Universal Credit when working in Ireland

I have a couple with four children - the partner is employed in the Republic of Ireland driving lorries. He returns home to Anglesey and his family three days per week. He is paid in Euros and pays NINO and PAYE to the Inland Revenue in Ireland however is registered as living here for council tax purposes, has a tenancy here GP etc. The family have received UC previously with this situation - but UC have closed their claim In October 2023.

The family are uncertain why - they thought it was about not being able to report wages.  Do they have a right to make a claim for UC (The calculations shows there is entitlement) How should I advise them - do they need to make voluntary NINO payments here?

The straightforward answer is yes

Although he spends time in the Irish Republic he must be treated as being in Great Britain and therefore meets the basic conditions for entitlement see Reg (1) UC Regs

9.—(1) For the purposes of determining whether a person meets the basic condition to be in Great Britain, except where a person falls within paragraph (4), a person is to be treated as not being in Great Britain if the person is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.

There is legally no such thing as closing a claim.  An award can be terminated by revision or supersession but any such decision must be properly notified.  The notice must include a notice re the right of appeal.

If the notice has not been properly issued it may be possible to appeal the decision without going through the so called mandatory reconsideration process

Thanks for this - do you have any ideas how UC should be verifying wage sums and details as they do not have access to the Inland Revenue in Ireland . The worker says he was failing to provide exchange rate figures but he was unclear about their reasons. Should UC accept Wage slips rather than live reporting?

The simple answer to your question re payslips is again yes

See Reg 61 (1) and (2) UC Regs

61.—(1) Unless paragraph (2) applies, a person must provide such information for the purposes of calculating their earned income at such times as the Secretary of State may require.
Real time information
(2) Where a person is, or has been, engaged in an employment in respect of which their employer is a Real Time Information employer—
(a) the amount of the person’s employed earnings from that employment in respect of each assessment period is to be based on the information reported to HMRC under the PAYE Regulations and received by the Secretary of State from HMRC in that assessment period;and
(b) in respect of an assessment period in which no information is received from HMRC, theamount of employed earnings in relation to that employment is to be taken to be nil.

Your client is working in Ireland for an employer who simply cannot be a Real Time Information Employer so paragraph 1 will apply

Stainsby - 25 January 2024 04:54 PM

The straightforward answer is yes

Although he spends time in the Irish Republic he must be treated as being in Great Britain and therefore meets the basic conditions for entitlement see Reg (1) UC Regs

9.—(1) For the purposes of determining whether a person meets the basic condition to be in Great Britain, except where a person falls within paragraph (4), a person is to be treated as not being in Great Britain if the person is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.

There is legally no such thing as closing a claim.  An award can be terminated by revision or supersession but any such decision must be properly notified.  The notice must include a notice re the right of appeal.

If the notice has not been properly issued it may be possible to appeal the decision without going through the so called mandatory reconsideration process

Reg.9(1) does not say that such a person is to be treated as being “in GB”. It simply says that such a person is not to be treated as “not being in GB”.

Therefore, the normal rules about physically being “in GB” and the rules about temporary absences (including the issues surrounding temporary absences in the first AP) will apply.