Car Insurance is already a murky pool of dogs doings - even if you do exist on the Electoral Role, have a long standing bank account etc, if you havent had any insurance cover for 2-3 years or so they will knock you back to No Discount, even if you were a sales rep with company car for that period. You may be able to get a statement from the company ins.co. but some just forget you ever asked.

I took myself "off the grid" because I found it easier and cheaper to travel to work by bus every day for 3 years. When the office was closed and I moved to another office where I needed the car I had to start again on the NCD scale.

Moral of the story - keep paying for insurance even if you don't have a car you will save on the NCD

or just another racket in Rip Off Britain.

As to Lottery - many people are not on the Electoral Role, have their wife/partner pay utilities & council tax (ISTR a hangover from the Poll Tax days). Proving you are eligible for the ticket you have bought could be diffficult.

We always kept bank accounts in the UK. When we moved back and was ordering utilities we couldn't do it online because we hadn't had a Uk address for some time. So I called them and they said they would have to do a credit check, he came back and said ours was better than most peoples. never had any problem since except with the national lottery online site. Won't let me buy online just says to call them even though we are on the electoral role and have voted

Lynn this is called bereavement benefit not widows pension and is based on very strict criteria/rules. Assuming the widowed person is under pensionable age it is only paid for 52 weeks. It ends at pension age and AFAIK is not payable to under 45's at all unless they still have children and receive family allowance.

I am yet to meet anyone who tells the truth about what benefits they receive (or dont receive) as in the main they are exagerated by a factor of at least 5 by these people.

The best/latest advice/ criteria etc is on the HMRC web site for the doubting Thomases




Bereavement payment (lump sum) £2000.00

Widowed parent's allowance 105.95
Bereavement Allowance
standard rate 105.95
age-related age 54 98.53
53 91.12
52 83.70
51 76.28
50 68.87
49 61.45
48 54.03
47 46.62
46 39.20
45 31.79

yes, that's the one - couldn't remember exactly what it was called!

when I queried how come I might qualify the woman on the phone said it was more like a 'pension' than a 'benefit'

I'm well over 45, too - & have 2 school age kids

[QUOTE] Anyone knows what each benefit is, it's no secret, but whether or not you are entitled to them is a different thing. If you have lived abroad and say retired early and not made contributions since, there may be a clear way they can escape paying you. You will have to prove links to the UK, this may not be as easy as one would expect.....