Income support

stevecosta

Hi all,


Hope somebody can help out here!


I have a neighbour who is going through a seperation from her husband (he is leaving). She is Spanish, lived in the UK for 8 years and has a 3 year old British child, fathered by her British husband.



She is unsure if she will be able to claim income support as she has worked very little as she was supported mainly by her husband, she is afraid she will have to leave her home (council).


If anybody can advise of any support she may be entitled to I/she would be most gratefull, thank you

Alice_Holt

I would suggests she visits her local advice centre / CAB for advice and a benefit check.

Is she in a Universal Credit area?
https://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

If not - she may consider:
Housing Benefit
Council Tax reduction
Child Tax Credits
Income Support (as her child is under 5)
Note: a habitual residence test applies to most of these benefits-
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Habitual_Residence_Test

If she is in a UC area then she may consider:
UC
Council Tax reduction

However claiming UC may prove difficult due to its right to reside and habitual residence tests.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/coming-from-abroad-and-claiming-benefits-the-habitual-residence-test/the-habitual-residence-test-an-introduction/what-is-the-habitual-residence-test-EWSNI/
Trying to claim UC if not working as an EEA national is very problematic (even more so than the legacy benefits).
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Right_to_Reside_Test

She may have a derived right to reside through her husband (RtR derived from an immediate family member), even though their are separated and no longer live together. If they divorce this will no longer apply.
If she has worked, or was jobseeking for 5 years she may have acquired permanent residence.But from your OP that seems doubtful.

If in a UC area, she should detail out a timeline of what she has been doing since arriving in the UK and her circumstances, and take this with her when getting advice. It would be helpful to get specific advice on what info to provide to UC around the right to reside and habitual residence tests.

pmlindyloo

Have just been looking at the legislation about this and it is very complicated.

As Alice suggested do advise your neighbour to go to CAB for help.

The easiest way for your neighbour to bypass all the bureaucracy is for her to get a job. She needs only to work for 16 hrs and then she could claim tax credits without going through the habitual residency test. Also possibly housing benefit and council tax reduction. If she is in a full service Universal Credit area then there would be just the one claim to cover the afore mentioned benefits.

CAB can do a benefit check for both UC and other legacy benefits.
So, I would advise that she gets cracking on finding a job whilst her child is in nursery. Is she receiving free childcare for this?

calcotti

pmlindyloo wrote: »

If she is in a full service Universal Credit area then there would be just the one claim to cover the afore mentioned benefits

Council tax reduction woould still need to be claimed separately.