Recent breakup, how to approach UC?

bluefate

hi there.

I’ve recently broken up with my partner but because she was also my carer, she took care of important things like UC.

I have access to our UC but I’m not sure how I proceed with things because it was a joint claim. I receive LCWRA and when I made a previous post about this, someone said that I should keep a copy of my LCWRA letter as it won’t be carried over to a new claim. I suppose my first question is, do I just print the LCWRA letter off my journal? When I’ve printed it before, it looks like a letter I could type up myself and print, rather than an official letter. My next question would be, how do I proceed to make a joint claim a single claim?

Thank you for reading.

poppy123456

You will both need to log into your journal and "report a change" and then click living with a partner and report it this way. Your claim should then revert to a single claim and you will keep the same assessment periods and payment date. Once you do this you will lose everything on your journal.

For the LCWRA element, you can just take a screenshot of the letter you received, this is all the evidence you need to prove that you have LCWRA should there be any issues.

What date do you usually receive your money each month and when did you leave your partner?

bluefate

Thank you so much for replying.

We normally receive our payment on the 16th of every month and we broke up today. I know some people would probably think this shouldn’t be the first thing on my mind but I don’t want to get into trouble with UC

poppy123456

Thank you for that information. This means your assessment periods are 10th to 9th of every month. Entitlement to UC is based on your circumstances on the last day of each assessment period, so for you that would be 9th of every month.

As you split from your partner after that date then your next payment this month will be for the usual amount. It will be paid into the usual bank account it’s always paid into.

Next month your UC entitlement will be based on yourself as a single person.

bluefate

thank you for your help.

I’ve saved the letter as a pdf, would this be ok to use?

poppy123456

That will be fine. You may not even need it.