Mariners, aircraft workers and continental shelf workers
Mariners, aircraft workers, and continental shelf workers are treated as though they continue to meet the presence and past presence tests for the duration of any absence from the Common Travel Area caused by their job.
Mariners, aircraft workers, and continental shelf workers are treated as though they continue to meet the presence and past presence tests for the duration of any absence from the Common Travel Area caused by their job (3 Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 13).
A mariner is an individual who is or has been in employment either:
- as a master or member of the crew; or
- in any other capacity on board any ship or vessel. This is when the employment is for the purposes of that ship or vessel or her crew or any passengers or cargo or mails carried by the ship or vessel. The contract of employment must be entered into in the UK. It must be for work carried out while the ship or vessel is on her voyage. This can be wholly or partly.
An aircraft worker is essentially the same as a mariner but whose work takes place on aircraft rather than a ship or vessel.
An individual is a continental shelf worker if they are:
- employed offshore in a specific geographic area; and
- working on the exploration, exploitation, transport, storage or offloading of oil, gas or mineral resources.
The area prescribed in UK legislation (Continental Shelf (Designation of Areas) Order 2013) includes UK territorial waters in the parts of the North Sea, the North Atlantic, the Irish Sea and the English Channel.
Rules on temporary absence apply both to ongoing entitlement and to requests for reinstatement of entitlement within a year See Reinstatement of Entitlement within a Year for Scottish Adult DLA. A temporary absence is defined as one which is expected at its beginning to last no more than 52 weeks (Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(2)(a)). The absence ends when the person returns to the CTA.
A person is absent from the CTA if that person is absent for the whole day from midnight to midnight. A person who is present in the CTA for only part of a day, is considered present for that whole day. This is when leaving or returning to the UK.
Where an award has been made, Scottish Adult DLA should continue to be paid for the first:
- 13 consecutive weeks for any reason; (Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(1)(a)) and
- 26 consecutive weeks where the absence is related to medical treatment for a condition which commenced before leaving the CTA (Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(1)(b))
Where the individual is already temporarily abroad at the point of case transfer, it should be ascertained how long they have been abroad for, and Scottish Adult DLA should be paid for the remainder of the 13 or 26 week period, whichever applies (8 Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(3)).
The same periods, for the same reasons, can also be applied retrospectively when considering whether an applicant satisfies the past presence test.
Each absence is considered separately. An absence of up to 13 weeks for any reason cannot be immediately followed by another absence of up to 26 weeks for medical treatment. The individual must be present in the CTA between such absences.
The 26 week period only applies where the absence is for the medical treatment of either:
- a disease; or
- bodily or mental disablement
which started before the person left the CTA (Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(1)(b)(i)).
During the period of temporary absence from CTA, the treatment must be either:
- undertaken by; or
- under the supervision of
a person appropriately qualified to carry out that treatment. ‘Medical treatment’ means medical, surgical or rehabilitative treatment. This includes any course, diet or other regimen (Scottish Adult DLA Regs, Reg 11(2)(b))
An individual who goes abroad for a holiday and falls ill after leaving the CTA:
- is not absent for the specific purpose of being treated; and
- would not satisfy the requirement that the treatment was for an incapacity or disablement condition which began before leaving the CTA.