Help

Reyhanali5

Hi I'm thinking of getting back with my ex because of our children. Schools is closer to our family home & he suffers from mental health problems & is struggling to pay bills & mortgage which is on both of our names. Atm I'm living with my children at one of my family member's home & my ex is currently living in our family home . My ex recieves income related esa & I'm recieving uc standard payment with all of children's element payments & child benefit for them. All of our are under 16 years old & born before 2017. Anyways I was thinking of closing my uc account & moving back into our family home & joining my ex on his esa claim as a couple & start living as a married couple again but everyone on these fb uc groups keep saying that my child element for all of my children will stop? Is that true ? Does anyone know & if I do get back with my ex & close my uc account can't I just open another one with my children element payment on there only ? Please be advice me idk what to do as my family also want me & my kids out of their home & I don't want to apply for temporary accommodation or rent a property because they can be too far or in a poor condition & I'm physically disabled myself with chronic pain & one of my children has eczema & asthma thank you so much

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

When living together you can't claim UC as just one person, not even for just one element. And you can't go back to legacy benefits such as child tax credits because they have been superseded by UC now.

In this case, it would be better for your partner to migrate to UC so that you both claim UC as a couple instead.

The only problem is that if he migrates to UC before getting a migration letter, he could lose Transitional Protection. Do you know if he gets SDP with the ESA?

Reyhanali5

@OverlyAnxious what does SDP stand for ?

Kimmy87

Severe Disability Premium

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/severe-disability-premium/what-is-a-severe-disability-premium

poppy123456

If his ESA includes the SDP then he will lose that anyway, even if you could remain on the ESA unless you either claim a qualifying disability benefit or registered blind. If he doesn’t claim a qualifying disability benefit and not registered blind then he wouldn’t be claiming SDP anyway.

If you start to live together as a couple then you will need to report a change of circumstances and tell them you're living with your partner, you will then receive a linking code. Your partner will need to start a claim for UC theirself and use the linking code to join both claims together.

As he's in the Support Group for ESA then he'll be entitled to the LCWRA element of UC from the start of your claim. However, if your UC already includes the LCWRA for yourself then you will not be entitled to another because it’s one per claim.

Reyhanali5

@poppy123456 thanks hun he is in support group i know this because I'm his appointee I still remind his appointee as he suffers from mental health & he is the father of my children & we remained civil towards each other mainly for other children

Reyhanali5

@Kimmy87 no he doesn't get that his just in the support group

poppy123456

He will still need to clam UC with you because you have children. If UC ended then you wouldn't receive any money for your children.

As I advised because he's in the Support Group then your UC will include the LCWRA element from the start.

He would also lose his single person discount for council tax, assuming he doesn't currently live with other adults.

As he's not claiming a disability benefit have you looked at the criteria for that? It's not awarded based on a diagnosis and whether there's any entitlement will depend on how his conditions affect him. There's some information in the links provided.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

Reyhanali5

@poppy123456 you have been very helpful thank you so much & yes I did apply in the past on his behalf but he 2 points less then standard rate I will be reapplying soon again thanks again