Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has issued to Jobcentre staff on when it is appropriate to ask that an EEA national sit a habitual residency test when applying for universal credit.

Comprehensive guidance outlining eligibility for Universal Credit for EEA Nationals and the habitual residency test is available to all staff across the Jobcentre network. Universal Credit guidance is published in the House of Commons Library and the Department is committed to refreshing this at regular intervals.

Eligibility for income-related (means-tested) social security benefits depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. Claimants must be exercising a legal right to reside and be habitually resident before they are eligible to claim income related benefit. And this is assessed through the Habitual Residence Test (HRT). DWP does not automatically provide other Government departments with information regarding an individual’s benefit claim. The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 and immigration decisions are the responsibility of the Home Office.

The information requested about the proportion of EEA applicants refused Universal Credit, or asked to sit a habitual residency test is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.