Holiday when on UC

lemonblondie21

Hello everyone,

quick question. We have told UC our travel dates and reason for being away for a week (holiday) and they are insisting we tell them where we are going. I cannot find anything on the Gov website that states you have to tell them your destination only reason for travel and dates away.

I am looking for UC to explain what difference it would make if I was in France vs Spain vs Australia for a week because I don't see how where I am affects my benefit particularly when there is nothing that states that the destination needs to be disclosed. 

Does anyone have the legislation or info that states you need to tell them the destination or are they simply not allowing some privacy?

Thank you! 

Brie

might be a question of how you can afford a particularly pricy location while on benefits?  but I'm guessing.

sheramber

Overview

You may still be able to claim some benefits if you travel or move abroad, or if you’re already living abroad. What you’re entitled to depends on where you’re going and how long for.

https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad

Newcad

Do you have jobseeking conditionality?

If you are a jobseeker then even if out of the country you must still be available for possible job opportunities that may arise - and whereabouts you are in the world can obviously make a difference to your availability to get back for interviews etc.

eg. You could probably get back from France or Spain for a next day job interview, but not so probable from say India or New Zealand.

chrisw

Why not just tell them if you have nothing to hide.

itsthelittlethings

Where are you going out of interest? I agree it’s a bit off of them to ask and I have no idea why they want to know.

Spoonie_Turtle

Have you told them whether you'll be staying within the country or going abroad?  For a week it won't make any difference to entitlement but if anything happened and you got stuck abroad for more than a month it would (whereas if you got stuck somewhere in the UK you would still fulfil the condition of being 'present in GB').

huckster

They need to know destination, because if you were always going to same place on a regular basis, this may raise further questions. Such as

Are you working abroad and not disclosing?

Do you have a partner living in another country?

Do you have savings or other sources of income you are not disclosing?

So each time you go abroad, you provide dates, reasons for going abroad and destination.

This helps to build a picture of your situation over a period of time.

Muttleythefrog

Lots of reasons they may have legitimate explanation to know including those given by members above or even to confirm you'll be outside UK territory.. Just tell them and enjoy your break. On the issue of privacy - claiming benefits means exposing plenty 'private' information - this seems a particularly minor point (if they asked for evidence of travel you'd expose the information in greater detail) and I wouldn't waste your time.

lemonblondie21

I don't have anything to hide at all, I run my own business so I'm not job seeking etc, and have always done everything they have asked such as I recently received an overpayment by accident and I paid it back straight away, give documents as soon as they are asked for, and have attended all meetings or phone calls over the last number of years. We have absolutely nothing to hide. I was just wondering why they need to know the destination when the destination shouldn't matter considering it is only a week on holiday. A part of me simply wonders what is the difference between one destination and another if you are in my situation (as above), and I can't come up with a reasonable answer. 

Plus I couldn't come up with any information that states you have to give them the destination either. So I was even more curious as to why they are pushing so much for it if there is nothing out there that states you have to give them the destination. The link above is one of the links I found, and it doesn't say anything about destination simply dates you are going and for how long and for what purpose, nothing in there states where (or least I didn't see it).

In terms of price that is also an interesting thing I never thought of that. However, we don't eat out, don't do take aways, smoke, or really drink, and we very much spend below our means for the sole purpose of us being able to put a bit of money here and there aside for a holiday. 

Interesting what other reasons they are trying to possibly work out by the destination. However, again I can't find anything that states that it is mandatory to tell them the destination. It fathoms my mind what other people might be doing etc. these things never cross my mind. We are just going for a week of sun and hopefully nice food as we purposely spend below our means so we can have a nice time once or twice a year to somewhere sunny.

We are not going anywhere interesting just to Spain. But again, nothing that states that it mandatory to tell them the destination so I feel I have a right to some privacy particularly if they know when we are away and back, that it is out of the country, and the purpose which is all it seems that you need to tell them. It is more about principle than anything else particularly when they are trolling through pages of bank statements both personal and business etc. to see if you are following the rules. It feels like there is nothing private in our life atm because the DWP are trolling through and demanding to know everything which just feels a bit too much over the line for me.  

Thank you all for your thoughts and insights, things to think about. 

Muttleythefrog

lemonblondie21 said:

I don't have anything to hide at all, I run my own business so I'm not job seeking etc, and have always done everything they have asked such as I recently received an overpayment by accident and I paid it back straight away, give documents as soon as they are asked for, and have attended all meetings or phone calls over the last number of years. We have absolutely nothing to hide. I was just wondering why they need to know the destination when the destination shouldn't matter considering it is only a week on holiday. A part of me simply wonders what is the difference between one destination and another if you are in my situation (as above), and I can't come up with a reasonable answer. 

Plus I couldn't come up with any information that states you have to give them the destination either. So I was even more curious as to why they are pushing so much for it if there is nothing out there that states you have to give them the destination. The link above is one of the links I found, and it doesn't say anything about destination simply dates you are going and for how long and for what purpose, nothing in there states where (or least I didn't see it).

In terms of price that is also an interesting thing I never thought of that. However, we don't eat out, don't do take aways, smoke, or really drink, and we very much spend below our means for the sole purpose of us being able to put a bit of money here and there aside for a holiday. 

Interesting what other reasons they are trying to possibly work out by the destination. However, again I can't find anything that states that it is mandatory to tell them the destination. It fathoms my mind what other people might be doing etc. these things never cross my mind. We are just going for a week of sun and hopefully nice food as we purposely spend below our means so we can have a nice time once or twice a year to somewhere sunny.

We are not going anywhere interesting just to Spain. But again, nothing that states that it mandatory to tell them the destination so I feel I have a right to some privacy particularly if they know when we are away and back, that it is out of the country, and the purpose which is all it seems that you need to tell them. It is more about principle than anything else particularly when they are trolling through pages of bank statements both personal and business etc. to see if you are following the rules. It feels like there is nothing private in our life atm because the DWP are trolling through and demanding to know everything which just feels a bit too much over the line for me.  

Thank you all for your thoughts and insights, things to think about. 

If government wanted the information they could no doubt acquire it anyway through travel details, entry exit data.  Privacy is largely a myth... today you will be lucky to leave your home and not be on cameras within moments. UC often ask for info that is not documented in legislation... and a review for example can include some rather stupid questions like 'what is this Direct Debit to Bulb Energy for'. Chalk it up.... the direction of travel is that vanishingly less of our lives will not be traced or tracked or government accessible... this is the cost of the electronic information era which brings many benefits which you are clearly utilising. I get your point on them asking for information they may have no right to ask... but frankly this seems a waste of your efforts in this regard... it's not your sex life.

My advice tell them and move on. As above there could be legitimate reasons for asking... they often ask why people want to close their UC account and that isn't them being nosey it is because sometimes people don't realise they will continue to have entitlement. They may simply want to confirm destination especially if not explicitly clear you'll be beyond UK territories... as I understand it for example you can travel overseas and still be considered within the Common Travel Area of UK relevant for benefit purposes. There's also possibility they need to know in case of calling you abroad (going overseas means a likely change of personal contact details albeit temporary)... their justifications could be endless... their powers questionable... your holiday more important right now perhaps.

Remember also their front line agents are often quite clueless and will make things up... they lack knowledge of legislation... cannot even often tell you basic rules like how long you can be out of country (as I found out myself.. they just agreed with anything I said).. and even staff taking decisions often screw them up... I'm currently being massively overpaid housing costs because the morons are a) incapable of reading a quarterly statement and realising that is not month and b) never bothered to look at itemisation to discount ineligible building insurance. I have given up trying to manage their staff who get the calculation wrong every time. They insisted my foreign born wife supply her Biometric Residence Permit and wouldn't accept she didn't have one because she'd surrendered it as required following naturalisation as a UK citizen - we offered UK passport instead... you can end up fighting with jelly... save the ice cream for Spain!