SA29. Your social security insurance, benefits and healthcare rights in the European Economic Area
Benefits
25. Pension Credit, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
If you have come to the UK from another EEA country, you may be able to get some help from Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based JSA. This will depend on your immigration status or whether you have a “right to reside” and are “habitually resident” in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Ireland.
If you are:
- an EEA national who has the right to live in the UK because you are or have been employed or self-employed here,
- or a refugee or a person with exceptional leave to stay in the UK, or Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave,
- or a national from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia or Slovakia who is working and registered with the “Worker Registration Scheme” or self-employed,
you may be treated as “habitually resident” here.
Otherwise, the overall circumstances of your case will be considered when a decision is made as to whether you are “habitually resident”. You will be asked, among other things, why you have come to the UK and how long you are going to stay here.