UC claim closed same day as client reported separation from partner with NRPF

I recently had a client come in who had a joint claim with husband who had NRPF.
As usual, her SA was paid at single rate and she also got support for children and housing.

In the appointment she said she had split with her husband and he had moved out a couple of weeks ago - I supported her to report the change of circumstances on her journal and advised to keep an eye on to-do list.

Yesterday she came in to the bureau and I could see on her journal that her claim had been closed (someone from another org helped her complete a ‘new claim’ 2 days ago). Therefore there is a 10 day ‘gap’ between her claim closing and the new claim being submitted. They did a new habitual residence test and everything.

Her payments were previously on 1st of each month, and when we went in payments yesterday there was no statement available but the message still read she will receive her payment on 1st May. I have called her today and she has not received it (she usually gets it at midnight on 30th). She still has no statement.

Does anyone have any experience of a claim being closed when a partner is removed, or how I should proceed with this?

We obviously want to challenge any break in payment, so I am thinking to do an MR of the decision to close her claim on 19th April.

Any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated.

“Does anyone have any experience of a claim being closed when a partner is removed, or how I should proceed with this?”
In normal circumstances your clients UC claim would not have been closed for the reason that she had separated from her husband. However you mention that an adviser from another organisation had made some amendments without your knowledge and this looks to have created some complications.

Hello,

Thanks for your reply - I maybe didn’t explain correctly.
The claim was closed on the same day the change was reported. On her journal it states ‘entitlement to UC declined’ and claim closed. It was 10 days later that she saw another adviser so this wasn’t the issue.

CHOLMES - 01 May 2024 10:47 AM

I recently had a client come in who had a joint claim with husband who had NRPF.
As usual, her SA was paid at single rate and she also got support for children and housing.

In the appointment she said she had split with her husband and he had moved out a couple of weeks ago - I supported her to report the change of circumstances on her journal and advised to keep an eye on to-do list.

Yesterday she came in to the bureau and I could see on her journal that her claim had been closed (someone from another org helped her complete a ‘new claim’ 2 days ago). Therefore there is a 10 day ‘gap’ between her claim closing and the new claim being submitted. They did a new habitual residence test and everything.

Her payments were previously on 1st of each month, and when we went in payments yesterday there was no statement available but the message still read she will receive her payment on 1st May. I have called her today and she has not received it (she usually gets it at midnight on 30th). She still has no statement.

Does anyone have any experience of a claim being closed when a partner is removed, or how I should proceed with this?

We obviously want to challenge any break in payment, so I am thinking to do an MR of the decision to close her claim on 19th April.

Any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated.

1. I think the first thing to note is that your client did not have a “joint claim with husband who had NRPF”. Rather she was, despite being in a couple, a person who was awarded UC as a single person (see reg 3(3)(a) UC Regs).

2. So her partner moving out does not actually present a change of circumstances that would bring an award to an end in the usual way (because it was a single award all along).

3. Seems to me the remedy for the gap will be to seek revision (MR) and then appeal (if needed) the decision to end her award (“close her claim” to use the hideous and confusing expression the DWP administrators prefer).

Martin Williams - 02 May 2024 09:42 AM

CHOLMES - 01 May 2024 10:47 AM

I recently had a client come in who had a joint claim with husband who had NRPF.
As usual, her SA was paid at single rate and she also got support for children and housing.

In the appointment she said she had split with her husband and he had moved out a couple of weeks ago - I supported her to report the change of circumstances on her journal and advised to keep an eye on to-do list.

Yesterday she came in to the bureau and I could see on her journal that her claim had been closed (someone from another org helped her complete a ‘new claim’ 2 days ago). Therefore there is a 10 day ‘gap’ between her claim closing and the new claim being submitted. They did a new habitual residence test and everything.

Her payments were previously on 1st of each month, and when we went in payments yesterday there was no statement available but the message still read she will receive her payment on 1st May. I have called her today and she has not received it (she usually gets it at midnight on 30th). She still has no statement.

Does anyone have any experience of a claim being closed when a partner is removed, or how I should proceed with this?

We obviously want to challenge any break in payment, so I am thinking to do an MR of the decision to close her claim on 19th April.

Any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated.

1. I think the first thing to note is that your client did not have a “joint claim with husband who had NRPF”. Rather she was, despite being in a couple, a person who was awarded UC as a single person (see reg 3(3)(a) UC Regs).

2. So her partner moving out does not actually present a change of circumstances that would bring an award to an end in the usual way (because it was a single award all along).

3. Seems to me the remedy for the gap will be to seek revision (MR) and then appeal (if needed) the decision to end her award (“close her claim” to use the hideous and confusing expression the DWP administrators prefer).

Thanks Martin - the wording of that is really helpful. I have requested an MR via her journal, explaining the above. Hopefully once a decision maker looks at this again it will be resolved and an appeal won’t be necessary.

I will update this post with any developments, for those interested.