Universal credit and holiday

muccio

hello everyone, I’m new here and a have a question. Both my wife and I are on LCRWA and we have 3 kids (two of them are disabled). We are planning a holiday to visit our family in Italy and France from the 18th of December to the 23rd of January.
my question is : since we are going for

More than 1 month, will our UC be closed?
Consider though that we are coming back from Italy to London and then London Paris on the same day. Is this considered as be in the uk so we won’t be on holiday for 1 month?
I hope it makes sense.
many thanks

chiarieds

Hi @muccio - & welcome to the community. I presume only your wife or yourself receive the LCWRA element, as there can only be one LCWRA element with a joint claim.

That aside, your UC claim will close if you go abroad for more than a month (unless for any medical treatment, etc). Please see:

https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/universal-credit

I'm not sure I'm following your narrative, as from 18 Dec -23 Jan is more than a calendar month even if you exclude the days you're travelling.

muccio

thank you for your reply. What I mean is that the first part of my trip would be 18 December to the 10 January in Italy and then I will be back to London for a few hours and do London Paris until rhe 24th of January. So technically my over a month holiday is interrupted by a few hours back in Uk.

chiarieds

Sorry I don't know the answer to that one, but thank you for explaining further. All you can do is say this to UC (you perhaps should let them know when you'll be away from the UK under the circumstances). It sounds like it may be OK from what you've since said, & with benefits the day you leave & come back shouldn't impact, but not sure about just a few hours.

muccio

thank you for that… I thought it was a little tricky to answer that .

In the remote case it's not viable, will they close my claim?

Adrian_Scope

Hello @muccio, unfortunately yes it means they would close your claim. If your claim was to end in this way, you may need to ask what would happen to your LCWRA status in case it impacts this.

muccio

hello, thank you for your reply. Will they close the claim even for 5 days over the 1 month holiday period?
thanks

muccio

regarding the LcRWA we don’t work so I’m not sure if we need to provide fit notes again…

muccio

muccio

also, if they close it, would I be able to reclaim with the fast option?
thanks

muccio

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/907470#Comment_907470

thank you for your help! I’m quite confused as my issues are regarding the LCRWA being closed and needed to start again…

muccio

I just found this document on data.gov which states that LCWRA would be reinstate if the claim is open again within 6 months.

102._Reclaims_v6.0.pdf