please help if you can. My client is UK passport holder, British by birth - has spent las 10 years living on a boat in spain - now disabled and needs hip replacement - also just turned 60 and no income - I can't get a definitive guide on what it means to be habitually resident for PC claim - can anyone point me in the right direction? I called PC helpline and they said he would be interviewed and decision made on basis of answers given - is it really this grey an area? client needs to know before makes his move so he can examine all his options! Many thanks, MAT

Have you read the CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits handbook , page 1443 is very useful for your problem.
To be 'habitually resident' in a country you must have a 'settled intention' to reside , which means you intend to make your home here for a temporary or permanent period.You must show some evidence of your intention to reside.eg bringing possessions , having a right of abode , seeking to bring family , and so on.
And you must be actually resident for an 'appreciable period of time 'before you become 'habitually resident'.There are no set time limits here , each case is determined on its own merits.
Other people who are reestablishing their ties with the UK may be able to resume their habitual residence straightaway. This sounds as though it would fit your client as he is British by birth and is effectively 'coming home'.
Hope this helps.
Jane Wrightson
Welfare Benefits Adviser
Age Concern South Lakeland.

on the other hand.. if he is only coming back for a hip replacement and then going back to spain... he may not be habitually resedent

many thanks for the very useful cpag reference Jane

I had a client who came from Italy to live with her son. She had worked in UK from the 1950s to the 1990s. We got hit with the habitual residence test, but if you can show that the client has a registered address here, and is intending to stay (showing a home visiting office the bedroom, bank account etc) is good proof then they usually accept this.

However, once you leave the uk you arent entitled to Pension Credit under EC law at present as the UK gov. classes it as a "special benefit" so it is for client to demonstrate he intends to reside here from now on.

thank you - the main problem for client would be getting a home established to illustrate habitual residence - looks like my clients will have a bit of saving to do to finance that first few months while they get 'established'

Did he live in the UK before his 10 years' living on a boat in Spain? If so, he could be treated under the "returning residents" rules which are a lot easier to satisfy than thos applicable to people who are British but have either never lived in the UK or left when children yonks ago. We could be talking as little as a month or even less.

yes - born, lived and worked in UK prior to moving to first Greece, then Spain - do you think this might make things easier - even without initial fixed abode?