Adding carer and partner to existing claim

freeflow

My future daughter in law had to claim universal credit in April, because of lockdown and as she was a vulnerable person. She now also had a major operation, now getting pip and can not at the moment work and needs a carer, so my son is moving in and becoming her carer as well as her boyfriend, he will not be working (he is self-employed at the moment) as he needs to care for her. will there be an interruption to her claim for universal credit as she will start claiming for him? will she just need to post on her sign-in page change of circumstance or will she need to make a new claim to get money as a couple and so he is exempt from work commitments? Advice welcome and instructions on how to do it would be appreciated.

poppy123456

HI,

Your son will need to start his own claim for UC and he will be given a linking code for his partner to use, this will join the claims together. There will not be a break in the claim and it will continue as normal with the extra money added to the claim.

If she's claiming daily living PIP then he will need to make sure he reports that he's caring for her for at least 35 hours per week, then the carers element will be added. There will be no work commitments for him.

As her health condition prevents her from working then she will need to make sure she's sending in fit notes from her GP to start the work capability assessment off. Her PIP award doesn't automatically entitle her to limited capability for work.

She also need to contact her local council regarding her council tax. If she was claiming the 25% single person discount then this will end.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @freeflow. Just to add to @poppy123456's excellent advice:
Once they join claims she will no longer be able to see any of her old statements or journal entries. 
If she wants to keep these she'll need to take screenshots or copies of them before joining claims with her partner. 

poppy123456

@Adrian_Scope thanks for that, i totally forgot about all the old statements etc being wiped.