My client is German national. She came to the UK to escape domestic violence. She is staying with a friend.

I have advised her fully in relation to RTR/habitual residence, etc., but wondered what you thought of this...

My client is staying with a friend who is claiming CB and CTC for her own child and I'm considering advising that the friend take my client's child into her household for a time as I don't see any reason why she couldn't claim CB and CTC for the child who is present in the UK and, as far as my client is concerned, ordinarily resident.

This would mean that my client would only have to focus on jobseekers allowance whilst waiting for her NINO and sorting out hab res (appreciable period). Once she has her JSA and a NINO in place, then the friend can relinquish claims and my client can make new claims for CB and CTC.

Has anyone had any experience of a client doing this? Are there any pitfalls or potential problems that I may have overlooked?

Thanks,

Hi Tony,

We have never tried this, but it looks like a potential strategy, at least in the short term. The obvious issues would surround how you show that the child 'normally resides' with the friend (CTC) and is the 'responsibility' of the friend (CB), whilst the child mother also lives there (if that is the case). Also, if the friend gets CTC and then later client wants to claim CTC, I suspect this might set off alarm bells at HMRC, who can be very sensitive to any scenario where a double claim could potentially be made for the same child. If the client wanted to switch her child to her claim, what change could she show HMRC, to back this up, if they are all living together?

Is the client going to claiming HB/CTB as and when she ceases to be jobseeker? Clearly the business of who is responsible for the child would also surface then.

Best of luck

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your response.

I would suggest to the client that since she has no resources for which to provide for the child's need, it would be reasonable for the friend to agree to accept responsibilty for a time (which she is already doing anyway as she is providing a roof and food). For CB it is not necessary for the child to be in the friend's 'household' (legal def) as the child physically lives with the friend and (although this need only be an 'or') she is contributing to the cost of the child.

CTC is a little less straightforward, but again, the legislation does not refer to the term 'household' (though this could be implied). The CPAG handbook (page 1198 (08-09)) also says that a child can be "count as 'normally living with you' even if s/he also lives with someone else". In competing claim cases both potential claimants should decide which of them normally has the most responsibility.

It may not be so straightforward if the friend is receiving HB/CTB (which i don't yet know), but if the friend gets CB this will not be a difficult issues.

I'm aware how this might look to the benefit authorities, and frankly, they'd be right. However, the alternative is that the government allows the child to live in an income-less household and I cannot see that we propose falls foul of any rules or could realistically be seen as any kind of deception.

The main downsides that I can see is that the friend will have disruption to her own claims, in respect of which we can offer support, and payment may still not come through before the client gains hab res and a NINO so might all be a waste of time anyway.

Also, the client and child have recently arrived from Germany and another of my clients arrived from an EU country over a year ago and the CBU have still not decided the entitlement as they are finding out if the coutry of origin has responsbility to pay CB.

Tony

I have taken the plunge and given the client this advice in writing. If they decide to take this option, I will post up the outcome in due course - though it may be some time...

Thanks again for your helpful post Steve.