friends Dementia issue

[Surfer01]

This is not our issue, but an issue with a friend. 

 

Our friend is living in South Africa and now suffers from dementia and is in a home.  The daughter has been paying for the home however the daughter was made redundant and has a child to support.  Daughter's husband keeps kicking her out of the house with the 3 year old boy and daughter had nowhere to go.

 

The mother and daughter both have British passports.  Mother and father(now deceased) are British born, but daughter was born in South Africa.   The 3 year old was born in in South Africa.  Daughter is now broke and cannot keep the mother in a home any longer. 

 

Daughter wants to return to the UK where she did live for several years previously so had NI number etc. however not sure what she can do with her mother. 

 

The other issue is that the father is trying to get custody of the child so another issue.

 

We, on behalf of the daughter who phoned us this morning, want to discuss with a social worker the options if any that may be open as on arrival here the mother will need to go straight into a home.  We can offer the daughter and child temporary accommodation with us.  Who should we contact?

 

A very complicated scenario that normally we would not involved ourselves with as we are in our late sixties, retired and not that much money in the bank. 

[honeybee13]

There are online forums for people moving from South Africa to the UK. This is one of them.

 

https://moveup.co.za/2019/03/08/how-to-move-to-the-uk-a-step-by-step-guide/

 

If you want to speak to a social worker you could try the local council.

 

HB

[unclebulgaria67]

By the way you wrote that post, i can see that you are as confused by the situation as someone reading it.

Important advice must be not to pay for any flights etc, until they understand the situation fully.

Those that have British passports could be entitled to receive UK benefits. However, nothing is that straightforward. The passport does guarantee anything.

The daughter could be entitled to Universal Credit ( which includes housing) as a British passport holder, but this can only be confirmed when she has gone through the Habitual Residency test (HRT). So you will need to read about HRT for British passport holders returning to the UK. There will be requirements to provide information about why they are returning to the UK and what work searches have they done to find work on their return to the UK.

In regard to the mother who has a British passport, you will be correct in presuming that no council is going to be helpful in paying for the care home fees immediately on arrival in the UK. When did the mother last live in the UK ? When did the mother last work in the UK ?

British embassy in South Africa may be able to provide information and assist with applications ?

Just getting on a plane, landing in the UK and expecting help to resolve their situation, would be a silly thing to do. I can see the mother ending up in an NHS hospital for a period, while people wondered how they were going to deal with the situation. Probably not the first to do this, but if the mother also has a South African passport, they could put her on a plane back to SA and then the Daughter would be a difficult situation.

Embassy in South Africa must be first place of advice.

[Surfer01]

9 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

By the way you wrote that post, i can see that you are as confused by the situation as someone reading it.

Important advice must be not to pay for any flights etc, until they understand the situation fully.

Those that have British passports could be entitled to receive UK benefits. However, nothing is that straightforward. The passport does guarantee anything.

The daughter could be entitled to Universal Credit ( which includes housing) as a British passport holder, but this can only be confirmed when she has gone through the Habitual Residency test (HRT). So you will need to read about HRT for British passport holders returning to the UK. There will be requirements to provide information about why they are returning to the UK and what work searches have they done to find work on their return to the UK.

In regard to the mother who has a British passport, you will be correct in presuming that no council is going to be helpful in paying for the care home fees immediately on arrival in the UK. When did the mother last live in the UK ? When did the mother last work in the UK ?

British embassy in South Africa may be able to provide information and assist with applications ?

Just getting on a plane, landing in the UK and expecting help to resolve their situation, would be a silly thing to do. I can see the mother ending up in an NHS hospital for a period, while people wondered how they were going to deal with the situation. Probably not the first to do this, but if the mother also has a South African passport, they could put her on a plane back to SA and then the Daughter would be a difficult situation.

Embassy in South Africa must be first place of advice.

Mother and father worked here and then went to SA in about 1978 returning to UK in about 1996 and worked here until 2016 when her husband died at age 66.  He was still working at the time.  She then went to live with daughter in SA.  Mother only claims for her pension. 

[unclebulgaria67]

So with a long working history, which she can evidence, it should not be a problem.

Still have to go though HRT process for any benefit application, if they have been out of the UK for more than 6 weeks.

It won't be a smooth process though. Suggest they try to get advice via Embassy, before they start any journey.

 

When they land back in the UK, you really want the Council where they are going to live, being aware of the circumstances and previous working history etc.  And the Home office via the Embassy may facilitate this ?

[Surfer01]

23 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

So with a long working history, which she can evidence, it should not be a problem.

Still have to go though HRT process for any benefit application, if they have been out of the UK for more than 6 weeks.

It won't be a smooth process though. Suggest they try to get advice via Embassy, before they start any journey.

Thanks.  Husband and wife born and worked in UK until about 1976 and the returned in 1996 and worked in UK until about 2016 when husband passed away age 66 years.  He was working at the time.  Would the wife be entitled to anything extra as husband had obviously paid NI and never claimed state pension?  They are obviously scratching for any sort of money at present as she is broke and husband is now refusing to give her any money although she supported him for neatly 4 years.  It is not cheap doing anything in South Africa as just to travel to Embassy would cost her in excess of R1000 even though it is only 45 miles away.

[unclebulgaria67]

They could phone the British embassy in South Africa.  There is an assistance service for British passport holders who run into difficulty.  

 

Also  as a South African resident, what entitlement to local help from SA services do they have, just to assist with temporary arrangements ?  

 

If there is any state pension not claimed, they would need to make an application to receive this.  But UK state pension age has changed recently, currently 66 years old for men & women.   Private pensions such as those earned through employment, depend on the terms of the pension schemes. 

 

You probably cannot do anything personally, other than find out information,  as you are not an appointee presumably and have no legal rights to request anything from government departments or any company.   

 

How old is the Mother ?  Does she have any rights to UK private pensions through her UK employment ? Can the Daughter make contact with any company the Mother previously worked for and provide Mothers permission to find out the pension information.  Then to find out, if there is any way of making an emergency application to draw down on the pension.

[Surfer01]

9 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

They could phone the British embassy in South Africa.  There is an assistance service for British passport holders who run into difficulty.  

 

Also  as a South African resident, what entitlement to local help from SA services do they have, just to assist with temporary arrangements ?  

 

If there is any state pension not claimed, they would need to make an application to receive this.  But UK state pension age has changed recently, currently 66 years old for men & women.   Private pensions such as those earned through employment, depend on the terms of the pension schemes. 

 

You probably cannot do anything personally, other than find out information,  as you are not an appointee presumably and have no legal rights to request anything from government departments or any company.   

 

How old is the Mother ?  Does she have any rights to UK private pensions through her UK employment ? Can the Daughter make contact with any company the Mother previously worked for and provide Mothers permission to find out the pension information.  Then to find out, if there is any way of making an emergency application to draw down on the pension.

There is a charge to phone the Embassy and it can work out to be quite expensive.  There are zero entitlement to help in SA and you are on your own.  Neither the mother or father if he was still alive would have been affected by the change in age for pension.  As far as I am aware no occupational pensions in place.  As said it is a very complex situation and in order to keep head above water daughter would need a minimum income of R45000 (£2500) a month just to survive.

[unclebulgaria67]

They are up the proverbial creek then.  

 

Found this on Government website "if you are in the UK and worried about someone overseas, you can call the FCO on 020 7008 1500 "