Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that people who arrived in the UK under the Afghan (a) Relocation and Assistance Policy and (b) Citizens Resettlement Scheme are not required to meet the habitual residence test.

All those brought to the UK under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have the right to work, access to education and healthcare and recourse to public funds including benefit support.

The Department for Work and Pensions has legislated to exempt those arriving in the UK under the ARAP and ACRS from the habitual residence test for income-related benefits, and the past presence test and the habitual residence test for disability and carer benefits.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/1034/made

Further information can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-those-arriving-from-afghanistan