PC Claimant with partner in Canada

Client is a british citizen who returned to live in the UK in late August. Her husband has remained in Canada to sell the house and finish some medical treatment and when this is done he will come to the UK as well . He is also a british citizen so there are no R2R issues at all.

As far as I can tell my client is not eligible for PC in this country as the couple’s joint income from various pensions and what appears to be a Canadian version of IS/PC is too large.

Reg 5 (1)(f) of the PC regs says that a person ceases to be treated as an member of the same household after they have been absent from the UK for 13 weeks but does this apply to my client’s husband as he is not ‘absent’ as such, he hasn’t actually lived in the UK since the 1980s.

My client has little or no income in her own right and if her husbands income was ignored seems very likely to be eligible for PC and HB

Any advice or experiences would be welcome!

I think they would be treated as a couple, due to being temporarily apart unless the separation was likely to be more than 52 weeks.  However they could still be treated as a couple even if they are separated for more than 52 weeks provided it is not substantially longer and there are exceptional circumstances, such as a stay in hospital, or no control over the length of absence… Any other thoughts on this?