chrisn

Now before everyone gets up in arms about the title, please allow me to explain our problem, and why I am asking for information on returning to the UK. First off, we are in our 50's and paid all our dues in the UK system, where we had both worked full time,all our lives, up until October 2010 when we decided the grass would be greener in our old age, if we moved to Italy and bought a modest house in which, we hoped, would be our permanent home. Unfortunately, although we love the Country and the people, we are not able to afford to live here any longer, as the small b and b business we had hoped to make a living from has not worked, and the utility bills are killing us. We have practically used up all our savings trying to make it work. My husband and I have been trying to find any kind of work to keep us afloat...but to no avail so we have decided to sell up and return home to the UK. We have put our home up for sale ( although we have been told it will take time because of the housing economy here at the moment). We estimate that we have about a month before we will have to return, leaving all our possessions behind. So, I go on to my question...what benefits will we be entitled to back in our hometown?, would we be eligiable for some kind of housing until our house is sold?. We are not 'scroungers' as CV's are winging their way to the UK as I write, we just need some help from our own birth country until we can get on our feet again...any help and advice would be appreciated...thank you

GoldCoastMag

Hi, I am sure in the moving back to the UK forum, you will find lots of help.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267933 there are some threads particularly relevant to over 50ies, so I hope this helps

good luck with your plans

BristolUK

You'll need to be accepted as habitually resident in the UK rather than visiting. Proof that your property is for sale will be a big help. The value can be disregarded for benefit purposes if you're trying to sell and if you intend to use the money to purchase another home it may still be disregarded.

So, in theory, you'll be entitled to JSA the same as any other UK residents.

Housing Benefit (whatever the new name is) is available for rental costs and you should contact the Local Authority for Housing options if you can't arrange any privately rented accommodation.

Many Local Authorities also have their own arrangements with private landlords.

There are a few threads on Habitual Residency and Job Seekers Allowance including a couple of recent ones.

Victor Meldrew

I seem to recall in the old days that, if you lived in your own mortgaged UK house and became unemployed, the government would pay your mortgage interest. Is this still the case or would they insist you sold up and rented?

formula

If they give the disregard (and the claimant has to show they are trying to sell it, so the price will have to reflect the market) there will be a time limit. The local council of the area you want to move to, will be able to give you information on this.

Under the changes to the welfare system in 2013 (Universal Credits) it reads like this will not be allowed at all, as the total value of assets will used to calculate income based welfare.

With LHA, you can look on the council website to see what the LHA rates are in the area and how many rooms they will let you have. For a couple over age 35, that will be the 1 room rate. You can't claim LHA until you have a tenancy agreement and you don't know if they will pay towards it, until you have the property. You might have to ask the council for advice on that one too. The council may be able to help you with a loan toward the deposit.

formula

In the old days, we bought mortgage protection insurance in case we became unemployed. Many still do today. The help from the government didn't kick in until 39 weeks after you claimed.

The SMI (Support for Mortgage Interest) today, has had temporary help until January 2013, so that people can claim at 13 weeks instead of 39 and up from 100K to 200k mortgage, but their are many conditions with this. They will not pay for any additional mortgage you take out unless it was for urgent repairs to the house and you have to provide all the bills for the work (extension work isn't covered); they will only pay on income based claims; they limit the rate of interest to the average mortgage rate which is 3.6%. There might be some more conditions that I have missed. The problem with being on SMI is that mortgage lenders won't use welfare payments as income now, so claiments get stuck on the SVR if a low rate tracker ends.

BristolUK

Hence my comment about proof.

The time limit is flexible though. It may be extended if attempts to sell are regarded as genuine (reducing asking price if necessary etc) and the market is slow, for example.

Some LAs used to have Pre-tenancy determinations to solve this issue. I don't know if they still do.

Not heard of that one but some LAs do run Deposit Bond Schemes where they use Private Landlords of flats with rents at the levels allowed. They don't actually pay the deposit to a landlord, but it's effectively there for a landlord to claim on it as they could from a standard deposit.

BristolUK

Ah, that takes me back.


Changed quite a bit since my day.

brummie61

Hope it works out for you!

brummie61

what if you have been out the UK 20 yrs and not paid enough NI in the working time there? Is there any benefits if you return without sufficient means?

BristolUK

Yes.

You may recall there used to be Unemployment Benefit (based on NI) and Supplementary Benefit (means tested).

It's essentially the same now but JSA (NI Contribution based) and JSA (Income based) instead.

Lot's of different rules, of course; some more generous, others less so.

brummie61

Thanks for the info -