26 November 2012

New right to reside exception for Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit entitlement

Legislation came into effect from 8 November (SI 2162/2012) which means that a new group of people will not be entitled to either Child Tax Credit or Child Benefit even though they have a right to reside. 

This new rule applies where the person claiming does have a right to reside in the UK (for Child Tax Credit) or in Great Britain or Northern Ireland (for Child Benefit) but crucially their right to reside is only because they are the primary carer of a person who has their own right to reside and that person could not live in the UK or any other European Economic Area Member State without their primary carer - so that if the primary carer was forced to leave the UK, the person would not be able to exercise their own right to reside here. 

For example, if the claimant does not have a right to reside in the UK in their own right but is the primary carer of a child who is a British citizen, they could be granted a right to reside because they are the primary carer of that child on the basis that the child could not live here without them. From the 8 November, they will not be entitled to either Child Tax Credit or Child Benefit. 

The grant of right to reside for primary carers in these circumstances came about as a result of the ECJ case Zambrano c34/09 and the new legislation seeks to remove this category of claimant from entitlement to Child Tax Credit or Child Benefit.