claiming benefits with a domestic violence PO BOX?

joanna_Lennon · 29 November 2017 at 1:05PM

If you are living in a domestic violence refuge and therefore using a P.O Box address for safety reasons, and therefore cannot open a bank account... Can you still receive benefits? (child benefit/child tax credit etc.)...currently know someone with a young child who is in this situation and has been without any income for over a month...

jfdi · 29 November 2017 at 3:39PM

There’s no problem with benefit claims, the local offices will be aware of the refuge location.
So it appears the bank account may be an issue? Has your friend tried asking one of their support workers how to tackle this?
Unfortunately it’s quite common, so they must have come across it before.

K80_Black · 29 November 2017 at 3:41PM

There are surely workers in the refuge who'd be able to advise on this sort of thing? It will obviously vary for each refuge, but places I have stayed in have allowed me to use the address for the purposes of collecting benefits - and recieving post for that matter, so I have had proof of my address for things such as registering with a doctor in the area. It seems utterly unlike anything I have experienced to have no support there for practical things.

I don't think it's possible to collect benefits without at least a post office account, and no way to open one without some proof of where you live.

TELLIT01 · 29 November 2017 at 7:33PM

Any refuge we had to deal with was concealed by use of a PO Box number, but that wasn't a problem as far as benefit is concerned. As has been said, support workers will be used to this issue and will have ways to deal with it.

claiming benefits with a domestic violence PO BOX?

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free