Claiming HB whilst temporarily in Italy.

Hoping someone can help, I’ve checked the Migrants Handbook and I can’t see whether this is possible or not.

Client has been in Italy for last 3 months and been diagnosed with aggressive cancer so will be staying there for next six months at least. Has worked in Italy off and on for many years previously but has home in the UK which she is paying full rent and CT at the moment.

Can she make a new claim for HB from Italy using the 26 week temporary absence rules due to receiving medical treatment basically or is this not possible because she isn’t in UK to make the claim in the first place and then becoming temporarily abroad?

Thanks.

Making the claim while already absent from GB is not a problem - the claimant still satisfies the condition of occupying the home while temporarily absent from it, provided the absence does not exceed the maximum time allowed.

It’s the length of the absence that might be a problem here though: “any period of absence from Great Britain is unlikely to exceed or, in exceptional circumstances is unlikely substantially to exceed, 26 weeks beginning with the first day of the absence from Great Britain ”

If the likely absence from GB in this case is a minimum of nine months, you’ll need the Council to take a very flexible view about “substantially exceed”.  And HB will end in any case once the absence from GB has reached 26 weeks - there is no provision to treat the claimant as occupying the home for any longer than 26 weeks beginning with the first day of absence from GB: see Reg 7(17C).

In summary: if the Council is happy to view the expected absence as not substantially exceeding 26 weeks, they will pay HB until the absence has reached 26 weeks; otherwise they won’t pay HB at all from the point at which the absence was first likely to exceed 26 weeks.

HB can be backdated three months of course (subject to income and capital) so, even though there are only three further months’ potential HB remaining from now, she might get the past three months covered as well.

Brilliant, thanks for this Peter, very helpful as always.