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Civil Partner living abroad
Client formed civil partnership with South American man in the UK and they LTACP for about a month. South American man returned home as visa expiring and was followed out there 3 months later by client. They LTACP in S. America for approx. 5 months during which time their Civil Partnership was ‘converted’ into a marriage. Client returned to UK in April and made claim for ESA. He did not tick box saying he wished to claim Income Related ESA and CB ESA claim was rejected on basis of not enough NI contributions. He has made new, backdated claim for IR ESA and is awaiting result.
Civil Partner has started working part-time, few hours p/w, self-employed, in S. America but does not pay any tax due to small earnings and (possibly) an exemption from paying tax based on his kind of work (client is a bit vague about this). He intends to apply for spouse visa to come and live with client in UK but they have no current means to pay for this and obviously there is no guarantee that it will be granted.
Will partner’s income be taken into account when deciding client’s ESA claim? Can anyone point me to the regs/guidance on this?
Many thanks
Have a look at CIS/13805/1996.
This concerned a woman in the UK whose husband was in Pakistan waiting for permission to enter the UK. She made it clear when claiming IS that she and her husband were temporarily apart, would be sharing a household upon him entering the UK, or if permission was refused then she would return to Pakistan.
The commissioner decided that the intention to resume living together under 16(2)(a) of the IS Regs (reg78(2)(a) of the JSA Regs is in the same terms) must be an unqualified one and not contingent on an outside event such as being granted permission to enter. Therefore they were not members of the same household and that she could claim IS as a single person.
The same principle should apply for the purposes of reg’ 156 of the ESA Regs.
Thanks a lot Nevip, that’s perfect :-)
here’s a link to CIS/13805/96 -