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Returning from Australia right to benefits
Couple with 2 young children have just returned UK after emigrating to Australia 18 months ago. Looking for work and signed on for JSA., been advised they have to wait a month before getting paid. What are the rules for British Citizens returning to UK if emigrating plans to do work out?
similar case, clt returned from Canada after Job position was made redundant. The DWP informed myself and a clt on Friday, that they should claim Hardship until they are eligible for JSA, this then would entitle them to HB. I cannot vouch for how safe this route will be, but have put in Hardship form as they suggested. Have an appointment with HB later today. We will see.
If they have children, then s17 of the Children’s Act may be of use.
They are lucky they have been told one month ... it should be three. The amendment to the JSA Regs this year, which was obviously targeted at Europeans but could not be drafted in such blatantly discriminatory terms, catches everyone of any nationality including UK nationals. Until they have lived in the UK or Ireland for three months they are excluded from JSA(ib).
Advisors have reported a huge impact on returning Brits, so I am surprised this one slipped under the radar. Their best policy might be to keep shtumm and collect after one month.
However HB is not dependant on DWP’s decision - there is no need for them to claim DWP hardship payments simply in order to obtain HB (would they actually get hardship payments? They are not sanctioned, they simply do not qualify for JSA, end of - surely?). The LA will pay HB if and when it is satisfied that they are habitually resident in the UK. There is no specified period - every case on its merits.
The only glimmer of hope for getting JSA and HB from Day One is if DWP and/or the LA takes the view that they never really emigrated at all but simply went on a speculative adventure, and they have lived in the UK all along. There are threads on here where people discuss what difference there might be between habitual residence and living in the UK - even if the LA accepts they have never stopped being habitually resident, DWP might still say they haven’t lived here for three months.
Yes, echo that. The test is (now outside of JSA) for people coming from outside the EEA is to have been here for an appreciable period of time. A rule of thumb is between 1-3 months (Nessa) although it might be longer depending on the circumstances. Many years ago I had a client, British citizen, went to Australia as a child. Returned after 50 years to settle. Tribunal gave him HR after one month.
The only glimmer of hope for getting JSA and HB from Day One is if DWP and/or the LA takes the view that they never really emigrated at all but simply went on a speculative adventure, and they have lived in the UK all along. There are threads on here where people discuss what difference there might be between habitual residence and living in the UK - even if the LA accepts they have never stopped being habitually resident, DWP might still say they haven’t lived here for three months.
Unlikely that DWP will make that decision in my experience but I have certainly had FtT make such a decision for a client who’d been away for about 7 or 8 years in Africa. They found he’d never left home in the UK essentially, as he’d led quite a peripatetic lifestyle whilst abroad and never really settled anywhere, despite having studied for 3 years in Kenya.