Amendment of child benefit residence conditions and tax credit income rules to support people arriving in the UK from Ukraine and their sponsors

New statutory instrument

New regulations have been issued in relation to the residence conditions for child benefit and the calculation of income for tax credits to support people who have come to the UK from Ukraine and their sponsors.

In force from 22 March 2022, the Child Benefit and Tax Credits (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI.No.346/2022) amend the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006 (SI.No.223/2006) to ensure that those persons who left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 are exempt from the requirement to have been living in the UK for at least three months before becoming entitled to child benefit.

In addition, the regulations amend the Tax Credits (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 2002 (SI.No.2006/2002) to ensure that the monthly £350 payments made to sponsors under the UK Government's Homes for Ukraine scheme - in recognition of their role as a sponsor of a Ukrainian national fleeing Ukraine following the Russian invasion - are disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to tax credits.

SI.No.346/2022 is available from legislation.gov.uk