Time allowed abroad whilst claiming disability

Giraffe76

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

marcia_

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

CKhalvashi

She's allowed to spend about one month (this can be benefit specific within a few days) abroad at a time.

ESA is 4 weeks, PIP is up to 13 weeks.

Her main home must be in the UK and there will be visa/visa free requirements etc to meet when away.

I'm not routinely dealing with benefits professionally for about 8 years, so if the rules have changed I'm sure I'll be corrected on this.

Giraffe76

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

marcia_

Giraffe76 said:

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

 You need to inform them you are out of the country. To not do so is benefit fraud 
her claim will stop and she won't be able to reclaim on return. 

CKhalvashi

Giraffe76 said:

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

In most cases, with limited exceptions, yes. There would be limited rights to reclaim in the UK once back under habitual residence rules.

There may be provisions under reciprocal agreements with the UK, however these in general would require the right to live in the country being visited (in reality this would require either EU or specific other passports to be held) and I'd advise getting specific advice from the DWP on this if it may apply to you.

marcia_

CKhalvashi said:

Giraffe76 said:

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

In most cases, with limited exceptions, yes. There would be limited rights to reclaim in the UK once back under habitual residence rules.

There may be provisions under reciprocal agreements with the UK, however these in general would require the right to live in the country being visited (in reality this would require either EU or specific other passports to be held) and I'd advise getting specific advice from the DWP on this if it may apply to you.

The DWP are on benefits advisors and know little about the legislation other than the script in front of them. If you need advice contact the CAB or similar 

 ESA can not be reclaimed it would be universal credit 

poppy12345

CKhalvashi said:

Giraffe76 said:

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

 I'd advise getting specific advice from the DWP on this if it may apply to you.

When ringing any DWP department, you're not speaking to someone from DWP, it's someone from a call centre who have very little benefits knowledge. Not something i'd recommend to anyone to ring for such advice.

TELLIT01

Giraffe76 said:

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

How the monitoring is done is irrelevant.  Not informing DWP of absences over 4 weeks is committing benefit fraud.  Do you really want to go down that route?

huckster

 

How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

My understanding is that UK Government are gradually moving towards sharing data across different Government departments. So if a passport was used to exit the UK and enter another country, then this would be known information to UK Government.

It is whether this information becomes available to DWP and can they then legally use the information ? 

I suspect that there might be a trigger for compliance action on a benefit claim and if they are not able to complete the action, then the benefit claim could be suspended.

So if someone was to go abroad for longer than a benefit allows, they should ensure that someone is collecting the post at their UK address and reads it, so they can contact the person abroad.  If there is a letter about a compliance interview, they might then have to travel back to the UK to complete the interview.

calcotti

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

marcia_ said:

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

My wife claims PIP and ESA. She wants to spend winters abroad to get away from the freezing temperatures but I was wondering if it will effect either of her claims in any way.

I would be grateful for any help or advice

Kind regards Mark 

 The time limits for being out of the uk are here https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-benefits#:~:text=Tell%20your%20local%20Jobcentre%20Plus,which%20country%20you%20go%20to.

its 4 weeks for ESA and 13 weeks for PIP 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. If we went abroad for more than 4 weeks then would my wife's claim totally stop and she would have to restart a claim once back?
How do they monitor who enters and leaves the country?

 You need to inform them you are out of the country. To not do so is benefit fraud 
her claim will stop and she won't be able to reclaim on return. 

OP has not said what type of ESA wife is getting so I’m not sure that is necessarily correct. I think there is still a 12 week linking rule for ESA. If she only gets income based ESA then she will definitely not be able to claim again but if she gets new style ESA or contribution based ESA she may be able to claim new style ESA within an 12 week period. However I’m not sure.