Visiting Family or Holiday? Universal Credit

LunaBee

Im on UC and I will be visiting family for my daughters 2nd birthday next month. They have paid and arranged everything and it will only be a couple of days so they can throw my daughter a birthday party. I live in Scotland but Im from Wales, so I rarely get to see my family except if they come up to where I am. I am just wondering if this will count as a holiday or not and if so what do I have to do to inform them. I dont have any commitments yet. Thanks.

Neil_Jones

As a general rule "holiday" is classed as in the traditional sense - going somewhere hot and sunny with the intent to relax and do nothing on a beach somewhere. None of which, with the greatest of respect, is going to happen in (inland) Wales at any time of the year.

Why is this an issue? Do you get what would have been JSA under the old system? IIRC that had a stipulation that you had to tell them if you were going away somewhere for signing on purposes. But even then I think it was only granted if it was a UK holiday - a trip to Barbados on JSA would probably open a can of worms so to speak.

gettingtheresometime

Neil_Jones wrote: »

As a general rule "holiday" is classed as in the traditional sense - going somewhere hot and sunny with the intent to relax and do nothing on a beach somewhere. None of which, with the greatest of respect, is going to happen in (inland) Wales at any time of the year.

Why is this an issue? Do you get what would have been JSA under the old system? IIRC that had a stipulation that you had to tell them if you were going away somewhere for signing on purposes. But even then I think it was only granted if it was a UK holiday - a trip to Barbados on JSA would probably open a can of worms so to speak.

I'll have you know Summer in Wales was officially designated as 21st April 2018

Ineededaname

There's nothing to stop you going unless they've asked you to attend an appointment on the same days, but your requirements are not switched off because you decide to go away.

You say you don't have a commitment yet so I'm assuming you have only just started claiming?

Essentially.. as long as you meet all your commitment points and don't miss any appointments you'll be fine. In short - do your job search and record it during the rest of the week and complete any other points on your commitment.

Probably worth mentioning it to your work coach in advance to ensure they don't book an appointment on those days. They also might be understanding and not set you anything specific to do that week but that will depend on them of course.

Sncjw

Do you have an appointment at all during the time your away?

mro

LunaBee wrote: »

Im on UC and I will be visiting family for my daughters 2nd birthday next month. They have paid and arranged everything and it will only be a couple of days so they can throw my daughter a birthday party. I live in Scotland but Im from Wales, so I rarely get to see my family except if they come up to where I am. I am just wondering if this will count as a holiday or not and if so what do I have to do to inform them. I dont have any commitments yet. Thanks.

Under old Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) you are allowed 2 weeks holiday in UK.

Fill in Going Away form where you can be exempted from Job Search.

Your visit may fit in around, in between your appointments.

huckster

As others have said, you need only inform the Job Centre if the days away affect any commitment you have agreed with the Job Centre.

Given that job searches can be done online these days, being away from home in the UK would not prevent you doing this.

Ineededaname

mro wrote: »

Under old Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) you are allowed 2 weeks holiday in UK.

Fill in Going Away form where you can be exempted from Job Search.

Your visit may fit in around, in between your appointments.

This is not the case on Universal Credit.

pmlindyloo

Ineededaname wrote: »

This is not the case on Universal Credit.

Quite true.

Information here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/298762/response/727736/attach/html/2/FOI%204569%20reply.pdf.html

mro

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Quite true.

Information here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/298762/response/727736/attach/html/2/FOI%204569%20reply.pdf.html

And completely unreasonable & inpractical.

"However, if a claimant chooses to go on holiday in Great Britain or abroad they must continue to carry out the work-related requirements as set out on their Claimant Commitment.

No allowances are made within the conditionality regime for claimants going on holiday."


All drawn up under Iain Duncan Smith to create draconian regime.

I think this needs checking again, as it's 2 years old, as things are changing in Jobcentres regarding implementation.
Universal Jobmatch is being scrapped rebranded changed in few weeks time.

What it says in documents isn't always same as how it works in real world & implementation.

Ineededaname

You can disagree with it all you want, it is still the case today.OP needs to ensure all conditionality for the week is complete to be safe.

You are quite correct, however, when you say how it works in documents isn't always the same as how it is implemented.

This is why I advise mentioning it to your work coach and hope they are understanding. As it seems to be a new claim there's no reason they should want to be difficult about something that is completely reasonable - visiting your daughter for her birthday. They are in control of any specific steps set for the week so they might limit these for you - but you must still do your weeks jobsearch and record the evidence as usual. Even if they seem to excuse you, you never know you might end up seeing a different coach.