British man, 38, who has worked his whole life denied Universal Credit because he spent two years living in Spain Matthew Stockall has been relying on friends for food because he can’t get access to benefits while searching for work

Born and raised in Cheshire, former train manager Matthew Stockall had worked and paid taxes since the age of 17.

Having had various jobs over the years, including working as cabin crew for an airline, he’d always been self-sufficient. He paid his rent on time in the two-bedroom flat he rented in Manchester, leaving himself with just enough money in the bank to enjoy night outs with friends at weekends.

He never imagined there would come a day when he couldn’t find work but assumed, like most British people, that if he did, he would be able to rely on help from the benefits system to tide him over.

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That day came in November this year after Matthew spent two years living and working in Spain.

“I had met someone out in Benidorm on holiday and fallen in love so decided to move out there and got a job as a holiday rep then as a bartender at a restaurant,” he told i. “Then sadly, after two years my partner and I broke up and my job contract at the bar came to an end too, so I decided to return home.”

Before arriving back in the UK, Matthew had already started looking for work again, and continued applying for jobs and and setting up interviews once home. As the weeks passed, however, and he still hadn’t managed to secure employment, he decided to apply for Universal Credit.

“I hadn’t expected it to be so hard for me to find work but by now my savings had almost run out and I needed something to live off while continuing to look,” he said.

But he was shocked to get a rejection letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which stated that he hadn’t been living in the UK for long enough to claim.

“I thought it was some kind of mistake at first,” Matthew recalled. “I’ve lived in the UK for 36 years, how could that not be long enough?”

When he contacted the DWP, he was told that, because he’d lived in Spain for a while, he’d fallen foul of one of the conditions for eligibility – that applicants must be “fully” resident in the UK.

“Basically, to qualify I had to prove that I was intending to remain in the UK but how was I supposed to do that?” Matthew explained. “I would have thought applying for jobs here and the fact that I had lived here pretty much my entire life and all my friends and family were here was proof enough.

“I even offered to hand in my passport to the job centre to show I wasn’t going to leave the country any time soon but that wasn’t enough either.”

When his UC application failed, Matthew applied for the new style Jobseeker’s Allowance instead, designed to help people while they look for work. But, because he hadn’t paid National Insurance contributions in the last two years, he didn’t qualify for that either.

“It didn’t seem to matter that I’d paid them for almost twenty years beforehand,” Matthew said. “The name National Insurance itself is a joke. What other kind of insurance do you ever pay in life without being given some sort of policy outlining what that insurance covers? In my case, it was nothing.”

If it wasn’t for my loved ones looking after me, I’d be on the street Matthew Stockall

With no money to live off, Matthew has since been sleeping on friends’ and relatives’ sofas, relying on them to feed him.

“It’s humiliating,” he said. “I have to borrow money from people so I can get to work interviews and have nothing but the clothes on my back. I’m living off £20 a week and, if it wasn’t for my loved ones looking after me, I’d be on the street.”

Read more: Mum with cancer on Universal Credit forced to wait months to bury son after she was £900 short for funeral

Matthew is desperate to return to employment so he can find his own place to live and get back on his feet.

“But the system makes it impossible for people like me to do that,” he insisted. “It’s shocking. I feel so let down. I’m a British citizen with a British passport. I have worked all of my adult life and made significant contributions to the UK tax system and I’m incredibly upset and angry at the way I have been treated.

“The DWP decision is outrageous and has left me feeling failed by this government and unwelcome in my native land.”

He has been told to reapply for UC again in three months’ time, but there is no guarantee he will get it.

“I am fearful of my future and mental state all because the system doesn’t recognise me as living in Great Britain,” Matthew added. “I just can’t comprehend why any British citizen should be treated this way.”

A DWP spokesperson confirmed that Matthew would be able to reapply for benefits after he has lived in the country for a ‘suitable period’, but did not state how long that would be.

The spokesperson said: “We have an obligation to ensure we support people who are fully resident in the UK to avoid abuse of the welfare system.

“Once Mr Stockall has been living in the UK for a suitable period, following a number of years living abroad, he will be eligible for support.”

Matthew is adamant the system needs to change.

“There are families out there in the same situation as me which is disgusting,” he said.

“I can understand there have to be safeguards in place to stop people cheating the system but it often means honest, hard-working people trying to get their lives back on track suffer.”