ESA Travel Abroad(holiday)

yozy

benidorm59 said:

If you have gone out of UK for less than 28 days and it changes to be longer than 28 days, you must make efforts to tell DWP that you will be outside more than 28 days. by asking someone in UK to phone the ESA, or send them a letter, or worse case scenario, tell them on your return you were out for more than 28 days... in which case, you will have to pay back all the ESA over the 28 days that you were paid. Or even worse case scenario, don't tell them you were over 28 days, hope that they don't notice, and get charged with benefit fraud


My friend travelled abroad stayed five weeks, ESA IR had an overpayment from the day of travel, she asked for a Review, not changed this was appealed the decision the overpayment is from the date she left the UK. It was recoverable and a civil penalty was applied

Hi, your friend who was abroad for 5 weeks, did they inform the DWP/JCP in advance (before they left) that they were going abroad, and for this period of time. Or are you saying the DWP somehow found out that they had exceeded the 28 days allowed? Would appreciate more information please.

calcotti

Yozy, this thread is over two years old. If you have a question I suggest you start a new thread. Benidorm59 last visited the site at the beginning of January.

yozy

calcotti said:

Yozy, this thread is over two years old. If you have a question I suggest you start a new thread. Benidorm59 last visited the site at the beginning of January.

Hi calcotti, I was hoping for a an answer from this specific experience. Asking the question in new post would likely be of no use. I was hoping this person subscribed to email notifications and would see my reply and answer my question.

poppy12345

yozy said:

calcotti said:

Yozy, this thread is over two years old. If you have a question I suggest you start a new thread. Benidorm59 last visited the site at the beginning of January.

Hi calcotti, I was hoping for a an answer from this specific experience. Asking the question in new post would likely be of no use. I was hoping this person subscribed to email notifications and would see my reply and answer my question.

Even if they have, they haven't returned since January. If you're thinking of going abroad at any time and you're claiming a means tested benefit then the maximum amount of time you can for is 4 weeks. Any longer than this and you'll need to report the changes and your benefits will stop. If you're claiming the old legacy benefits like ESA once you return you will not be able to re-claim and it will have to be Universal Credit that you claim.

Going away for longer than 4 weeks without telling them is benefit fraud and they will eventually find out. It's always best to be honest and upfront.

calcotti

yozy said:

calcotti said:

Yozy, this thread is over two years old. If you have a question I suggest you start a new thread. Benidorm59 last visited the site at the beginning of January.

Hi calcotti, I was hoping for a an answer from this specific experience. Asking the question in new post would likely be of no use. I was hoping this person subscribed to email notifications and would see my reply and answer my question.

Even if you get an answer I wouldn't base any actions today on an experience from two years ago given the amount of change that has taken place with the full roll out of UC.

yozy

poppy12345 said:

yozy said:

calcotti said:

Yozy, this thread is over two years old. If you have a question I suggest you start a new thread. Benidorm59 last visited the site at the beginning of January.

Hi calcotti, I was hoping for a an answer from this specific experience. Asking the question in new post would likely be of no use. I was hoping this person subscribed to email notifications and would see my reply and answer my question.

Even if they have, they haven't returned since January. If you're thinking of going abroad at any time and you're claiming a means tested benefit then the maximum amount of time you can for is 4 weeks. Any longer than this and you'll need to report the changes and your benefits will stop. If you're claiming the old legacy benefits like ESA once you return you will not be able to re-claim and it will have to be Universal Credit that you claim.

Going away for longer than 4 weeks without telling them is benefit fraud and they will eventually find out. It's always best to be honest and upfront.

When you say "stop," do you mean pause them for the duration between day 29 and the day (after) return? And then un-pause when I have returned? Or you saying they would cancel claim completely. And then when I'm back I'd have to start a new claim, as though applying for the first time, and it would be for UC or new-style ESA. And I have to do another WCA interview?

How sure are you of this? Or are you just guessing? There's a lot of false information out there, of course.


Out of pure curiosity (to satisfy my curiosity for how much the authorities know of our individual whereabouts and so on) if a person was not to inform them ahead of time, would they and, how would they, actually know?

I know all government departments can share information, but they would only gather this information if they had reason to suspect they needed it. Unless you're suggesting there is some sort of automatic algorithmic database link up that sends the DWP an alert if a claimant exceeds 28 days out of the country?

poppy12345

I mean stop as in end completely and you won't be able to reclaim any ESA. New style ESA is for those that have worked in the previous 2 tax years and paid the correct amount of NI contributions. As you haven't worked you won't be able to claim this. As has been advised you would then need to claim for UC and if it's longer than 1 month since your ESA ended then you will need to send in fit notes to and be reassessed with the work capability assessment as you did with ESA.

No one here is going to advise you anything different other than if you're away for more than 4 weeks you need to reeport the changes. Although at the moment it's against the law to travel to any country, unless you have a an extremely good reason.. like for work purposes. 

Teahfc

Post Brexit Border force are in more contact with HMRC, Ms Patel has got her finger in that pie, days of no passport stamps have gone now. No more appearing and disappearing for all now. 

yozy

Teahfc said:

Post Brexit Border force are in more contact with HMRC, Ms Patel has got her finger in that pie, days of no passport stamps have gone now. No more appearing and disappearing for all now. 

Source please?

Teahfc

yozy said:

Teahfc said:

Post Brexit Border force are in more contact with HMRC, Ms Patel has got her finger in that pie, days of no passport stamps have gone now. No more appearing and disappearing for all now. 

Source please?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/partnership-agreement-between-hmrc-and-border-force

Border Force is a strategic partner of HMRC. This agreement sets out the framework within which HMRC and the Home Office work together to ensure Border Force contributes to HMRC objectives, as part of the wider Border Force purpose to secure the UK border.