Habitual Residence Test - Written Answers

Written Question

Personal Independence Payment: Proof of Identity

Tuesday 31st March 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP claimants were required to show a form of identification during their application in the last five years.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

All PIP customers are required to verify their identity during the application process. This can be done using a variety of evidence, including photographic identification if appropriate.

The following documentation can be used by British Nationals making a PIP application as part of the process to verify their identity:

British Passport
UK Driving Licence

Armed Forces ID card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
Police warrant card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
National Health Service (NHS) ID card containing a biometric chip (can only be accepted face-to-face)
ID cards carrying the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) accreditation logo (UK and Channel Islands)
HM Armed Forces Veteran Card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, which indicates the holder is entitled to take up employment in the UK

In some circumstances - where they fully meet the lay conditions - someone who is not a British national can claim PIP. The Eligibility criteria to claim PIP for someone who is not a British National can be found here: Personal Independence Payment (PIP): Eligibility - GOV.UK

You must:

normally live in or show that you intend to settle in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands
not be subject to immigration control (unless you’re a sponsored immigrant)

If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family usually also need settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get PIP. The deadline to apply to the scheme was 30 June 2021 for most people, but you might still be able to apply.

If a customer meets this eligibility criteria, then the following documents can be provided to prove their identity:

Passport of European Union (EU) or other nationalities
Identity cards from an EU or European Economic Area (EEA) country that follow Regulation - 2252/2004 - EN - EUR-Lex (link is external)
A residence permit, registration certificate or document certifying or indicating permanent residence issued by the Home Office to a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
A permanent residence card issued by the Home Office or the Border and Immigration Agency to the family member of a national of a EEA country or Switzerland
A passport or other travel document endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control and either:

is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK
has the right of abode in the UK
has no time limit on their stay in the UK

An Immigration Status Document issued by the Home Office or the United Kingdom Border Agency to the holder with an endorsement indicating that the person named in it, is allowed to stay indefinitely in the United Kingdom or has no time limit on their stay in the United Kingdom

EU or other nationalities photo-card driving licence accompanied by an international driving permit, valid up to 12 months up to the date of when the individual entered the UK (can only be accepted face-to-face)
ARC (Application Registration Card) and Home Office Decision Grant Letter. These documents can be used together if the information is the same and confirmed by the Home Office to verify ID, but only by exception, when a refugee has not had their UKVI account created by the Home Office to access their eVisa. One without the other cannot be accepted
Home Office ‘View and Prove’ eVisa service (can only be accepted face-to-face).

Please note that although a document is listed, there may be a need for accompanying evidence alongside any of these to sufficiently prove someone’s identity.

Written Question

Personal Independence Payment: Proof of Identity

Tuesday 31st March 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what forms of photographic identification are accepted from applicants who do not hold a UK passport or driving licence during the PIP application process.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

All PIP customers are required to verify their identity during the application process. This can be done using a variety of evidence, including photographic identification if appropriate.

The following documentation can be used by British Nationals making a PIP application as part of the process to verify their identity:

British Passport
UK Driving Licence

Armed Forces ID card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
Police warrant card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
National Health Service (NHS) ID card containing a biometric chip (can only be accepted face-to-face)
ID cards carrying the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) accreditation logo (UK and Channel Islands)
HM Armed Forces Veteran Card (can only be accepted face-to-face)
A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, which indicates the holder is entitled to take up employment in the UK

You must:

normally live in or show that you intend to settle in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands
not be subject to immigration control (unless you’re a sponsored immigrant)

If a customer meets this eligibility criteria, then the following documents can be provided to prove their identity:

Passport of European Union (EU) or other nationalities
Identity cards from an EU or European Economic Area (EEA) country that follow Regulation - 2252/2004 - EN - EUR-Lex (link is external)
A residence permit, registration certificate or document certifying or indicating permanent residence issued by the Home Office to a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
A permanent residence card issued by the Home Office or the Border and Immigration Agency to the family member of a national of a EEA country or Switzerland
A passport or other travel document endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control and either:

is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK
has the right of abode in the UK
has no time limit on their stay in the UK

An Immigration Status Document issued by the Home Office or the United Kingdom Border Agency to the holder with an endorsement indicating that the person named in it, is allowed to stay indefinitely in the United Kingdom or has no time limit on their stay in the United Kingdom

EU or other nationalities photo-card driving licence accompanied by an international driving permit, valid up to 12 months up to the date of when the individual entered the UK (can only be accepted face-to-face)
ARC (Application Registration Card) and Home Office Decision Grant Letter. These documents can be used together if the information is the same and confirmed by the Home Office to verify ID, but only by exception, when a refugee has not had their UKVI account created by the Home Office to access their eVisa. One without the other cannot be accepted
Home Office ‘View and Prove’ eVisa service (can only be accepted face-to-face).

Please note that although a document is listed, there may be a need for accompanying evidence alongside any of these to sufficiently prove someone’s identity.

Written Question

Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test

Monday 23rd March 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to UIN 107421, if he will provide a nationality breakdown of people with Universal Credit claims that failed the Habitual Residence Test.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Written Question

Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test

Monday 23rd February 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claims failed the Habitual Residence Test in each month since 1 July 2024.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below gives the number of Universal Credit (UC) Habitual Resident test (HRT) assessments that resulted in a ‘fail’ decision from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2025.

Month Decision Entered on Admin System	Number of UC HRT ‘Fail’ Decisions
July 2024	8,000
August 2024	8,000
September 2024	7,000
October 2024	9,000
November 2024	10,000
December 2024	7,000
January 2025	8,000
February 2025	9,000
March 2025	10,000
April 2025	9,000
May 2025	9,000
June 2025	9,000
July 2025	9,000
August 2025	8,000
September 2025	8,000
October 2025	9,000
November 2025	8,000
December 2025	8,000

For context, the total and average monthly number of Universal Credit (UC) Habitual Resident test (HRT) assessments that resulted in a ‘fail’ decision in each financial year from 2022/23 – 2024/25 is as follows:

Date Decision Entered on Admin System	Number of UC HRT ‘Fail’ Decisions	Average monthly number of UC HRT 'Fail' Decisions
April 2022 to March 2023	92,000	8,000
April 2023 to March 2024	99,000	8,000
April 2024 to March 2025	100,000	8,000

Notes:

Not all HRT passes lead to a UC award as claimants need to meet all eligibility criteria.
The Habitual Residence Test (HRT) is nationality blind. It is applied to British citizens returning from abroad to check for factual habitual residency in the UK, as well as to foreign nationals to check they have an immigration status permitting access to public funds, have a qualifying right to reside, and that they are factually habitually resident in the UK.
All figures are rounded to the nearest thousand decisions.
An individual may have multiple HRT assessments and multiple passes.
These figures are not Official Statistics. These figures stem from administrative data and represent the best estimates using current methodologies and assumptions about the data. Future improvements in methodology may lead to different subsequent estimates.
Figures are for the UK.

Written Question

Social Security Benefits: Foreign Nationals

Monday 9th February 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to verify the ongoing residency of non-UK national claimants who have been absent from the UK for more than a month.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department uses the Habitual Residence Test (HRT) for income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit, to assess whether someone has a legal right to be here and whether they are factually resident in the UK. For an individual to be factually habitually resident they must have been present in the UK for an appreciable period, usually between one and three months, and have a settled intention to remain.

Written Question

Universal Credit

Thursday 5th February 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many a) UK nationals and b) non-UK nationals are in receipt of Universal Credit, who are currently abroad for a period of more than six months.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

A customer who is claiming Universal Credit (UC) can go abroad for up to one calendar month. If the claimant exceeds the period abroad and the reason for the trip abroad does not fall under circumstances that allow exemption, a temporary absence decision will be made and assessment periods that exceed the month can be reduced to nil entitlement. If there is a doubt on whether the claimant is habitually resident, a Habitual Residence Test will take place and a decision made on whether the claim should be disallowed.

Written Question

Universal Credit

Thursday 5th February 2026

Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many a) UK nationals and b) non-UK nationals are in receipt of Universal Credit, who are currently abroad for a period of up to six months.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Written Question

Universal Credit: Migrants

Wednesday 12th November 2025

Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in the last 12 months who were categorised as (1) refugees, (2) having pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (3) having settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (4) having indefinite leave to remain, and (5) having limited leave to remain.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.

For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (see attached document).

Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from August 2024 to July 2025. The additional breakdowns requested for the EU Settlement Scheme are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.

Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status each month from August 2024 to July 2025, Great Britain

Immigration status by month	CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode	EU Settlement Scheme	Humanitarian	Refugee	Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme)	Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion	Other	No immigration status recorded on digital systems
Jul-25	6,702,864	770,213	54,259	120,040	213,666	75,471	33,387	31,340
Jun-25	6,567,506	764,429	53,810	117,623	210,513	74,694	32,998	29,912
May-25	6,457,433	763,687	78,323	90,709	208,348	74,322	32,880	30,789
Apr-25	6,400,356	765,451	78,780	90,217	204,378	75,506	33,300	31,468
Mar-25	6,321,762	764,489	76,418	91,350	198,973	76,960	32,829	32,315
Feb-25	6,249,383	762,478	75,466	90,619	194,303	76,918	32,866	33,054
Jan-25	6,138,815	757,768	68,526	95,882	187,556	77,237	31,908	34,060
Dec-24	6,104,580	759,179	53,291	112,472	179,482	79,539	32,141	34,792
Nov-24	6,034,441	755,941	52,210	113,186	165,869	86,973	31,783	35,770
Oct-24	5,935,808	748,299	51,214	110,816	160,615	89,054	30,840	37,059
Sep-24	5,862,022	739,155	51,132	110,535	159,504	88,326	29,957	38,184
Aug-24	5,760,130	734,637	51,309	110,834	155,939	87,182	29,451	39,332

Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics

Notes

The latest Nationality recorded on the UC system declared by the claimant, reported across all previous UC claims.
Immigration status is sourced from Habitual Residence Test (HRT) data. The latest immigration status is recorded and reported against the corresponding claim at the point in time it applied.
Aligned UCFS Nationality and HRT data are available from April 2022 onwards only.
Cells in these tables have had statistical disclosure control applied to avoid the release of confidential data. Due to adjustments totals may not be the sum of the individual cells.
Figures for the most recent month are provisional. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases in line with our statistical revisions policy.
HRT revisions can occur and can be retrospectively applied and supersede previous decisions. Hence changes to previous months are possible.
If a claimant has dual nationality and one is CTA then they will be recorded as CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode.
Non-EU individuals can be in the EUSS, such as Non-EU family members of EU citizens.
Non-Ukrainians/Non-Afghans can be in resettlement schemes.
Right of Abode individuals include some groups of Commonwealth citizens.

Written Question

Universal Credit: Migrants

Wednesday 12th November 2025

Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in non-UK immigration status groups in each year since 2019.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (further details provided in Table Guidance in the attached document).

Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each April from 2022 to 2025. Data is not held prior to April 2022.

Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status for April 2022 to April 2025, Great Britain

Immigration status by month	CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode	EU Settlement Scheme	Humanitarian	Refugee	Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme)	Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion	Other	No immigration status recorded on digital systems
Apr-25	6,400,356	765,451	78,780	90,217	204,378	75,506	33,300	31,468
Apr-24	5,519,088	720,365	49,817	107,486	142,884	84,558	27,134	25,894
Apr-23	4,859,348	671,620	47,020	75,372	113,548	77,363	16,590	35,846
Apr-22	4,611,046	644,847	3,221	64,423	95,612	68,883	6,484	51,600

Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics

Notes

The latest Nationality recorded on the UC system declared by the claimant, reported across all previous UC claims.
Immigration status is sourced from Habitual Residence Test (HRT) data. The latest immigration status is recorded and reported against the corresponding claim at the point in time it applied.
Aligned UCFS Nationality and HRT data are available from April 2022 onwards only.
Cells in these tables have had statistical disclosure control applied to avoid the release of confidential data. Due to adjustments totals may not be the sum of the individual cells.
Figures for the most recent month are provisional. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases in line with our statistical revisions policy.
HRT revisions can occur and can be retrospectively applied and supersede previous decisions. Hence changes to previous months are possible.
If a claimant has dual nationality and one is CTA then they will be recorded as CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode.
Non-EU individuals can be in the EUSS such as Non-EU family members of EU citizens.
Non-Ukrainians/Non-Afghans can be in resettlement schemes.
Right of Abode individuals include some groups of Commonwealth citizens.

Written Question

Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test

Wednesday 29th October 2025

Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many habitual residence tests related to Universal Credit assessments have been granted in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below gives the number of Universal Credit (UC) Habitual Residence Test (HRT) assessments that resulted in a ‘pass’ decision in the past five years.

Date Decision Entered on Admin System	Number of UC HRT 'Pass' Decisions
April 2020 to March 2021	912,000
April 2021 to March 2022	1,029,000
April 2022 to March 2023	527,000
April 2023 to March 2024	524,000
April 2024 to March 2025	798,000
April 2025 to September 2025	400,000

(Source: DWP UC HRT Administrative data)

Notes:

The Habitual Residence Test (HRT) is nationality blind. It is applied to British citizens returning from abroad to check for factual habitual residency in the UK, as well as to foreign nationals to check they have an immigration status permitting access to public funds and that they are factually habitually resident.
Not all HRT passes lead to a UC award as claimants need to meet all eligibility criteria.
All figures are rounded to the nearest thousand decisions.
An individual may have multiple HRT assessments and multiple passes.
These figures are not Official Statistics. These figures stem from administrative data and represent the best estimates using current methodologies and assumptions about the data. Future improvements in methodology may lead to different subsequent estimates.
Figures are for the UK.