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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

Travelling Abroad

Liz M
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Exeter Citizens Advice Project Worker

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Joined: 15 March 2021

I am currently helping Ukrainians and have been asked how often they can return to Ukraine and continue to receive their Universal Credit assuming they still satisfy the conditions of entitlement.  I can’t find anything that puts a limit on this but wonder if anyone knows

Elliot Kent
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The limits relate to the duration of the individual absences rather than the frequency of them. UC will remain payable if you are temporarily absent from the UK for up to one month (or two in connection with a death of a close relative / six for a trip for medical treatment). There is no limit as such on the number of absences you can have, although plainly there are limits to what is practically possible.

UB40
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Debt and Welfare Advice, Community Money Advice, Launceston

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There are a number of factors to take into account. 1 The reason for travel out of the UK 2 The Conditionality Group of the claimant.3 The actions required by the Claimant Commitment that the client has agreed. The following is an extract from Universal Credit guidance ( Universal Learning )

                Claimant reports a temporary absence for a holiday

                What to do when a claimant has notified Universal Credit that they intend to go on holiday

Universal Credit does not make any allowances for holidays when considering conditionality. The agent must advise the claimant that if they choose to go on holiday they must continue to carry out the work-related requirements as set out on their Claimant Commitment and they:
will still be expected to complete all mandatory activity including attendances at any appointment or provision
will not be able to conduct their ongoing Work Search Review at any office other than their home office or have them arranged for a later date
could be subject to a sanction and lose some or all of their Universal Credit payments if they do not fulfil all the requirements in their Claimant Commitment in full
No allowances are made within the conditionality regime for claimants going on holiday. For example claimants in the All Work-Related Requirements Group with no restrictions on their availability will still be expected to be immediately available to attend a job interview or take up an offer of employment, even if this means cutting short a holiday.
Being on holiday would not be considered good reason for not carrying out any work search or availability requirements and claimants would go on holiday at their own risk.
No exceptions should be made for pre-booked holidays.

Liz M
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Exeter Citizens Advice Project Worker

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The common reason given for returning is to see family members and they are going under the guise of a holiday.  The cost of travel may well restrict these visits but I do wonder how a decision maker would view repeated visits in terms of conditionality

UB40
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Debt and Welfare Advice, Community Money Advice, Launceston

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Hopefully your client will have a sympathetic work coach who will not submit the visit to the DM section. One thought considering the number of dentists that have returned to EU countries, if your client needs dental treatment maybe that can be best obtained in Ukraine! Dentists in my town are closed to new patients ( even private plan )