About benefits between partners

CVR

I am a 65 years old woman and I am living with my mother.
She is 88 years old, totally disabled and I care for her. ( She receive Pension Credit guarantee, AA High rate, housing benefit and council tax support)
Personally I receive Career element, Standard element, and housing element from UC.

It's expected in the near future to decide if I will start to live with my partner or if we will choose to continue to live separately.

My partner ( 80 years old) receives pension credit guarantee  , housing benefit and council tax full support from his council, and definitively without an expiration date , High rate Attendance Allowance.

My questions are:
If we will start to live together as a couple
OR
If we decide to continue to live separately but I will start to care  him,

which consequences will be applied to us about the benefits that we already receive and what we have to do about it?

Thank you very much for your help


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dkb123

you should not do anything until you have taken professional advice 
many people are caught in the trap of being without benefits when they officially start living with a partner, because both your incomes are taken into account in the calculations for Council Tax and housing benefits so you may be worse off

poppy123456

If you live with your partner you will be classed as a mixed aged couple because you are under state pension age. This would mean that your partners pension credit will end and they will need to report the changes to pension credit. See link https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/mixed-age-couples

You will need to report a change of circumstances for UC and tell them you’re living with a partner. You will be sent a linking code. Your partner will then need to claim UC their self and use the linking code to join both claims together. Their housing benefit will then end 2 weeks later. 

Help with the rent will then be paid in with your UC. (if you need to continue to claim for help with the rent) 

Your partners state pension will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. As your partner claims high rate AA then your UC will include the LCWRA element from the 4th month of your claim. 

Changes also need to be report for council tax reduction as this will need to be recalculated. They will lose their single person discount too. 

If you wait until you reach state pension age then your partner will need to report the changes to pension credit and it will need to be recalculated based on your joint circumstances. Whether there’s any entitlement will depend on joint circumstances. 

Jimm_Alumni

Hi @CVR, welcome to the scope community I hope you're doing well today.

Poppy has already given you quite a bit of information, I don't think I can really add much to it. I will say though what can sometimes be helpful is going through all this with someone. If you think that would be beneficial then I'd recommend contacting your local Citizen's advice!