Ex Pat Help

catherine_wilson_2

:eek: Help urgent advice needed!! We are hoping to return to the uk after living abroad (non eec) for 14years. We sold our business partnership and our house and we're hoping to have enough to buy a home in the uk and maybe a small car. We've always worked and my husband hopes to find some work on our return but maybe difficult as he is 53yrs old and unqualified.I am able to retire next year at 60yrs old but only qualify for a small pension as not enough nat. ins. contributions eg. about £28 a week as per pension forecast so our budget to buy a flat is around £120,000 of course we've allowed enough money for necessary essentials of furniture and a cheap small car,leaving us with savings of about £4.500 - £5.000. What worries us is that my husband might not find work immediately on return, and taking into account of groundrent, leasehold and insurance,council tax etc. we wondered if we would be entitled to any help or benefits. I know people might think why should we be entitled, after having a life abroad, but we did work about 30years between us in the uk and our savings were in the uk and taxed. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jules

For all means tested benefits you have to have been resident and present in the UK for at least 26 weeks out of the last 52. So for 26 weeks after your return you will be entitled to no help but after that you can apply for income support / job seekers allowance.
You will be eligible to apply for Pension Credit once you turn 60 but again the residency rules apply.
Your level of savings won't affect any benefit claim as savings under £6000 are ignored.

Good luck with your return to the UK.
Jules

Conor_3

You will be eligible for council tax benefit.

bajangal

As soon as you are settled both you and your husband should book an appointment at the Job Centre. You should get JSA, housing and council tax benefits.
I was in your situation. I moved back to the UK after 11 years in Norway. I got JSA without any problems.
You will have to explain why you left the UK and why you are returning.

catherine_wilson_2

Hi, We didn't know about the 26week wait that Jules mentioned. We had anticipated some delay,but we thought it may be because of the £120.000 we had to buy a flat, in fact we thought that we might not be entitled to any benefits due to something called DEPRIVATION OF CAPITAL, which the DWP using savings,eg.the £120.000

catherine_wilson_2

Hi again, sorry I'm definately a newbie,taking a while to get the hang of posting as you can see,posted my query twice and mixed up my reply. Certainly confused but will get the there in the end I HOPE!! Thanks for the asdvice so far and I must admit we didn't know about the 26week rule that Jules mentioned.Bajangal,did you wait this long when you came back from Norway? Also we have since heard of a rule called DEPRIVATION OF CAPITAL which concerns us a bit. Would the £120.000 we had earmarked for a home be classed as savings, thus depriving the DWP of capital we could have used to live on, because I'm sure that if I lived in the UK and applied for any benefits with £120.000 in the bank, I would get the short shrift and rightly so. So does anybody know if we can use that money to buy a home and still apply for benefits if needed?

dmg24

Hi catherine wilson,

I am not sure how coming back to the UK affects your right to benefits, but as long as the property is not overly extravagant, then spending the money in this way will not be classed as intentional deprivation of capital.

If you look at www.dwp.gov.uk and go to the Advisers section (at the top of the page), then look at the Decision Makers Guides, the answer to your main question will be answered there (just might take a while to find!). If you do get a definitive answer, please update us! x

Edit: The relevant section is at:

www.dwp.gov.uk
Advisers and Professionals
Specialist Guides, Publications and Manuals
Decision Makers Guide
Volume 2
Chapter 7
Part 3

The information is there - but unfortunately there are 34 pages to sort through! x