Commentary on Sections Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 Section 56: Presence in United Kingdom
197.Section 56 introduces a change to the child benefit rules to bring them closer into line with the rules proposed for the child tax credit. It retains the requirement for both the child and the claimant to be in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, as appropriate, for any week of a claim for child benefit, subject to prescribed exceptions enabling entitlement to continue during periods of temporary absence. But it removes the requirement for both the child and the claimant to have been present for 182 days before entitlement begins. Instead, the section provides a power to set out in secondary legislation when a person may be treated as being, or not being, in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for purposes of child benefit.