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is and letting afriend sleep on your sofa

hi everyone

just a quick question and hope someone can help me with it. I am a single parent. I get HB and IS. my friend is due to leave the army soon and is awaiting to be housed, if it came that the council had not found him somewhere i said he could doss on my sofa if needs be. I just wondered if this would affect my benefits at all. it would hopefully only be for a week or so. he would be unemployed and claiming benefits as well due to illness. any help gratefully recieved
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  • sammyjammy
    sammyjammy Posts: 7,789 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    hi everyone

    just a quick question and hope someone can help me with it. I am a single parent. I get HB and IS. my friend is due to leave the army soon and is awaiting to be housed, if it came that the council had not found him somewhere i said he could doss on my sofa if needs be. I just wondered if this would affect my benefits at all. it would hopefully only be for a week or so. he would be unemployed and claiming benefits as well due to illness. any help gratefully recieved

    Why would the council be responsible for housing your friend? Surely they should look for accommodation in advance of leaving?

    In answer to your benefits question then yes you should notify both DWP and your local housing dept, it should not affect your benefits if he is not working or has savings but it is your responsibility to tell them of all changes.
    "You've been reading SOS when it's just your clock reading 5:05 "
  • sammyjammy wrote: »
    Why would the council be responsible for housing your friend?

    Because of a scheme introduced donkeys years ago.
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 34,453 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Even people on benefits are allowed to have a friend to stay for a few weeks without it affecting their benefits.

    Your friend needs to make absolutely sure he states that your address is not his home and he is only staying there for a week or two.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 12,973 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    it could cause complications, sparking an investigation into your claim.

    personally, i wouldnt do it.

    surely he had friends/family who arent on benefits that have a sofa he could sleep on for a short period?
  • dseventy
    dseventy Posts: 1,220 Forumite
    hi everyone

    just a quick question and hope someone can help me with it. I am a single parent. I get HB and IS. my friend is due to leave the army soon and is awaiting to be housed, if it came that the council had not found him somewhere i said he could doss on my sofa if needs be. I just wondered if this would affect my benefits at all. it would hopefully only be for a week or so. he would be unemployed and claiming benefits as well due to illness. any help gratefully recieved

    I am going to make some (maybe obvious) assumptions in my answer
    • You are female
    • Your "friend" is male
    • You have a low income
    • You can't pay for the roof over your head and rely on others to do it for you
    • You can't pay yourself an income and rely on others to do it
    • You socialise/live near/mix with others in the same situation as you
    Given the above, it will complicate your claim
    • You are allowing a "friend" to stay with you in your house with you and your children.
    • You have little spare money
    • The person will be eating with you/using electricity (he will shower)/ socialising
    • Other people will observe this happening.
    You could argue that that this person should contribute his way in a house of little income. (This will need to be declared). Unless he is living there rent free with no obligation to pay anything. But then why should he?

    You could argue that other people in similiar circs to you will see it and report/resent it.

    When you rely on the state and their eligibility criteria to claim benefits you need to be aware and used to the scrutiny this brings.

    As an example of this.

    If I was leaving the army and staying with a single mum on benefits, I would ensure that my presence was not financially imposing on her. I would pay my way, pay some bills and contribute. I would not hear "no" for an answer.

    But thats just me, not perhaps him.

    Food for thought.

    D70
    How about no longer being masochistic?
    How about remembering your divinity?
    How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out?
    How about not equating death with stopping?
  • sniggings
    sniggings Posts: 5,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    dseventy wrote: »
    I am going to make some (maybe obvious) assumptions in my answer
    • You are female
    • Your "friend" is male
    • You have a low income
    • You can't pay for the roof over your head and rely on others to do it for you
    • You can't pay yourself an income and rely on others to do it
    • You socialise/live near/mix with others in the same situation as you
    Given the above, it will complicate your claim
    • You are allowing a "friend" to stay with you in your house with you and your children.
    • You have little spare money
    • The person will be eating with you/using electricity (he will shower)/ socialising
    • Other people will observe this happening.
    You could argue that that this person should contribute his way in a house of little income. (This will need to be declared). Unless he is living there rent free with no obligation to pay anything. But then why should he?

    You could argue that other people in similiar circs to you will see it and report/resent it.

    When you rely on the state and their eligibility criteria to claim benefits you need to be aware and used to the scrutiny this brings.

    As an example of this.

    If I was leaving the army and staying with a single mum on benefits, I would ensure that my presence was not financially imposing on her. I would pay my way, pay some bills and contribute. I would not hear "no" for an answer.

    But thats just me, not perhaps him.

    Food for thought.

    D70

    :eek:


    yes you need to tell them is the short answer.
  • mikey_bach
    mikey_bach Posts: 912 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    You state he is going to stay in your house for a few weeks and will claim benefits.

    He will have to inform the DWP of his address as they need an uptodate address for him.

    So he will have to inform them, and so will you as it is a change of circumstance, even though he is only staying for a few weeks
    .
    They will send you out a LTF1 living together form, and can suspened if you dont return.
  • Cate1976
    Cate1976 Posts: 406 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 19 July 2012 pm31 9:43PM
    Just to clarify on this and hoping someone who works for DWP or knows the rules can answer this one.

    When we move to Norfolk in October, my husband & I are leaving people who we're very close to, including most of the girl's Godparents. We would like to invite people to come and stay with us for a week. Under the rules for benefits, is it allowed for us to have friends stay for a week's holiday?

    IMO OP having a friend to stay for a few weeks should be allowed. If benefits do check, it'll be easy enough to prove they're not living together as partners for the following reasons.

    1) OP's friend is sleeping on the settee. This may be the biggest one that'll prove they're not living together

    2) OP's friend will be moving out after 2/3 weeks possibly before the visit is done.

    3) OP's friend needs to say they're only staying until they can get somewhere else to live.

    4) If OP's friend is still there when the visit is done, the person doing it is likely to say that it won't be a problem for a few weeks especially if OP's friend explains the situation.

    5) OP, I hope you don't take this the wrong way but both you and your friend need to tell the truth on forms and if the visit is done.

    My situation which is slightly different is that I moved over to Northern Ireland early 2003, I stayed at my then boyfriends but in his spare room. Of course I was signing on JSA and he was on IS. Someone from jobcentre came out asked me a few questions, I showed her room my then boyfriend was sleeping in and where I was sleeping. I said that I was only staying there till I could get somewhere in the town (boyfriend lived 6 miles out of the town in the country). I asked her at the end if what we were doing was ok and she said that she was satisfied we weren't cohabiting but if I was still there 3/4 months later it would be viewed differently. 6 weeks later I found somewhere and within 2 weeks had moved in. I moved over to Northern Ireland as there were more opportunities for employment than where I was living in England and also the only way to find out how things would work out between my boyfriend & I was to be near each other. We got engaged Easter 2003 and married April 2004. I will say that I know there's a strong chance that I was lucky in my situation in that the person doing the visit and the decision maker took the reasonable approach rather than a hardline view.
  • Well we all know the rules. But how many people have been on here posting about being interviewed under caution, for example there is a case wherby the DWP have got it wrong on the thread at the moment.

    Sometimes you don't know what to do for the best, even when you act within the law.
  • Parva
    Parva Posts: 1,104 Forumite
    edited 20 July 2012 am31 4:19AM
    Cate, I would advise starting your own thread where it will get much more attention than hijacking another.
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