Wife refused HB because she is not working and not on JSA

~Chameleon~

nannytone wrote: »

students cant claim hb unless they are single parents or part of a student partnership with kids ( both students)

....or disabled.

~Chameleon~

tomtom256 wrote: »

Nothing to do with student loans then that the majority of students have to take out.

Actually, no!! Littlemax is quite correct in that income from international students is vital to boost the finances of the universities.

Snowbird

margaretclare wrote: »

One of them was as an unpaid volunteer at the Cite St Pierre near Lourdes, an international refugee centre. Another was as a maternity nurse. I do speak, read and understand French pretty well, but not to the level they demanded. I'd have had to be either a native speaker or bilingual from birth, to fulfil their criteria.

You do not have to be a native speaker or bilingual at birth for Cite St Pierre. You only have to be able to speak and understand it reasonably well. If you only have schoolgirl/boy French and you did it some time ago, then you would probably not be suitable. I know a couple of people who have done work there and neither are either native speaker or bilingual.
Cite St Pierre is not a refugee centre. It is a pilgrimage centre. There is a big difference.

mumps

margaretclare wrote: »

One of them was as an unpaid volunteer at the Cite St Pierre near Lourdes, an international refugee centre. Another was as a maternity nurse. I do speak, read and understand French pretty well, but not to the level they demanded. I'd have had to be either a native speaker or bilingual from birth, to fulfil their criteria.

Well I think it is reasonable to expect a nurse to have excellent language skills, I don't know about the volunteer. As I said it depends on what the employer need for a specific job.

dktreesea

FBaby wrote: »

I feel like I am hitting my head against a wall! What I am saying is that according to the gov.uk site, regardless of whether you are consider PFA OR NOT, you still need to either be on low income OR receiving JSA.

https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/eligibility

So whether or not OP's wife is treated as a PFA or not would be irrelevant. Unless that website is misleading, but considering it is the government one, that would be concerning.

OR have savings below £6k if an individual or £16k if part of a family. Exactly what it states on the first page of the link you provided.

epitome

FBaby wrote: »

I feel like I am hitting my head against a wall! What I am saying is that according to the gov.uk site, regardless of whether you are consider PFA OR NOT, you still need to either be on low income OR receiving JSA.

https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/eligibility

So whether or not OP's wife is treated as a PFA or not would be irrelevant. Unless that website is misleading, but considering it is the government one, that would be concerning.

Well of course it's misleading, government information rarely (never) spells out everything that is relevant and give definitions.

The Op's partner is on a low income, but a nil income would also qualify.
Having satisfied that criteria the council would then determine if they were a PFA.

dktreesea

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I agree with this absolutely. And when I mentioned immigrants to Spain I was referring to EU immigrants - Brits included. You arrive with no money, you get nothing.

Just try it. You will soon see that we are right. I even know Spanish Citizens who don't get anything.

(Before anyone starts, - when we lived in Spain we lived entirely from our own resources, we have never had a penny (or should I say centimo) of Spanish public money).

Yes, that's true, but it also applies for returning Spanish citizens, unless they have previously been employed in Spain and paid into the system.

To me this seems to be a sensible approach to take. I don't understand why Britain keeps dragging their feet on this and paying benefits to people who have never paid into the system, let alone to those who have just arrived.

I would far rather have a maximum rate of personal income tax of say, 15%, like in the Czech Republic and only pay benefits to able bodied people if they have paid into the system for at least 5 years prior to making any claim.

MissMoneypenny

dktreesea wrote: »

There is nothing to stop Britain from going down exactly the same route, but they seem to back off because that would mean also denying certain benefits to returning British nationals.

That's why it would be better to have an HRT that stated you can only claim after you have worked in the UK for (say 5) tax years, for at least 35+ a week. That would then exclude those people who take from the UK before they put in. That would also cut our welfare bill.

We then need to operate a 2 tier system where you can only claim the higher rate for the number of years you have paid into the UK. Then the lower, basic survival rate for the rest of the time. And include all welfare payments and free bus passes etc.

epitome

dktreesea wrote: »

Yes, that's true, but it also applies for returning Spanish citizens, unless they have previously been employed in Spain and paid into the system.

To me this seems to be a sensible approach to take. I don't understand why Britain keeps dragging their feet on this and paying benefits to people who have never paid into the system, let alone to those who have just arrived.

I would far rather have a maximum rate of personal income tax of say, 15%, like in the Czech Republic and only pay benefits to able bodied people if they have paid into the system for at least 5 years prior to making any claim.

I can't understand why you ignore people telling you that you are wrong, read #100

epitome

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

That's why it would be better to have an HRT that stated you can only claim after you have worked in the UK for (say 5) tax years, for at least 35+ a week. That would then exclude those people who take from the UK before they put in. That would also cut our welfare bill.

That would exclude a hell of a lot of British people, and you say they (British) -returning from abroad- should not be paid benefits until they have worked full time for 5 years, when Jonny Skidmarks who has never worked and never broadened his horizons by leaving UK can claim indefinately?