To get most benefits, you have to be present in the UK and satisfy conditions about your residence. 

The rules on presence and residence vary between different benefits and tax credits. Some residence and presence rules refer to Great Britain and the UK, others refer to the Common Travel Area, and the Scottish benefits also refer to Scotland. 

These are the different Residence and Presence Tests 

• Presence Test 
• Past Presence Test 
• Living in the UK for three months
• Ordinary Residence
• Habitual Residence
• Right to Reside 

Different benefits have different presence and residence tests. Find out which residence and presence tests you need to pass in order to claim a particular benefit. 

If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you should first check if your immigration status means you are excluded from the benefits you want to claim. If you live with a partner or child who is not British or Irish, you need to check if any claim you make could affect their right to stay in the UK.  

If you do not know whether you have been granted leave to be in the UK, or you are not sure what leave you have, you need to get immigration advice before you claim any benefits.

Check the table below to find out which presence and residence tests you have to satisfy in order to get a particular benefit. Note that you must continue to satisfy these tests to continue to be entitled to the benefit, including if you are getting a benefit for which no new claims can be made. 

The following benefits have no residence or presence rules:

• Statutory Adoption Pay
• Statutory Maternity Pay
• Statutory Paternity Pay
• Statutory Shared Parental Pay
• Statutory Sick Pay

What is the Presence Test?

You must usually be present in Great Britain at the time you make your claim for benefits or tax credits, and continue to be so. 

To be entitled to Child Benefit (or Guardian’s Allowance), you and your child(ren) must be present in Great Britain when you make your claim, and continue to be so. 

What is the Past Presence Test?

In addition to being present at the time you claim, for some benefits you must have been present in Great Britain (the Common Travel Area for Child Disability Payments and Adult Disability Payments in Scotland) for a total number of weeks out of a particular period of time before you become entitled. For each of these benefits you must also be habitually resident.

You must have been present in Great Britain for 104 weeks out of the last 156 weeks for the following benefits: 

• Attendance Allowance 
• Carers Allowance 
• Carer's Element of Universal Credit 
• Personal Independence Payment 

You must have been present in the Common Travel Area for 26 weeks out of the last 52 weeks for the following benefits: 

• Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland)  
• Child Disability Payment (in Scotland) 

You must have been present in Great Britain for 26 weeks out of the last 52 weeks for the following benefits: 

• Disability Living Allowance 

Exemptions to the Past Presence Test  

If Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Child Disability Payment is being claimed for a baby under six months old, the baby must be present for a past period of 13 weeks.    

The past presence test does not apply if you: 

• are terminally ill (except for Carer’s Allowance); or 
• have refugee leave or humanitarian protection (or you have leave as the dependent family member of someone who has either type of leave); or  
• lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022, and you have leave to be in the UK or you are British or Irish  
• left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and you have leave to be in the UK  
• 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

If you are covered by one of the last 4 bullets, you also do not need to be habitually resident for any of these disability or carers benefits.

To get  Child Benefit  you must have been living in the UK for the past three months. This is also a requirement for Child Tax Credit but you can only make a new claim for Child Tax Credit if you are claiming within 1 month of having been granted refugee leave.

The term ‘living in’ does not have the same meaning as ‘presence’. You could, in some cases, be counted as ‘living in’ the UK, even if you have been temporarily absent. The Child Benefit office will decide whether you meet this test by looking at factors such as: 

• the length of your absence 
• the reason for your absence  
• your connections and ties to the UK while you were abroad. 

You must have been living in the UK for the past three months, unless: 

• You are returning to the UK after being abroad for less than 1 year and you were ordinarily resident in the UK for three months or more before you went abroad. 
• You are returning to the UK after a period working abroad and until at least three months before you returned you were paying Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions 
• You are a refugee or have humanitarian protection. 
• You have been granted Destitution Domestic Violence Concessionary Leave. 
• You have been granted leave outside the Immigration Rules with no restriction on claiming public funds. 
• You lived in Ukraine until the end of 2021 and left in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 
• You left Afghanistan in connection with the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 
• 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 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 non-EEA National who would be classed as a ‘worker’ or ‘self-employed person’ if you were an EEA national. 
• You are a family member of someone in either of the above two groups.   

Guardian’s Allowance depends on entitlement to Child Benefit, which means that you have to have lived in the UK for three months to get it.  

You are ordinarily resident if you have been living in the UK (or Scotland for Scottish benefits) for a settled purpose for the time being (whether for a long or short period).  

It is rare for benefits to be refused because you are not accepted as being ordinarily resident.  If you think this is the reason why your benefit has been refused, challenge the decision and get advice to help you explain your residence. 

The following benefits have an ordinary residence requirement: 

• Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland) 
• Bereavement Support Payment 
• Best Start Grant (in Scotland) 
• Child Benefit 
• Child Disability Payment (in Scotland) 
• Child Tax Credit* 
• Funeral Payment / Funeral Support Payments (in Scotland) 
• Scottish Child Payment (in Scotland) 
• Young Carer Grant (in Scotland) 
•  Winter Fuel Payment 
• Working Tax Credit* 

* You must continue to be ordinarily resident in the UK to continue to be entitled to tax credits, but it is no longer possible to make a new claim for Working Tax Credit or (unless you have just been granted refugee leave) Child Tax Credit. 

Guardian’s Allowance  depends on entitlement to Child Benefit, so you have to be ordinarily resident in order to get it.