
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance* 
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance* 
• Pension Credit 
• Personal Independence Payment 
• Universal Credit 
• Young Carer Grant (in Scotland) 

* Note it is no longer possible to make a new claim for income support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or income-based Jobseekers Allowance.   

For all the benefits listed above, you must satisfy the Habitual Residence Test when you claim and continue to do so as it is an on-going requirement. This means your benefit could stop if you no longer satisfy the Habitual Residence Test. 

The Habitual Residence Test applies to the claimant.  If you live with a partner and claim Universal Credit you must make a joint claim and therefore the Habitual Residence Test applies to both partners.  If you satisfy, or are exempt from, the Habitual Residence Test, but your partner fails this test, Universal Credit is paid to you as a single person, but your partner’s income and capital are still taken into account.   

For the following means-tested benefits, to satisfy the Habitual Residence Test, you must be ‘habitually resident in fact’, and also satisfy the right to reside test: 

• Council Tax Support 
• Housing Benefit  
• Income Support 
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance 
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance 
• Pension Credit 
• Universal Credit 

For the following benefits, to satisfy the Habitual Residence Test, you must be ‘habitually resident in fact’: 

• Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland) 
• Attendance Allowance
• Best Start Grant (in Scotland), but only if you are under 20 and not in receipt of a qualifying benefit 
• Carer's Allowance
• Child Disability Payment (in Scotland) 
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment
• Young Carer Grant (in Scotland) 

When am I ‘habitually resident in fact’? 

To be ‘habitually resident in fact’ you must show that you are living in the ‘Common Travel Area’ and  have a ‘settled intention’ to continue living here for the time being.

In most cases, you also need to have been actually resident in the ‘Common Travel Area’ for an ‘appreciable period’. 

How long this period has to be is not fixed, and depends on your circumstances.

Between one and three months residence is required in most cases, but it can be shorter.

The stronger the evidence of your ‘settled intention’, the shorter the period that counts as an ‘appreciable period’ for you.

You may be accepted as habitually resident sooner if you were previously habitually resident here, but went abroad for a significant period and are now returning to live here. 

The habitual residence test applies to all claimants, including if you are a British citizen who lived abroad and have now returned to the Common Travel Area. 

You are exempt from the Habitual Residence Test for means-tested benefits if: 

• You are a refugee or have humanitarian protection. 
• You lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish  
• You left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and you have leave in the UK 
• You left Sudan in connection with the violence that escalated from April 2023 and you were living in Sudan before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• You have been granted leave outside the Immigration Rules - including Discretionary Leave and Destitution Domestic Violence Concessionary Leave. 
• You are not subject to immigration control and have been deported, expelled or removed from another country to the UK 
• You are an EEA national who has a ‘worker’ or ‘self-employed’ status  in the UK, including if you have retained that status 
• You are a family member of someone in either of the above two groups.   
• You are an EEA national with a permanent right to reside due to having ceased work because you retired or became permanently incapable of work – or you are the family member of such an EEA national and were when they stopped work 

For council tax support, the groups exempt from the Habitual Residence Test are broadly the same as for housing benefit and are therefore broadly those listed above.  However, there are some slight differences and these vary between England, Wales and Scotland.  If you are refused council tax support, get advice. 

For Young Carer Grant (in Scotland), you are exempt from the Habitual Residence Test if: 

• You are a refugee or have humanitarian protection. 
• You lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish  
• You left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and you have leave in the UK 
• You left Sudan in connection with the violence that escalated from April 2023 and you were living in Sudan before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• You have been granted leave outside the Immigration Rules including Discretionary Leave and Destitution Domestic Violence Concessionary Leave. 
• You are not subject to immigration control and have been deported, expelled or removed from another country to the UK.

For Best Start Grant (in Scotland), you are exempt from the Habitual Residence Test if you receive a qualifying benefit, or if: 

• You are a refugee or have humanitarian protection. 
• You lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish  
• You left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and you have leave in the UK 
• You left Sudan in connection with the violence that escalated from April 2023 and you were living in Sudan before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• You have been granted leave outside the Immigration Rules -– including Discretionary Leave and Destitution Domestic Violence Concessionary Leave. 
• You are not subject to immigration control and have been deported, expelled or removed from another country to the UK.

For Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland), Attendance Allowance, Carers Allowance, Child Disability Payment (in Scotland), Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment, you are exempt from the Habitual Residence Test (and also exempt from the past presence test) if: 

• You are a refugee or have humanitarian protection. 
• You lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish  
• You left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and you have leave in the UK
• You left Sudan in connection with the violence that escalated from April 2023 and you were living in Sudan before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish

For these six benefits you are exempt from the the Habitual Residence Test (and also treated as present for the presence and past presence tests, and treated as ordinarily resident for Child and Adult Disability Payments in Scotland) if you are abroad because you are serving in the armed forces or living with a close family member who is.   

If you have been refused benefit because you failed the habitual residence test: 

• If you have claimed a means-tested benefit check whether the benefit authority considers that you do not have a qualifying right to reside or that you are not ‘habitually resident in fact’. If this is not clear from the decision, ask the benefit authority for a written statement of reasons for the decision.  
• You can challenge the decision by asking for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the decision being made. You can get help from a local advice centre. 
• If the mandatory reconsideration is refused you can appeal. 
• You should also make a new claim even if you are challenging the decision.  This is because the benefit authority or Tribunal can only look at your circumstances at the date of the decision and not since.  You may qualify on a new claim because your circumstances have changed – for example if the benefit authority considers that you are not ‘habitually resident in fact’ because you have only lived in the Common Travel Area for a very short period, simply living here for longer may mean you are accepted as having resided here for an ‘appreciable period.’ 
• Check if you fit into one of the groups exempt from the Habitual Residence Test. 
• The habitual residence test applies to the claimant. If you claimed pension credit, housing benefit or council tax support and your partner has a better chance of passing the test, they can make a new claim and include you in their claim (and you can still challenge the refusal of your earlier claim). This is also the case if you claimed Housing Benefit and your partner are both pension age, or you are living in temporary or supported accommodation. Note: this does not apply for Universal Credit because both partners need to make a joint claim and both need to satisfy the Habitual Residence Test. 

You should get welfare benefits advice if you have failed the Habitual Residence Test to help you to challenge the decision.