Presence and Residence Tests - What are the Presence and Past Presence Tests?

What is the Presence Test?

You must usually be present in Great Britain at the time you make your claim for benefits, 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 Carer Support Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment 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 (England and Wales)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 

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 (Scotland)
• Carer Support Payment (Scotland)
• Carer's Element of Universal Credit (Scotland)  
• Child Disability Payment (Scotland) 
• Pension Age Disability Payment (Scotland)
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (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 for the disability and carer's benefits 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)  
• left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion in February 2022 and you were living there until the end of 2021 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 there before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• left the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Lebanon or Israel due to the violence on or since 7 October 2023 and you were living there before then and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• (Scottish benefits only) left the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Lebanon and Israel on or since 13 June 2025 due to the violence between Israel and Iran, and you were living there before then, and you arrived in the UK on or before 13 December 2025 and you have leave in the UK or you are British or Irish
• (Scottish benefits only) have, or are deemed to have, been granted leave outside the immigration rules
• (except the Scottish benefits) were residing in a country immediately before the UK government advised British nationals to leave, or arranged for their evacuation from, that country, you arrived in Great Britain within 26 weeks of that advice or the start of the evacuation, and you have leave or are British or Irish
• (except the Scottish benefits) have leave in the UK under a safe and legal humanitarian immigration route

If you are covered by one of the last 7 bullets, you also do not need to be habitually resident.

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