Your benefits may be stopped and you would have to pay back any overpaid amounts if you don’t report a change in circumstances, including a summer holiday
If you’re planning your summer holiday and you’re claiming benefits, you may need to let the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) know about your trip.
Your benefits may be stopped and you would have to pay back any overpaid amounts if you don’t report a change in circumstances.
You could also be taken to court and fined up to £5,000 for benefit fraud if you’re found to have deliberately not told the DWP that you’re going abroad.
Whether you need to report your holiday depends on the type of benefits you’re claiming. There are different rules for how long you can go away for, before you need to report it to your local JobCentre.
For example, if you claim Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) then you must report your holiday if you’re going to be abroad for more than four weeks.
If you claim Universal Credit, you must tell your JobCentre if you’re going away for any length of time, but you can continue to receive your benefit payments as long as you’re not abroad for more than one month.
There are certain circumstances where you can be abroad for longer than this while claiming Universal Credit, for example, if a close relative dies while you’re away.
You should be aware that you may still be required to search for jobs while you’re on holiday. If you are in the intensive work search group for Universal Credit, then you are generally expected to spend 35 hours a week looking for work.
If you claim Pension Credit or Carer’s Allowance, you can continue to receive this benefit if you go away for less than four weeks – but again, you would still need to report your holiday.
It comes after most benefits, including Universal Credit, increased by 1.7% in April. Benefit payments are increased every year by the previous September level of inflation.
The state pension rose by a bigger 4.1% from the same date due to the triple lock promise. The triple lock guarantees the state pension rises each April by the highest out of inflation (using the previous September inflation figure), wages (average growth between May and July) or 2.5% – whichever is highest.
Universal Credit is replacing six older legacy benefits – including Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit.
Full list of benefits where you may need to report your holiday
- Universal Credit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- PIP
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Pension Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
- Maternity Allowance
- Child Benefit
- Guardian’s Allowance