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<p>The purpose of the automated checks is to help the applicant establish their continuous
residence in the UK. Eligibility to receive benefits is not dependent upon being continuously
resident in the UK. Benefits except Job Seekers Allowance and Maternity Allowance
on their own are not strong indicators of continuous residence unless receipt of them
persists over a period of 12 months. There are also overlaps with other data that
is available from the checks. For instance, PAYE data covers most applicants who claim
working tax credits and receipt of other benefits included in the checks will overlap
with receipt of child tax credits. Child Benefit is not included in the automated
checks because it is not a sufficient indicator of continuous UK residence. A full
explanation of how the automated checks work has been published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check."
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check.</a></p><p>Following
analysis conducted on an anonymised sample of 10,000 applications submitted under
the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the Home Office estimated
that the potential pool of resident EEA citizens who might benefit from tax credits
data being included in the automated checks was around two per cent and this was before
any consideration of the applicability of that data to proving continuous residence.
Individuals who need to rely on tax credits to demonstrate their continuous residence
are still able to provide documentary evidence of this as part of their application.</p><p>In
accordance with section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, we have had due regard to the
Public Sector Equality Duty.</p>
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