Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

We have an interesting case where a claimant has married and we suspect that his wife is an illegal immigrant – investigations are still ongoing about this.
But this has thrown up the question of what to do if we find that she is an illegal immigrant for benefits purposes.
Assuming that she is still living in the household, would her presence have any bearing on his benefit claim, either as a partner or a non-dependent? We think that she would be ignored completely for benefit purposes but we aren’t sure.
Does anyone have an opinion please?

[seanosul]

Provided he claims – the circumstances are that he has a resident partner (regardless of immigration status) and therefore she has to be included, as partner.

[Karen]

but surely if she doesn’t have a NINO she will not have any recourse to public funds, therefore, we shouldn’t add her to the claim as it would award a couples premium to which they wouldn’t be entitled. ❓ ❓

[Anonymous]

Funny you should mention the NINO … one of my favourite current topics.

I am becoming a real bore on this, but the situation is as follows:

– the NINO thing is about the process of making a claim: all benefit claimants must provide a NINO for themselves and anyone else in respect of whom they are claiming

– once you get over that hurdle, entitlement is calculated as normal.

– as far as partners subject to immigration control go, the normal calculation of entitlement has a reeduced applicable amount in IS, JSA(ib) and to a lesser extent Pension Credit; it does not have such a mechanism in HB, CTB or, in most cases, Tax Credits. So HB/CTB is calculated normally for the couple irrespective of the parter’s immigration status.

Returning to the NINO issue, in a case of this type the claim would have been refused before June 2005 because the claimant had failed to provide a NINO for his partner (unless she applied for one and provided enough evidence of ID etc.)

But in June 2005, decision CH/3801/2004 relaxed the NINO requirement for partners from overseas with no recourse to public funds. However, the DWP has been given leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Some Councils are using their power to “stay” decisions on such cases pending the appeal; others are following the Commissioner’s decision and awarding HB/CTB even though the partner has no NINO.

[Anonymous]

She must be added to the claim as a partner. There is nothing in the regs that says we cannot include her.

The fact that she should not get recourse to public funds is basically irrelevant.

In most cases were the partner is here under sponsorship there may ( whilst ever so slight) be an impact on their right to remain in the country.

[Karen]

thanks folks – that has cleared some things up for me

knew I was living in a wee world of my own 😆

this is from the DWP website

[quote:2a05f6d7fa]Persons from abroad
Any claimant who is subject to immigration control is excluded from HB/CTB under s115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act, 1999.

However, where the claimant is not subject to immigration control, but the partner is, the claim should be assessed under the normal rules.

Unlike IS or JSA, there is no provision to treat the applicant who qualifies for benefit as a single person, and therefore they should be assessed as a couple. This may put the partner in breach of their conditions of entry into the UK, but you are under no obligation to notify the Home Office of this.

[/quote:2a05f6d7fa]

[Author]

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