EEA (PR) Public Funds received

[alvarobalbi]

Hi,

I'm Spanish, 14 years in UK, completing the ILR online.

One of the questions is under the section Public Funds, "Have you ever received any money from the UK government or a local council? For example, child benefit, housing benefit, income support or tax credits". I anwsered yes as I did receive money in 2005. Then the next section is Public funds you receive and the question is "Please tick the relevant box(es) below to show which benefits you receive" with different options. When I select the relevan option the question is "How much do you receive each month? "

My query: the question is in present tense, implying that I still get money, which is not true as it was 11 years ago. I tried answering £0 but it gives the error message that it needs to be >£1. What should I do? I only got 3 months of jobseeker allowance and 1 month of council support. How do I explain that it was a short period 11 years ago?

Thanks,
Alvaro

[benjus]

Bear in mind that the jobseeker's allowance only needs to be declared if it was income-based. If it was contribution-based you don't need to do anything. See http://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/jsa

I don't know how this part of the online form works, but looking at the physical EEA(PR) form, the table has a column for "Date you stopped receiving it (if you no longer receive it)". So if you put the amounts in and continue, I would expect the online version to ask for the end date.

[alless]

Alvaro has a great point!
The online form asks "have you ever claimed...?" and only allows to answer "how much are you receiving".
It does not allow to add relevant dates during which the benefit WERE claimed. And doesn't even let you go through if you put £0 as current payment received (which is what you'd want to put if you stopped receiving the money).

I'm in the same situation as I used to claim child benefit and tax credits for a period of time when my daughter lived with me in the UK and stopped after she moved abroad with her mother.
It's getting me headaches on how to answer this question truthfully, i.e. yes to "have you ever claimed..." and £0 to "how much are you receiving".

For goodness sake, it was prepared by British nationals with a Governmental job position who should know the English grammar rules and make the form completable without headaches or without forcing applicant to omit relevant information...

[Wise]

It says in the new bogus regulation they just created that if you are unable to use the crazy online form, print out the one applicable to you on the printable version and submit it. But you just have to have a copy for yourself in case you need to refer to it later.

[alvarobalbi]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I'm going to drop the online application and do the print out. This might be an error in the online form and I don't see how to solve it.

[JsB]

just say YES because you did receive public funds. if don't receive anything now don't tick any boxes.

You can attach letter explaining this or if you have add old paperwork showing receipt of benefits.