Need help with uc - living with ex partner

moo_xo

Hello, so me and my now ex partner (we split this month) started living together and uc took all my money due to his wage this has caused our relationship to breakdown due to the fact they stopped all my income as I can not work due to mental health and he has now stated he does not want to keep paying for my bills when he has the house bills and mortgage to pay so we decided to civily end our relationship but agreed that I could continue living here as we had a child 3 months ago and I don't have the money to move nor do I wish to as I wouldn't be able to afford living alone or cope being alone as I suffer with severe anxiety and do not want to raise my child alone or take my child away from his dad how do I go about telling uc this and trying to claim as a single parent as I still live with him? What do I do?

Rosie_Scope

Hi @moo_xo, sorry you're going through the stress of a break up, it's never easy but must be really difficult when you're still living in the same place.

You can tell UC through a change of circumstances that you have broken up as a couple but can't move out due to your financial situation. They may want some kind of evidence that you are no longer living together as a couple, and they should be able to tell you what proof you might need for this. By this I don't mean that you aren't under the same roof, but that you aren't sharing things like a couple in a relationship would. For example, having joint bank accounts, sharing bills, eating together, sleeping in the same room.

If everything goes okay they will usually unlink your UC joint claims and reassess what you'll be entitled to under your new circumstances as a single person. It might be a good idea to chat to a benefits adviser about it if you're worried about how to start the process. Advicelocal have a database to search for someone in your area.

Hope you're doing okay and can get things sorted soon.