Benefits

[Shasha17]

Posting for traffic!

I am an expat and just really don't understand benefits at all and have no idea of how much people get (I moved pretty much right after uni and my kids were born abroad so never really was entitled to them).

One of my good friends here is planning to move back to the UK with her two children. She has been living abroad for a few years but is British. She wants to claim benefits until she gets herself sorted with a job and we have just used a gov.uk benefits calculator and it tells her she can get almost £1700 a month 😳 This can't be right, can it? It seems like a awful lot more than we were expecting! She filled in her details accurately (twice!) and this is what it came up with. Is this an average sort of amount? I always assumed benefits like like, a third of this maximum!

(Please be kind, she's leaving due to a very sensitive situation and needs to leave urgently so doesn't have time to find work etc first. But will get started with the job search when she's safely back.).

Go to citizens advice for proper reliable advice. There’s a lot of misinformation here.

Rent £800 + Council tax let's say £120 + food £300? + gas and electric £80? + any car/travel expenses? + Internet package? + hygiene products etc. It really won't leave your friend with much at all and benefits are not an easy life for anyone.

@rainbowdashsneeze, sorry but a UK citizen still has to be habitually resident. I have had this conversation so often over the years with people who are UK citizens, lived abroad for years and then return to the UK and are furious because they are not habitually resident and don't qualify for benefits or social housing. In the fulness of time, if they stay in the UK, then they will be HB, just not straight away.

[quote loislovesstewie]@rainbowdashsneeze, sorry but a UK citizen still has to be habitually resident. I have had this conversation so often over the years with people who are UK citizens, lived abroad for years and then return to the UK and are furious because they are not habitually resident and don't qualify for benefits or social housing. In the fulness of time, if they stay in the UK, then they will be HB, just not straight away.[/quote]
A friend of mine is resident in Spain and she claims every time she returns for a couple of months. I wonder if she is defrauding the system.

To clarify, if the person keeps a property in the UK then they might still be considered to be HR. It’s moving out of the UK, lock, stock and barrel that causes the issue. So, if I moved to Greece, took all my stuff, lived there, settled there and then came back I might well not be HR. If I kept my house in the UK but went to Greece for 6 months and then back to the UK I would still be HR. There are always exceptions though, and it's possible that some extenuating factor would cause a person to be HR. I would say to anyone though, if you move out of the UK, you might not get the answer you want if/when you return.

Let's put to bed this idea that you have to be in the UK for six months.
The claimant is a returning British Citizen so she fulfills the right to reside part of the habitual residence test. She then has to fulfil the habitually resident test. Details here -
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/claiming-benefits-if-youre-from-the-EU/before-you-apply/check-if-you-can-pass-the-habitual-residence-test-for-benefits/#h-showing-you-re-habitually-resident
Some claimants have been able to show this from day 1. OPs friend's circumstances seem to indicate that they are likely to be in a 1 month or less category.

It was the sarcastic poster who seems to be implying that I'm lying who I was snapping at. As if anyone would make this up? What a hilarious joke it would be, women and children fleeing domestic abuse is so funny and lighthearted

There are threads almost weekly doing exactly that OP.

Those of us who rely on benefits are pissed off at having to try and defend this to the bloody trolls and their supporters who crow about how much free money we’re getting for popping out babies and sitting on our arsed all day, all the while conveniently ignoring the fact that most benefit claimants are actually IN WORK but just not earning enough to support a household on their one low wage and that many of us had our children with a husband who we thought would be there to support us.

Please don’t be offended that people immediately jumped to the conclusion that you are one of them.

Your thread title and subsequent “delight” at realising how much lovely money your friend would be getting for free whilst also (shock horror!) not even being a UK citizen at this point, is the absolute blueprint for these arseholes who come on here and passive aggressively berate anyone who’s not on a 6 figure income in a settled marriage for their poor life choices.

@2020isnotbehaving

Water bills? Not in Uk cheap nothing same price anyone often higher if forced use pre paid meter for gas and electric that will cut you if run out credit.

You can get reductions in water and sewage bills if you receive certain benefits. It's called Social Tariff.

I can’t believe people who live abroad for years can come back and get benefits. Anyway enjoy while last because this pretty sure is unsustainable.

I don't know where the '6 months' thing comes from either.

There are plenty of jobs at the moment btw

Hello all,

I just came back because I´m genuinely really shocked and upset to have basically been called a troll when I´m honestly just looking for advice, and I just wanted to clear it up because I am a regular poster on here and it bothers me that people might think I´m a troll. Sad, yes, that I care about the opinions of anonymous Mumsnetters, but apparently I do.

So to clear it up: YES; my friend and I were DELIGHTED to see that she was entitled to enough money for her to escape her situation. I was in NO way commenting on benefits in general, or saying that this is a lot of money IN GENERAL. But for my friend´s specific situation, when she thought she would get NOTHING, to find out she can get enough to pay rent and at least survive, means the ABSOLUTE world. I didn´t say it was going to give her a life of luxury. I didn´t say she wouldn´t struggle. But she can survive! In this situation, that´s all that matters.

Having this information is enough to help her, her family, and us, her friends, to start to make plans to get her and her children out of danger and away from the reason she is in danger. So yes. We were really happy that this might be possible. And obviously that comes across in the post because I didn´t think it was something I needed to hide.

If ANYONE genuinely suspects me of being a troll or making up a situation, please report me to Mumsnet HQ ASAP. Mumsnet will be able to verify that I am a regular, active poster and have been using Mumsnet for years now under different usernames. My life as an expat has been mentioned numerous times under both this username and my others. The only thing that MNHQ cannot confirm is that my friend is trying to flee abuse, but I can guarentee you that I am not sick or twisted enough to make this horrible situation up just to make some kind of dig at a benefits system that I don´t even understand, in a country where I don´t even reside.

For those of you implying that I´m lying because I have said that my friend will be entitled to claim immediately - you can research for yourselves that there are many people who are able to do this. Those of you who mentioned the forces are on the right track, it is for this type of reason. We didn´t miraculously get a consultation in the space of time that it took me to write this thread, but we found information online stating that people IN HER SPECIFIC SITUATION (like that of military spouses) are entitled to claim without going through the normal processes that other Brits returning from abroad might.

Thank you to those of you who explained to me why everyone was being so horrible. I was really shocked and upset, because I really thought that Mumsnet would be supportive. I have seen victims of domestic violence counselled through how to leave their abuser on Mumsnet, with posters who had been through a similar telling them step by step what to do and helping them to escape. That is a wonderful side of Mumsnet. I had hoped and even expected for that from this post, which is why I was so angry and snappy and upset. This is a stressful time anyway. I honestly didn´t even know that there were people who made up fake situations to criticise benefits. I generally don´t open benefits threads because they don´t interest me as I don´t know what they´re talking about so I haven´t seen this personally and didn´t know it was something I need to actively show I´m NOT doing.

Yes, I posted in AIBU for traffic because this is quite literally an emergency and I needed quick responses.

Anyway, there you go. If you still think this is all a big lie then please hit the ´report´ button.

Thank you again to those of you who are helping. Any information is useful, even saying it will be difficult. We need to know the realities of the situation so we can make a plan.

@fournonblondes

I can’t believe people who live abroad for years can come back and get benefits. Anyway enjoy while last because this pretty sure is unsustainable.

If you knew what the job was, you wouldn´t say this.

Her biggest problem is the habitual residence test. It varies depending on the type of benefits eg I could register for a gp but couldn't get a cancer referral 9 months after arriving back. We could claim child benefits and child tax credits straight away (this was before uc) but I didn't try for out of work benefits. If the move is due to bereavement, domestic violence or other life changing situation make sure she has evidence to prove her situation. She will need two ideally three months rent (one month deposit plus first months rent whilst she seeks financial help.

Best of luck to her whatever the reason

@MadameGazellee

Please do wish her well from me, it's hard, I know of a man who fled dv married to a diplomat, she's certainly not alone in being posted overseas and the situation being abusive. Ignore the nasty comments.

Yes it is loads. Where I live Housing Benefit rate alone is £1,595 per month. For a three bedroom house or flat.
Then there would be all the other benefits on top.

I work incredibly hard to earn that. It's hard to stomach that some people just take it and give nothing back.

Sorry if my post came across as horrible by the way - I didn't mean to say that it wasn't doable lots and lots of people survive on benefits and it is obviously far preferable to the situation your friend is currently in. When I said that it won't be easy I just meant that in preparation she might want to look at budgeting before hand because I know someone who went from being in a DV relationship with someone who could support them financially to being on benefits and it was a huge culture shock for her that's all.

It's hard to stomach that some people just take it and give nothing back.

Indeed, some landlords are absolute leeches.

Can’t believe some of the nasty replies on here. Those who wrote them: do you feel really good about yourself now?

Op, wishing your friend and her children all the luck in the world with starting over, I’m so pleased they can claim something and be able to escape the awful situation they’re in.

Poor woman. I'm glad she's able to escape the situation she is in. Wishing her all the best for the future.

So you thought benefits were maximum 600 pound a month, from which to pay rent, council tax, bills, food etc, really? Im going to assume you dont have much idea of the current cost of living in the uk in that case

Im an expat and have been for many years. To be fair, unless I'd been on MN I'd have no clue about the levels of benefits/costs/universal credit etc at all. I do know about habitual residence test and the Hague convention (which hasn't come up on this thread surprisingly) and despair that these things are never ever mentioned on a Place in the Sun and when people post about moving abroad. My own dh was made redundant a few years back and was convinced that should we have to return home, a council house would await us as "no-one makes families with children homeless". I had to disabuse him of this. It does seem in this case, and in my general understanding, that if a British citizen moves back, especially to somewhere they have links, it's not difficult to prove habitual residence and the rest follows. It's SO important to understand all the implications of moving abroad. Especially after Brexit where many of the conditions have changed dramatically.

Speaking of the Hague Convention, OP, does your friend have permission to remove the children? How long have they been abroad?

Ensure she gets support from a Domestic Abuse charity for her and children. They can support whilst they make the transition. Good luck

I returned from abroad a few years ago- I could not apply for child benefit etc until I had a job, had been back for 6 months (I think!) and had passed the habitual residence test.
It’s a long slog but good luck to your friend. The best advice would be to get a job (anything) ASAP once she is back