Regulation 9 Amendment of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008

The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008^f1 are amended as follows.

In regulation 151 (absence from Great Britain), after paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A)

Where a person is temporarily absent from Great Britain, except where the circumstances in regulations 154 or 155 apply, the total period of temporary absence where the claimant is treated as present in Great Britain will not exceed 26 weeks.”.

After regulation 155 (absence of member of family of member of Her Majesty's forces) insert—

“Absence where His Majesty’s Government provides public information to advise British nationals to leave a country or territory or arranges the evacuation of British nationals from that country or territory

155A

A claimant is to continue to be entitled to an employment and support allowance during the first 26 weeks of a temporary absence from Great Britain if—

(a)

the claimant was present in a country or territory outside Great Britain immediately before His Majesty’s Government—

(i)

provided public information to advise British nationals to leave that country or territory, or

(ii)

arranged the evacuation of British nationals from that country or territory;

(b)

any of regulations 152 to 155 applied to the person when the public information was issued or the evacuation began;

(c)

the Secretary of State is satisfied that it would be unreasonable to expect the claimant to return, or have returned, to Great Britain; and

(d)

the claimant did not enter that country or territory when His Majesty’s Government’s public information was to advise British nationals to leave that country or territory.”.