would you consider living apart for financial reasons ?

seven-day-weekend

pingua, I think it's mainly to do with sharing lives.

You can still do this even if you don't live together.

silvercar

Something wrong with the benefit system if the gain in benefits outweighs the cost of a second home (rent, council tax, TV licence, utilities, insurance, food...)

helzbelz_57

i dont know how as a tax payer you could consider doing this!!! my oh is in the navy and gets home one weekend a month if his schedule is good, it breaks my sons heart each time he has to go and he's desperately trying to find away to be closer to home. why would you do this to your children, surely they would be very confused as daddy or mummy would be living in a different house? how do you explain that to them, also, think of what it would be teaching them about your moral standards? if times are tough, then you need to pull together, do an SOA and work out what you need to cut back on. its people like you make it so much harder for those that really do need benefits. the hoops i have had to jump through in the past to prove that i as a single working parent was entitled to what i was getting can be very stressfull, but unfortunately, i depended on the money and so had to go through them. im sure this was in part down to others commiting benefit fraud. please dont to this. there are ways of tightening the purse strings during bad times and afterwards you will be able to put your hand on your heart and say you got through it together as a family, without resorting to benefit fraud.