Aussie in the UK: do I qualify for assistance?

[PipPipPip]

Hi there,

wondering if anyone can advise me about what benefits my partner and I qualify for... if any? We live in the UK. The difficulty is that, even though I've been in the UK for ten years, I'm Australian. Here's the low down:

Me: late 20s, full-time postgrad student at Aussie uni (so not a student by UK definition), work on a casual basis, have worked full-time in UK in the past.

Partner: early 30s, works part-time as a freelancer, full-time mature student, British.

I'm not even sure if we qualify for the Health In Pregnancy grant. Would my partner's student status qualify us for childcare assistance?

Would love advice from anyone in similar position.

Well I'm in the opposite position to you - about to move to Australia from the UK - and I read that under the 'reciprocal healthcare agreements' I should receive all maternity care free. However I do have to register for Medicare when we get there, and show my NHS number. I guess if you've been in the UK for 10 yrs you may not be paying towards Medicare anymore? There's a page about travelling overseas here.

Don't know if that helps or not, sorry.

HIP depends how far along you are. You need to be 24weeks on the 1st Jan I think...

Can you naturalise having been in the UK for 5+ years? What does your visa say about recourse to public funds?

If you work on a casual basis you should be able to get SMP or, if not, Maternity Allowance.

Your partner will qualify for any benefits so at the very least your household will get the help a lone, student parent would.

If your employer offers childcare vouchers you should be able to get them. For tax credit purposes I think that, if you make a joint claim, your nationality shouldn't matter. You just need to tick the not subject to immigration control as you're presumably a UK resident?

As a UK resident you obviously have access to NHS care etc.

I'm not sure about the health in pregnancy grant. But don't think you'll get the childcare assistance. When my DD was little we didn't get childcare assistance as both parents need to be working more than 16 hours a week. I was a f/t student so didn't count and we were both English.

If you are not on ILR you do not qualify for the HIP grant, which is ending very shortly (it may actually now be too late to get an application in), or the SureStart grant.

If you're on a non-time-limited visa (ILR, Right of Abode, the old Ancestry Visa, etc.) then you should be all right. Any visa marked 'No Recourse to Public Funds' and no HIP, SureStart, Child Benefit, etc.

Also, if you've been here that long, look at naturalising if you qualify. It will become a harder and harder and more expensive process as time goes on.

Contact your local council for help with rent and council tax. Your partner should make any claims.

Thanks everyone. It is all so complicated! God know how people who speak English as an additional language cope with all of this - I've been here ten years and I still find it confusing!

Thanks so much, though :)

HIP grant stops in early January. You need to apply now if you're far along enough before the cut off. Check the directgov site.

I'm Canadian with ILR so have all standard entitlements. Like the others say it all depends on your status re: recourse to public funds. If you are on an ancestry visa currently (unlikely after 10 years as i thought they were only for 4 years then extended only by applying for ILR) people on ancestry have no recourse to public funds apart from healthcare.

And if you have ILR then your maternity benefits will depend on when/if you've been working. Again directgov has all the info.

I am quite cross to miss out on the HIP myself - I won't be far along enough to make the cut off point this month. I could really use the help!

I'm missing out on HIP grant by about 3 days!