Universal Credit, Husband permanently works abroad

NedS

airliner said:

NedS said:

In the case of the OP, if they were treated as a couple and the husband's full income taken into account, this would likely nil the claim

They are not going to be treated as a couple in their current circumstances.

Yes, which is why I said "if they were treated as a couple". I was making the point that in the OP's case, the rules likely work in their favour after it had been pointed out how the rules could sometimes seem unfair. Just adding some balance
 

Rubyroobs

Crazy rules. they are married and still presumably have an income being paid yet this isn't counted at all for UC purposes? Surely can't be correct ??

calcotti

Rubyroobs said:

Crazy rules. they are married and still presumably have an income being paid yet this isn't counted at all for UC purposes? Surely can't be correct ??

It is. Any spousal maintenance payments would be taken into account however it seems to me fairly easy to get round this by treating any payments as child maintenance (don’t know if there is any guidance on when a ‘child maintenance’ payment might be considered excessive).

Interestingly I think for legacy benefits living apart for reasons of work or due to hospital stays would not have resulted in claimants being treated as single regardless of the length of time.