Child Disability Payment decision making guide

Past presence in the Common Travel Area

Each of the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • third country nationals, and
  • EEA and Swiss nationals not in the ‘protected cohort’

must have been present in the Common Travel Area for 26 of the past 52 weeks before the date when they apply for CDP, known as the ‘past presence test’ (CDP regs, reg. 5(1)(e))

A shorter qualifying period applies to younger children. A child aged up to 6 months old must have been present in the CTA for 13 weeks (CDP regs, reg. 5(2)).

There are situations in which no past presence test ever applies:

  • terminally ill applicants
  • applicants who are refugees (CDP regs, reg. 5(10)
  • applicants arriving in the UK from Afghanistan who have been awarded leave to remain in the UK under either the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, the previous scheme for locally-employed staff in Afghanistan (sometimes referred to as the ex-gratia scheme) (CDP regs, reg 5(10), or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, and their dependents (The Social Security (Residence Requirements) (Afghanistan) (Scotland) Regulations 2021))

Both:

  • EEA or Swiss nationals in the ‘protected cohort’
  • their family members

applying for CDP generally do not have to satisfy the past presence test. See Residence requirements under the Coordination Rules below.

Some absences do not count for the purpose of the past presence test. Both temporary absences:

  • up to 13 weeks for any reason
  • up to 26 weeks where the absence was to obtain medical treatment

should be treated as presence. See Temporary Absence below. Special rules also apply to some types of workers who are routinely sent overseas for work. See both Armed Forces And Civil Servants and Mariners, Aircraft Workers and Continental Shelf Workers below.

A temporary absence is one which is expected to last for less than a year at the start. However, after 13 weeks the benefit will no longer be paid. Any additional periods of absence cannot be considered presence for past presence. See Temporary Absence below. The same applies in cases where the absence is due to medical treatment, but the relevant period in these cases is 26 weeks. An absence of 13 weeks for any reason can be followed by 26 weeks for medical treatment.

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