my girlfriend needs some help

bargaindoctor

my girlfriend is from another EU state (Spain) who is currently working 2 jobs in the UK about 45 hours a week, makes only around £230 a week on average. She has been in the UK for over a year and had a period where she was jobless and I have been helping her. She pays rent a month which is almost £400 a month, so is not left with much in savings, and she is so tired. No dependents, children, etc. We don't live together but considered moving in together.

I have been having to help her financially because of her situation, and she mentioned that maybe she would be entitled to benefits somehow. I tried the entitled to website which gave an estimate tax credit award of £42 a week but I don't know how that works, and it was calculating it by her weekly salary which I entered £250 and translated to almost £15,000 a year - far from waht she made in total last year (last year she made less than £2000 in total!)

Does anyone know if she would be eligible for any help? thank you

Kimitatsu

Hi Bargaindoctor

Without seeing her passport and entitlement to work it would be impossible to say. Suggest that she pops down to her local Citizens Advice and they will be able to tell her if she is eligible and do a Quick Benefits calculation to give her an idea of how much (if any) she would be entitled to.

If she cant get in to see them, most of them do a joint telephone service that is manned throughout the day, so should be able to give her some advice.

camper

£230 a week adds up to much more than £2000 a year - suggest girlfriend takes or has payslips with her when she speaks to CAB.

ukdickie31

Without seeing her passport and entitlement to work it would be impossible to say

EU Nationals have no need to have a work permit.

In order to qualify for benefit however, she may need to satisfy a "Habitual Residence Test" as well as the normal rules regarding income etc for Tax
Credits. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/residence-rules.htm