Family Reunion Visa - Couple living seperately

Hello

I have a question about a client with refugee status who is also homeless.

If his wife joins him on a family reunion visa, but initially they live in separate places (while they are trying to find accommodation where they can live together) would he add her to his UC claim as his partner?  Or would they each make single claims until they are actually accommodated together?

I have been asked about 2 scenarios:  if they are both sofa surfing at different addresses, and also another case where they are both rough sleeping.

My feeling is that they wouldn’t make a joint claim until they are actually living together, but any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Martin

Martin,

When you make a claim for UC it asks if you are married and living together, or married and not living together. If you tick married and not living together it allows you to make the claim as a single person.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Thanks, Jim

Yes, this helps - I imagine UC will then ask further questions about whether them not living together is temporary, exceeds 6 months etc, assuming that they were living together before the temporary separation, albeit in a different country.

A couple for UC purposes is either a married couple who are members of the same ‘household’ or an unmarried couple who are ‘living together’ as though they were a married couple.

The cases discussing these concepts generally start from the proposition that we’re looking at two people living ‘under the same roof’ as such and therefore its not entirely obvious how this applies to a homeless ‘household’. There was some discussion of this here: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/18176/

I think that if you have two people who are an established ‘couple’ in the ordinary sense but who are both rough sleeping, there is at least a respectable argument that they are not a ‘couple’ for benefit purposes due to the lack of a ‘household’, however the DWP might not agree and they may or may not wish to take the safer option of making a joint claim.

Ideally, you would want to present all the facts to the DWP and allow them to make the decision, however there isn’t any mechanism to do that as the claimants are going to need to choose a lane.

Thanks, Elliot

This makes sense - this particular couple are happy to make a joint claim but it got me thinking about how the DWP would view this.  I agree that if they choose the lane to claim as a couple then DWP aren’t likely to push back against this and this would be the safer option.

Much appreciated.

Martin

I understand that in order to ensure any claim has the best chance of success, it might be best to go down the path of least resistance. But that said, reg. 3 (6) UC Regs. provides that if a couple is living apart temporarily (“one member is temporarily absent from the claimant’s household”) they cease to count as a couple either if the absence is expected to exceed 6 months or once it does in fact exceed six months.

I assume that if the partner is only now about to join the client with refugee status, the absence must already have exceeded 6 months. They are not a couple if so.

In such circumstances, I don’t think either the partner’s arrival in the UK or their starting to bed down in the same shop-front doorway is enough to say they have established a “household”.

But I agree, ensuring that the UC claim is awarded may be much more of a priority than arguing the odds over that point.

Yes, I agree - and what you have just said was my starting point and the reason for my post - I don’t think that they are a couple because they have been apart for much more than 6 months, but in this case they want to claim as a couple and this got me thinking - would the DWP correctly apply the regs and insist they make 2 single claims?  From what people have said, I doubt it!  So the path of least resistance works here, but this would be more of a challenge for a couple in these circumstances who choose to make single claims (they’ll be better off, of course) and I suspect that the DWP would push back against this?  Like Elliot says, we’d need to present the facts of each case and let the DWP make their decision.
Thanks
Martin