ezzie

If you've been away more than 3 years from the UK and then turn-up on the door step saying 'I wanna come home'! What exactly are you eligible for: NHS health - hospital cover, visits to the GP, schools, pension? Presumably there's 3 million forms to sign, does anyone know which one's they are?

Elaine B.

As far as school goes my 5 year old already has a place for September and we've been here almost 9 years. I just completed an application form which they mailed to Toronto and I called them last week and they confirmed he has a place. I pretty sure you can register with a doctor right away too.

backagen

It helps to have a national insurance number, for identification reasons, and if you already have a European passport, or at least a UK birth certificate, that should be easy enough to obtain at any social security office, or whatever they're called now.

Once you have that number it should be easy enough to get treatment on the NHS if you need it, and you should be able to use that for most other purposes.

Changing your drivers license over should be very straightforward too, but it does depend which country you've been living in so I cannot really say for sure.

johnh009

And no unemployment benefit if you have approximately more than 3,000 pounds to your name. Unless you go as a refugee of course.

R2D2

I contacted NI and they told me there would be no issues with health care or child benefit. Just re-register with a doctors practice and sign up for the child benefit and away you go.

As Elaine said, contact schools directly for places, apart from Reception class intake, which has to be done through central admissions, in our area at least, up until Oct, then the schools take over the placings.
I was stressing over school places, but thankfully got my 8 yr old back in his old class, and my little one in Reception at the same school.

BristolUK

These sorts of answers show why it's necessary to use official resourses as well as seeking opinion.

Unemploment Benefit was replaced by Job Seekers Allowance years ago and, being contribution based, was never affected by capital. And it's even further back that £3k would have excluded payment of Supplementary Benefit.

National Insurance Numbers have never had anything to do with NHS treatment. Lack of one doesn't exclude you and their existence doesn't mean you qualify. They exist for the purposes of administering tax/NI records and benefits.

ezzie

I've just backpayed some Pension contributions and were pretty amazed when hot on its heels was a bill for 160 quid of NI contributions...I didn't think the two would be linked. I'm a bit confused...well, more than usual anyhow.

LizaJane

I have been told that you need a NHS number for registering with a GP etc... your last number would be on your UK NHS records and can be easily updated. There is an NHS site that can provide you with all the details.

As one of the other posters said the NI number is for tax and pensions purposes.

You should also look at registering on the electoral roll as apparently this may help for any credit checks.

bodmin13

I returned last year, walked into the local school and they said yes my son can go there, just had to show them a birth certificate and it wasnt even his british certificate.
I was able to get child benefit and child tax credit, just had to give them my NI number and birth certificates.
The counsel however wouldnt allow me to go on the housing list because I was away longer than 5 years and back less than 2 years.
My husband gives me too much child support so I dont know much about other benefits other than im not eligible for them.
I went down to the doctors and asked to register at that practice, they said fill out the form and that was it, got my new NHS card end of story, no problems at all.

Good luck
Charlotte

ezzie

Your husband gives you "too much child support"...haven't heard of that happening before!!!

bodmin13

LOL yup, I get $1100 a month in child support which equates to roughly £550, the government says that the minimum amount i need to live on per week is £125, so I get too much. Personally I dont see how a family can survive on £125 a week when rent is not much less than that.

FlyergirlUK

While it's certainly handy to have it's not essential - I've no idea what mine is and registering was a doddle. Same could be said for my, (US) Hubby and dual-citizen son. All we had to do was to fill in a couple of basic forms.

ezzie

So if he's paying in dollars, does that mean he's still in ?Oz/US whilst you're in the UK. I hear of so many women trapped overseas because they can't take their kids out of the country once the marriage has broken down.

BristolUK

That £125 would be after paying rent. It's a while since I dealt with benefit rates but if income is too high for Income Support one can still get Housing Benefit for rent.

bodmin13

Yes my husband is still in the US, he is active duty military. We had an agreement right from the start that if anything went wrong that me and the kids would go back to UK because its a better place for us, he never argued when we decided to go back. Actually we have since reconciled and he plans to immigrate over here once his term is over, so is all good. It's easier to be paid in $ because we both have current accounts with the same bank so we just do internal transfers each month.