JSA help needed please - habitual resident

mp-123

I am a UK resident, after finishing uni last year I took a holiday/mini gap year & backpacked around America for 5 months with two friends (I worked in the uni kitchens during my degree to save the money for this). I have now returned to the UK and am actively looking for work and have made a claim for JSA in the interim, but they have said that I am not considered to be habitually resident in the UK so am not entitled. Is this correct?
Thank you for your advice
Frank

ArtoDeeto

Yes, you can't get benefits for the first three months.

missapril75

mp-123 wrote: »

I am a UK resident, after finishing uni last year I took a holiday/mini gap year & backpacked around America for 5 months

Have you actually received this in writing or is it what someone has merely told you and you've not been informed officially?

Is it possible that in the words you used with them you may have suggested you went to live in America and have now returned? Sometimes people inadvertently give the wrong impression.

Habitual Residency is for people claiming benefits who have recently arrived in the UK having lived abroad. Yours may have been more than a typical holiday but from what you say here it was still a visit. Perhaps you entered the USA as a visitor - some sort of visa indicating a restricted stay?

Assuming you always live in the UK and then made this trip, returning to your home as opposed to being from abroad and studying in the UK (which would be different) I would guess someone has been heavy handed or misunderstood what you've said.

Have a look at this CAB link

mp-123

I have received this in writing. I am a UK resident and was on a 6 month holiday visa (not a work visa) in America, I was born here and have always lived in the UK and have never been resident elsewhere. I merely went on holiday & returned home. Perhaps you're right and they have simply misunderstood the context of my trip. I will go and speak to them tomorrow.

Thank you for the link it is very helpful.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Sounds like someone got things the wrong way round and think you are a resident in the USA who is here on a 6 month holiday. HRT wouldn't normally be applicable to someone returning from a holiday abroad.

pmlindyloo

Do the new regulations brought in December 2013 make any difference?

It suggests (if I'm reading it correctly) that the new 3 month rule also applies to British nationals who have not been living in the UK for the previous 3 months.

See here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3196/pdfs/uksi_20133196_en.pdf

caroll72

Unless the law has changed in the last 3 years since we arrived back in uk, you only have to do habitual residency test if you've been abroad for over 2 years.

thorsoak

mp-123 wrote: »

I am a UK resident, after finishing uni last year I took a holiday/mini gap year & backpacked around America for 5 months with two friends (I worked in the uni kitchens during my degree to save the money for this). I have now returned to the UK and am actively looking for work and have made a claim for JSA in the interim, but they have said that I am not considered to be habitually resident in the UK so am not entitled. Is this correct?
Thank you for your advice
Frank

Did you work/pay NI contributions before or during your Uni course? If so, for how many years?

von

New JSA legislation was introduced from 1st January 2014 which stated that a claimant has to be resident in the UK for 3 months immediately prior to claiming JSA. The purpose of the new rules was to ensure that new EU migrants could not gain access to JSA on their arrival in the UK however as they cannot discriminate between EU nationals and British citizens the new legislation also applies to British Nationals who have not been resident in the UK.

missapril75

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Do the new regulations brought in December 2013 make any difference?

It suggests (if I'm reading it correctly) that the new 3 month rule also applies to British nationals who have not been living in the UK for the previous 3 months.

See here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3196/pdfs/uksi_20133196_en.pdf

von wrote: »

New JSA legislation was introduced from 1st January 2014 which stated that a claimant has to be resident in the UK for 3 months immediately prior to claiming JSA. The purpose of the new rules was to ensure that new EU migrants could not gain access to JSA on their arrival in the UK however as they cannot discriminate between EU nationals and British citizens the new legislation also applies to British Nationals who have not been resident in the UK.

I'd like to see more info on this.

Before the document says what the amendment is it states

In regulation 85A (special cases: supplemental – persons from abroad) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996(c) for paragraph (2) substitute—

Person from abroad (PFA) always had a specific definition and some PFA's could qualify for benefit.

I'm wondering if this amendment applies to them and not someone like the OP who isn't a PFA. After all, is one really a special case simply by coming home from a trip abroad?

More information needed I think. The doc refers to some other information. Anyone know of that?

xylophone

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/british-nationals-returning-work-abroad-fall-under-new-benefit-tourism-rules-1430716

I notice that this refers to "Income based" JSA - would it also apply to 'Contribution based" assuming the OP qualified?