Jump to content

Moving back to U.K. and claiming benefits


britsabroad2013

Recommended Posts

My husband and I are planning on moving back to the UK. We are both British and our son is Australia born. We have been away from the UK for 8 years. Upon return do we automatically qualify for family benefits such as childcare? I have no other what other benefits are available? My guessing you will need to be in the country for a while before you can claim? Is this also the same for NHS cover? It doesn't seem right that we havent paid any NI for so long and we could just walk back into the country and automatically get free health care? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

My husband and I are planning on moving back to the UK. We are both British and our son is Australia born. We have been away from the UK for 8 years. Upon return do we automatically qualify for family benefits such as childcare? I have no other what other benefits are available? My guessing you will need to be in the country for a while before you can claim? Is this also the same for NHS cover? It doesn't seem right that we havent paid any NI for so long and we could just walk back into the country and automatically get free health care? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
just apply for whatever you are entitled as soon as you land. Even the dole. If you get a job etc straight away then great. But there is no sense waiting, and then being subjected to an enforced wait. Tbh, it will take some time to work your way around the UK benefits system. It's not exactly straight forward.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You will be entitled to use the NHS, subject to passing the habitual residency test, in other words prove you are settled here, tenancy agreement, utility bills, that kind of thing.

You don't have to pass the habitual residents test to get back into the NHS what you need is an address ,well that's what we found

it's when you claim benefits the residency test kicks in

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/15/2017 at 2:29 PM, britsabroad2013 said:

My husband and I are planning on moving back to the UK. We are both British and our son is Australia born. We have been away from the UK for 8 years. Upon return do we automatically qualify for family benefits such as childcare? I have no other what other benefits are available? My guessing you will need to be in the country for a while before you can claim? Is this also the same for NHS cover? It doesn't seem right that we havent paid any NI for so long and we could just walk back into the country and automatically get free health care? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

You can backpay 6 years NI if you like, that will cover a gap you're going to have in your pension entitlement.  

It's very reasonable if you can pay Class 2 contributions as an expat to cover some of the 35 years needed for a full pension...less than £3 a week i think.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...