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Correct process for separating a UC claim when a couple separates
Can anyone provide the full process UC should follow. My understanding is that the separation takes effect from the first day of the AP in which it is reported. UC have advised that the ex-partner did not report her earnings for that period and they cannot now be taken into account as that claim was closed.
Is it not a continuous claim to UC but with a change in circumstance etc? Her earnings should have no impact on his UC entitlement for the AP as he should be assessed as a single person?
It’s not technically just a change of circumstances, but the way DWP deal with it does give it that appearance (intentionally). So, the ex-partner’s earnings during the AP of the change should not affect the award.
But I’m not clear what has happened in your case though. The ex-partner did not report their earnings for which period - the last full AP before the separation, or the following AP? What cannot “be taken into account”? What do UC say should happen?
Thanks for the reply Charles. Could you direct me to where I can read/learn about this as it is a colleague that was asking and I would like to show them.
The DWP say the earnings were not reported for the AP in which they separated as a couple and that they now cannot be reported and taken into account for that period. The client received no payment at all, he doesn’t know about his ex-partner as there is no contact between them.
I suppose the main place to look is the ADM - see para. E2156 here. This does not explicitly state that the ex-partner’s income is not taken into account in the first AP of the new single award, but that is surely implied - there would be no basis to include someone else’s income in an award made to a single claimant (see s.8(4) WRA2012).
I can’t remember where I saw about DWP’s intention for it to appear the same as a change of circs (despite not technically being that), but they do say here that “[w]here couples separate or form and all parties are already in receipt of Universal Credit, their new awards will be processed as though they are a change in circumstance – that is without the need for a new claim.”
I’m still not clear about what is happening in your case: I get that the ex-partner’s earnings were not reported for the AP in which they separated. But what have UC actually done with the new single claim?
I could write many pages about my thoughts on the wider technical and legal issues about what causes a UC award to terminate when a couple forms or separates, and how the award can possibly start prior to the couple forming or separating (and also how the run-on after a death of a partner works). But I won’t bore everyone!
I could write many pages about my thoughts on the wider technical and legal issues about what causes a UC award to terminate when a couple forms or separates, and how the award can possibly start prior to the couple forming or separating (and also how the run-on after a death of a partner works). But I won’t bore everyone!
Please do give your thoughts if you find time; we certainly won’t be bored