Seperated but living together

gibboking

nannytone wrote: »

you are obviously still 'joint' financially.
why do you want to claim extra benefit when your situation hasnt changed, apart from the fact that you no longer share a bed?

I explained the situation to tax credits and they said i could claim.
we are starting to seperate financially hence the seperate bank accounts. But we still have joint responsibility to the mortgage and debts.
We both pay money into the joint account to keep these payments up and we are now paing our other bills seperatly ie car/life ins etc.

nannytone_2

i'm not saying that what you are contemplating is wrong and i apologise if thats the way its come across.

its just you need to show a true 'speration'
both financially and personally.
if the bills are paid as a family and the shopping is bought as a family...........its pretty hard for you then to say youre NOT a family.

nannytone_2

but debts arent considered when applying for benefits.
if you claim while youre living as a 'family' it is benefit fraud.
your debts arent the benefits systems problem.

gibboking

It was only last week when I rang tax credits and as yet have not received an award notice.
We have done as advised by TCs and got single accounts and as I just said we are now starting to pay our own bills, and we intend to put x amount each into the joint account to cover joint bills.
I do the shopping as he would never have the time, but we do not eat together - has been like this for a long time.
I was hoping to come on here for assurance that this acceptable as I myself had doubts even though I was told by TC's twice that it was ok to claim.
We both work hard and are paying our way, we just cant afford for him to move out, or rather He cant afford to move out. But once my new claim is sorted He will be able to move out as I should be able to 'survive' without him financially and he will still pay towards mortgage and debts.
So we are not planning on living together for long, just until we can move on.
Maybe I didnt make that clear in the beginning, I do appreciate all of your views and I dont feel that you are getting at me, although you might be..i dont know?
It is not my intention to commit fraud which was part of the reason for my post...to ensure that I wasn't!

nannytone_2

i dont think for a second that your intending to commut fraud. again i apologise if thats the way its come across. but for your own safety you need to seperate totally.....financially and personally.
he may not have the time to shop, but once he moves out does he intend to starve?
just cover your own back!

DanE2010

All calls are recorded Gibboking so i wouldnt worry about needing something in writing, the advice you were given on the TC helpline is their guidence so what they told you in correct and you dont need to worry, some people may not like it or agree with it but dems the rules!

gibboking

Thanks again guys.
Hopefully we will get sorted (seperatly) asap and then I can rest assured that I am not doing anything that could be misunderstood!!

sunnyone

DanE2010 wrote: »

All calls are recorded Gibboking so i wouldnt worry about needing something in writing, the advice you were given on the TC helpline is their guidence so what they told you in correct and you dont need to worry, some people may not like it or agree with it but dems the rules!

There are hundreds of people here that thought that, then theres a problem and its all the claimants fault, no log of call never mind trying to prove what was said in the none excisting call and I wouldnt believe anything till it was in writing, maybe you can link the information for tax credits when living together but seperate?

Murgatroyd21

Tax credit will accept a single person claim even though still under the same roof as an ex-partner. As AsknAnswer2 says, you may be subjected to further investigation to confirm your circumstances.

Just to clarify, was it the tax credit advisor who mentioned 25% council tax discount? As I read it, you appear to have got that information from the EntitledTo website.

DanE2010

sunnyone wrote: »

There are hundreds of people here that thought that, then theres a problem and its all the claimants fault, no log of call never mind trying to prove what was said in the none excisting call and I wouldnt believe anything till it was in writing, maybe you can link the information for tax credits when living together but seperate?

Its called a 'Subject Acess Request' under the freedom of information act, ALL calls are recorded on the tax credit helpline and the system is updated everytime somecalls to reflect this, all the caller needs to do is jot down who they spoke to, the time and date and TCO can access the claim and have a look at what notes were left, pick up the call and listen to what was said. If someone called then it is automatically logged on the software and recorded - calls just dont 'get lost' its all computerised. You wont get anything other than an award notice detailing your entitlement, you cant just ring up and ask for this or that in writing, if that was the case they'd never get anything else done!

If you want a more specific explanation on 'living together but seperate' in regards to tax credits id advise you to contact them yourself because it has been done to death on this thread as you full well know because you have 'thanked' many of the posts stating this isnt possible so im not even getting into it with you, its their guidence, their rules, and no amount of back biting about scenarios on here is going to change that, go contact tax credits yourself and they will explain it to you fully if it is that difficult for you to understand.