State Pension and other benefits

Mariolanza

A British friend of mine has lived in Belgium all his life,  although he was born in England. 

Because of various reasons, he now wants to return to England and is in his early 70ies, currently on benefits.

Would he be entitled to any benefits on his arrival here,  considering he doesn't have a national insurance number?

Thank you.

calcotti

“Currently on benefits”. Are these Belgian benefits? He may continue to be entitled to those even if he returns to the UK. However this is something of a specialist topic so he may be better off contacting an advice agency.

NedS

As he was born in the UK, he may have been assigned an NI number at birth, so it may be possible to enquire and retrieve that. Does he have a Belgian pension?

Mariolanza

Yes, I believe he must have some type of benefits over there,  although he has worked very  little.

calcotti

Mariolanza said:

Yes, I believe he must have some type of benefits over there,  although he has worked very  little.

There isn’t enough information to advise. Get specialist advice.

Robbie64

NedS said:

As he was born in the UK, he may have been assigned an NI number at birth, so it may be possible to enquire and retrieve that. Does he have a Belgian pension?

I don't think NI numbers were assigned at birth until the early 90s and back then they were called Child Reference Numbers, allocated for Child Benefit claims control purposes. The then Benefits Agency / DSS used to advise staff (I was one back then) not to refer to them as NI numbers but to refer to them as Child Reference Numbers. When the young person reached 16 the number then became the person's NI number. I'm sure as late as the 80s (and possibly beyond) an NI number used to be allocated when a young person was 15, a card would be sent to the young person. When the school leaving age was 15 the number may have been allocated at 14 though I'm not sure of that.

Depending on when the friend in the opening post left England, it's possible that he doesn't have an NI number. If so he will need to apply for one.

calcotti

Robbie64 said:.. it's possible that he doesn't have an NI number. If so he will need to apply for one.

Only if he is going too climm UK benefits. In fact even then he wouldn’t need to apply directly for an NI number, an application for Pension Credit should result in an NI number being issued. However he first needs to establish whether he is eligible fo4 UK benefits or whether whatever he is getting in Belgium will transfer. I really have no idea what reciprocal arrangements and competent state rules are following Brexit.