Guest tiarna Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Hi there We are returning to the UK in the next month and was just wondering what our position would be as regards claiming benefits. Before we left for Oz myself and the OH had good jobs which we gave up. Things have not worked out and we are returning to unemployment before we find jobs again. Will we be able to receive benefits straight away? We have been out of the country for nearly 2.5 years now. I also have two young children who I will hopefully get some assistance with. I just wondered whether there is a time for you to prove you are back in the UK for good before you can receive any assistance? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_shel Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 You will be able to get help but maybe not straight away as you have to pass the habitual residence test which is the most bizzare test ever and even applies to citizens. There are things you can do though to help you pass the test sooner rather than later. Here are some links to replies I gave to someone else on the same subject. http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/moving-back-uk/77088-moving-small-children.html http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/moving-back-uk/77178-nhs-number-uk-birth-certificate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tiarna Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Thanks Shel Great advise and will try to sort some things out before we go home but that should be pretty soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dsmstalley Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hi just moved back on 25/01/10, did not apply for benefits staright away but wish I had done. I was told a 6 week wait but when I called up told not the case. Visit your local job centre (oh no) and they will give you forms for child benefit,. You will need to make a registration phone call for job seekers allowance then have an interview, the habitual residency test is bizarre, a tip is when they ask you if you are registered with a GP ssay yes and use your old GP it proves residency better. You can only claim family tax credit once you have child allowance, wait for processing is 2 weeks. Have not hear anything yet but hopeful of getting a job offer this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sonn Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Will you be moving your furniture back? Have you got a permenant address in Uk, surely that will help with proving residency. Get children into school asap too and gain a health visitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sonn Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 It's pretty amazing how a health visitor and your childrens nurse can help with such things as benefits and letters to official people. I worked with 1 briefly and they hold good stead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest treesea Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Hi there We are returning to the UK in the next month and was just wondering what our position would be as regards claiming benefits. Before we left for Oz myself and the OH had good jobs which we gave up. Things have not worked out and we are returning to unemployment before we find jobs again. Will we be able to receive benefits straight away? We have been out of the country for nearly 2.5 years now. I also have two young children who I will hopefully get some assistance with. I just wondered whether there is a time for you to prove you are back in the UK for good before you can receive any assistance? Thanks Family members whom you support, i.e. your children, are exempt from the habitual residency test. You should be able to claim child benefits and child tax credits for them immediately upon arrival. Child tax credits are administered by HMRC, not the DWP (0845 300 3900 if you want to ring them once you get back. Though 0845 numbers costs, so I would recommend checking on www.saynoto0870.com and getting an alternative geographic number, because then, if you have the kind of phone package over here like Virgin, where the first hour of calling to a geographic number is freee (or a mobile phone contract with x number of free minutes), it won't cost you to talk to them.) If you don't have any joy from DWP - and they can be difficult, especially when it comes to housing benefit/council tax benefit, as you need to have a successful claim through them (if looking for work) before the council will process your HB and CTB claims - my advice would be to contact social services, say you have two young children, and apply for a crisis loan. Your MP can be useful as well on this point. HRT varies from place to place, and, in my experience, from DWP worker to DWP worker. Sometimes it's 4 weeks, other times 12 weeks. Incidentally, self employed people who have the right to reside are exempt from the habitual residency test. You instead register with the HMRC that you are self employed, on arrival, then apply for working tax credit and child tax credit, estimating what your income will be for the remainder of the year. Likewise housing benefit and council tax benefit. The DWP don't even get involved, except for applying for child benefit. Even if you don't go down this route, at least one of you can receive income support straight away if they are identified as the non working spouse, i.e. your dependent. Dependents like children and non working spouses are exempt from the HRT. If you check job centre plus' website, it says quite clearly that "The (HRT) test is not applied to partners or dependent children." The other thing to make sure of, when you finally claim housing benefit and council tax benefit , that you backdate your claim to when you started paying rent. On the other hand, you may get work within a week of arriving (fingers crossed), then all you'll need to claim for is CTC (through the Inland Revenue department) and child benefit, through the DWP. My advice would be not to ignore either of these, even if you're earning £50K a year after tax (I wish!). They're worth having - look at them as a tax rebate. Why someone who has children shuld be "rewarded" to quite the extent they are in today's Britain, by paying lower taxes than someone who doesn't have children is beyond me, but that's the system, so why shouldn't you benefit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LukeSkywalker Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Hi there We are returning to the UK in the next month and was just wondering what our position would be as regards claiming benefits. Before we left for Oz myself and the OH had good jobs which we gave up. Things have not worked out and we are returning to unemployment before we find jobs again. Will we be able to receive benefits straight away? We have been out of the country for nearly 2.5 years now. I also have two young children who I will hopefully get some assistance with. I just wondered whether there is a time for you to prove you are back in the UK for good before you can receive any assistance? Thanks What jobs are/were you in? What area will you be going to? Those questions ma not make a difference to benefits, but there are better areas to move back to that others. If you are bringing back money then you will be doing well the exchange rate is very poor for UK to Oz but superb for the other way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tiarna Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 What jobs are/were you in? What area will you be going to? Those questions ma not make a difference to benefits, but there are better areas to move back to that others. If you are bringing back money then you will be doing well the exchange rate is very poor for UK to Oz but superb for the other way. We are moving back to Yorkshire at the end of the month. I am a primary school teacher so hope to get relief work and then a full time job in September. My OH will be looking after the kids whilst we get settled. As soon as we get back we will go to the job centre and see what we are entitled to straight away. We have found that the exchange rate is excellent for going back to the Uk so no complaints there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tiarna Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Thanks for the info and we will certainly look into everything as soon as we get back. Just a few weeks to go now. It does sound like it might take some time. I will be the one looking for work where as my OH will be looking after the kids so he would be exempt from the HRT test then and could claim straight away and for the kids. Thanks ahgain for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dsmstalley Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Hi, As I have just literally done the same thing, go to the job centre asap as your claim will be processed quicker then. You can put in a joint job seekers (JSA) claim and only you will have to sign on. You can get a form for child benefit there also. The other thing you need to do is family tax credit I was told to wait until I had my child benefit number but in reflection it is probably best to call up as it takes 10 days to get the form mailed to you. As for the HRT test it is stupid and only you will have to do it as you are applying for JSA. I have just been officially offered a job last week and we have been here 4 weeks although I did do a lot of job applications in the last 2 months before we left Australia. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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