Moving back from Spain and need help with benefits

Mandymull

i see in your original post you state that one of your children will become your wifes carer...does that mean that your child will live with you, or do you hope to live near that child? after all to provide 35 hours of care to claim Carers allowance means they need to be living quite
close to you and your wife

missapril75

You have a couple of advantages. The first one is you have plenty of time to plan - assuming you do mean 2014.

The other advantage is disability and age - who will get looked at more sympathetically than disabled pensioners? And the HRT is often very much influenced by that.

Of course you also get benefit staff who insist on a "qualifying period" - that three months you mentioned for example - that does not exist for HRT and sometimes they say six months!!

It's reasonable to question how someone can be ordinarily resident when they've just moved, but this is your advantage of planning.

You should be able to show you planned to resume residency just as anyone would plan for moving to another country.

Were you planning on coming back at some point anyway? If so, living away was only ever temporary (albeit not short term) and that return has simply been brought forward.

Did you maintain bank accounts, if so, that's another link you maintained. If not, open new accounts in the UK.

If you have accounts in Spain, showing you have closed them will show you're done with Spain.

If you went because your home there would be rent free and it's no longer not, then that's the reason for returning.

What about your belongings? Being able to show you had them shipped over will indicate you're not just "dropping in" until you have been able to find alternative accommodation in Spain.

If you've been given notice, keep it to show when you get back. That will indicate that your move back arises from this.

All those logical steps you take between now and then to re-establish yourself in the UK, just document them and keep evidence to back it up.

If you were able to arrange accommodation so much the better.

That way you could get home, get settled and then apply a couple of weeks later. Some people make the mistake of claiming too soon.

Don't fall into the "but I'm British" trap.

You just need to show what you did to make re-establishing yourself in advance of arrival.

Little_Mo_70

needelp wrote: »

My wife and I have been living in Spain for 5 years and are resident there and claiming Disability Living Allowance (My wife) and Carers allowance (Me) plus my wife's state pension.

We will have to move back to the UK early next year as we will lose our home and cannot afford to stay there.

We will be coming back to the uk with little money, our two state pensions because I will be 65 by then plus my wife's DLA but no carers allowance for me as I will have lost it when becoming age 65.

The Citizens Advice, Age UK and the council's housing people have been of little use advice-wise and are saying we will have to pass a 'habitual residents test'. Having looked at this I can't see we would have much trouble passing as we have children and other relatives living here but don't know for sure?.

One of our children will become my wife's carer and we would hope to live near her in a London borough where we have one other child living also. The housing people say we would have to live in that borough for at least three months first before being able to ask for help from the housing people and/or any benefits agency.

My wife is at present on the middle level of DLA but I am fairly confident she will be put up on the higher rate after a new assessment is sent shortly and I understand a new assessment know as PIPS (I believe) is coming into force soon and would think she will be put on the higher rate of the two when that change comes about.

So I basically need some advice as to what to do and when. Needelp.

AS you are worried about managing on your return, London is a very expensive place to live. Could you not perhaps live on the outskirts but near enough for family to travel to help?

Might you be able to claim attendance allowance instead of carers on your return? Also, if both your pensions, DLA and attendance allowance do not give you enough to live on would you be eligible for pension credit to top things up a bit?

As you aren't paying rent currently, perhaps now would be a good time to start saving for your rental deposit.

I note you say that your family have their own problems and lives but that one of your children will become your wife's carer.
I hope things work out for you.

miduck

missapril75 wrote: »

You have a couple of advantages. The first one is you have plenty of time to plan - assuming you do mean 2014.

The other advantage is disability and age - who will get looked at more sympathetically than disabled pensioners? And the HRT is often very much influenced by that.

Of course you also get benefit staff who insist on a "qualifying period" - that three months you mentioned for example - that does not exist for HRT and sometimes they say six months!!

It's reasonable to question how someone can be ordinarily resident when they've just moved, but this is your advantage of planning.

You should be able to show you planned to resume residency just as anyone would plan for moving to another country.

Were you planning on coming back at some point anyway? If so, living away was only ever temporary (albeit not short term) and that return has simply been brought forward.

Did you maintain bank accounts, if so, that's another link you maintained. If not, open new accounts in the UK.

If you have accounts in Spain, showing you have closed them will show you're done with Spain.

If you went because your home there would be rent free and it's no longer not, then that's the reason for returning.

What about your belongings? Being able to show you had them shipped over will indicate you're not just "dropping in" until you have been able to find alternative accommodation in Spain.

If you've been given notice, keep it to show when you get back. That will indicate that your move back arises from this.

All those logical steps you take between now and then to re-establish yourself in the UK, just document them and keep evidence to back it up.

If you were able to arrange accommodation so much the better.

That way you could get home, get settled and then apply a couple of weeks later. Some people make the mistake of claiming too soon.

Don't fall into the "but I'm British" trap.

You just need to show what you did to make re-establishing yourself in advance of arrival.

All very nice in theory, but you miss the fact that they have lived in Spain for five years, and have established residency there - which would entirely contradict any claim that the move was only intended to be temporary!

missapril75

miduck wrote: »

All very nice in theory, but you miss the fact that they have lived in Spain for five years, and have established residency there - which would entirely contradict any claim that the move was only intended to be temporary!

No,it was quite clear in the post. I even referred to it as temporary albeit not short term.

There is no time limit on the ordinary meaning of temporary. People move all over the world with the intention of returning home one day.

I'm not saying they'll have it easy, nor that the points raised here so far are not valid.

But people can and do establish residency from day one of arrival - even in new countries.

HB58

"Might you be able to claim attendance allowance instead of carers on your return?"

Attendance Allowance is for those who are too old to claim DLA, it is not an alternative to Carers' Allowance.

zoominatorone

Well I suppose if it can be good enough for immigrants who turn up, get themselves an NI number and start selling The Big Issue, it can be good enough for British people who turned their backs on out country then want to come back and claim benefits?

RAS

miduck wrote: »

All very nice in theory, but you miss the fact that they have lived in Spain for five years, and have established residency there - which would entirely contradict any claim that the move was only intended to be temporary!

What you have missed is that it is quite possible to live outside the country for rather more than a decade and still be accepted as temporaily resident overseas. We get it in my business a lot.

All it needs is to show that accomodation and employment overseas were on repeated temporary contracts

Gentile

Let me guess, another retired life in sun dream shattered. You are 65, could you not have planned this better? There is no way the hard working commuting tax payer is going to fund you a house in London. No chance. Best to live with your children.

seven-day-weekend

needelp wrote: »

Thank you Miduck for answering, we are losing our home as we've been given a years notice to leave, we paid no rent and could afford to live in Spain, we wont be able to afford to rent there.

We also need to return to the UK for family to help look after my wife as I might not be able to help as much as I get older.

There is little or no help available to us in Spain as we didn't pay into the system there.

Basically you are right we would need to claim benefits to which I believe we are entitled to after coming into hard times and after paying into the British system for 45 years and taking nothing out until it was needed. (Carers and DLA) that's surely what the system is for, no?

Needelp.

P.S. Living with family is not an option as they have their own lives and problems and certainly is not any long term solution anyway.

You will have to pass the Habitual Residency Test. You will have to show that you have come back to live in the Uk for the forseeable future and have not just come back to claim Benefits.. Things like having a UK bank account, a rental contract, signing up with a Dr, going on the electoral roll, will all be evidence of this.

Many Benefits in the UK are nothing to do with how long you have paid in, they are based on residency, so this is why you will need to pass this test to get any means-tested Benefits. Your Pensions and DLA will be safe.

Most returning British citizens pass, but I do know of one person who failed it as he was not able to convince the authorities that he had not come back to the UK solely in order to claim Benefits.

Hope this helps.