TCTM02090 - Entitlement: Residence rules: Seafarers and offshore workers

The usual requirement to be present and ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom applies to seafarers and offshore workers as it does to any other claimant.

The United Kingdom extends to the limits of its territorial waters. As long as a person remains within the United Kingdom’s territorial waters, they continue to be present here. If they are outside the United Kingdom’s territorial waters, they are not present here.

People working offshore are not present in the United Kingdom during any period when they are outside the United Kingdom’s territorial waters (the continental shelf is outside those waters). Similarly, seafarers are not present in the United Kingdom during any periods spent outside the United Kingdom’s territorial waters.

Note, however, that, as long people are not absent from the United Kingdom (and its territorial waters) for more than 8 weeks at a time, they should continue to be treated as being present in the United Kingdom (see TCTM02040).

CTC is a family benefit under Community law, and is therefore subject to EC Regulation 1408/71. This means workers travelling within other member states of the EEA may still be entitled to CTC where the United Kingdom is the competent state.