ESA questions as partner moving in temporary

Albert89

Hello,

I'm looking for some helpful solid advice. I have various medical conditions and a long term suffer of mental health since I was a child so I have been on ESA my whole life. 

I recently became a father to two young children and my partner has had to move out of her property due to current cost of living. She is moving into mine temporarily while we look to sort something out and she currently claims child benefit for my two children.

I'm just worrying if this would affect my ESA and my housing benefit. I'm not looking to claim the child benefit so what are our options moving forward.

Kind regards,
Albert

poppy123456

How long do you call temporary?

Albert89

Well it may become permanent whilst we get things sorted I just need some clarity. My partner also has a thyroid condition which prevents her from working and is also full time with our children.

poppy123456

Does she claim any other benefits other than child benefit? Potentially Tax credits or Universal Credit? 

Sorry for all the questions but I need to be 100% certain I have all the correct information before I can advise further. 

Albert89

Yes she claims Universal I believe. We don't have any savings and both unable to work due to our conditions. Many thanks 

poppy123456

Thanks. Then she will need to report a change of circumstances in her journal and tell them she’s living with you. She will then be sent a linking code. You will need to start a claim for UC yourself and use the linking code to join both claims together. 

Any income Related ESA you’re claiming will stop once you claim UC. If any part of it is contributions based then this will continue but be deducted from any UC entitlement. 

Your housing benefit will also stop after 2 weeks and help with the rent will be included with your UC. 

If you’re in the Support Group for ESA then you’ll be entitled to the LCWRA element of UC from the start of your claim. However if her UC already includes this element for her then you will not receive the extra element for yourself. You can only receive one LCWRA element per claim. 

Are either of you claiming a disability benefit such as either PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living? 

For council tax reduction if you’re currently claiming single person discount then this will end once she moves in with you. 

Albert89

Sorry I'm not sure you follow what you I'm saying I already claim ESA why would I need to claim Universal Credit?

She does not earn at the moment and at this moment she's temporarily staying with me as a correspondence address. 

I'm not sure why we need to join both claims together.

chiarieds

It's due to your partner being on Universal Credit. If she moves in with you, you are treated as a couple, & she would have to report this to UC as poppy has said above. You would also then have to claim UC.

If you answer poppy's queries, that would be helpful, thank you.

Albert89

Thank you both for your replies very much appreciated. Just trying to understand things. So if she was to come of universal credit could she still claim Child benefit and tax credits?

chiarieds

She would still receive child benefit, but once you've been on UC she wouldn't be able to go back to reclaim tax credits (as UC replaced tax credits).

Albert89

Thanks for that but then am I right in saying she would then still be able to reclaim UC at a later point if need be once there's more clarity over the whole situation.
Also could she continue to still claim PIP?

Albert89

I also sourced this information which clearly states if a partner moves in ESA doesn't necessarily stop whether it's income or contribution based. 
Could I have some clarity on this also? Many thanks 

bg844

Albert89 said:

Thanks for that but then am I right in saying she would then still be able to reclaim UC at a later point if need be once there's more clarity over the whole situation.
Also could she continue to still claim PIP?

Yes, she can of course claim UC in the future if needs be (subject to her circumstances at that time). PIP is unaffected and moving in with someone isn't a change that needs to be reported.

poppy123456

If she stops her UC claim then you will not receive any extra money for the children so I don’t understand why you would want to deprive yourself of that extra Income. This is why advised that you will need to claim UC as a couple. 

You can no longer claim Tax credits because it no longer exists for new claims.