Who claims UC for children when separated

shomk

Hello
My husband and I are getting a divorce. We have 2 children. We are still in the same house and claim UC as two separate people, which I understand is ok to do, but I did think it might be questioned and it hasn't. I have put it in the journal at the very start of my claim though.
Anyway, My question is around who should have the children on their claim?
I have put the children on my claim - I have been paying the mortgage and all household bills, food, kids stuff, etc. He does not work and even though he now gets UC, contributes nothing to the bills/mortgage. He does spend a bit of money on the children, like toys or snacks. I also receive the child benefit.
When completing our form E for court financial hearing I noticed he has been receiving a large monthly sum from UC and when I looked at Entitled to, it appears he might be claiming for the children. If he wasn't, he would only get around half of what he is getting.
Can anyone advise on this please? I don't want to get in trouble with this further down the line, especially when I think I have done everything correctly. We dont have any child arrangements in place as we are all in the one house (unfortunately).
Thanks

NedS

The main carer should claim for the children. It is up to you and your husband to decide who is the main carer as the children can only be included on one claim. Normally you would consider things such as which address the children spend most time at, are registered as living at with things like schools/GPs etc. Who would take the child to GP appointments and the like? Who would take the children to buy new shoes? There are many factors you can consider in deciding.

In cases where a couple genuinely share the care equally, you can potentially split multiple children, say one on one claim and one on the other parent's claim, but obviously a single child cannot be split and must be on one claim or the other.

If you cannot decide who the main carer is, a decision maker will decide for you, but it is usually in your interest to reach an agreement.

If both parents are claiming for the same children, it will eventually get flagged up and investigated, and one of the parents will be required to repay any overpayment that has occurred, so it is in your interests to get this resolved quickly. Ideally you should reach an agreement, and one of you should report a change to remove the children from the start of the claim and repay the money owed before fraud become involved.

tacpot12

I understand that who claims Child Benefit is also a factor that is taken into account when deciding who the main carer is. 

calcotti

tacpot12 said:

I understand that who claims Child Benefit is also a factor that is taken into account when deciding who the main carer is. 

However guidance is clear that Child Benefit is not to be used as the determining factor.

NedS

calcotti said:

tacpot12 said:

I understand that who claims Child Benefit is also a factor that is taken into account when deciding who the main carer is. 

However guidance is clear that Child Benefit is not to be used as the determining factor.

No, but they will use it initially to verify the claim for the children - if the claimant is receiving child benefit then their claim for the child element of UC will be verified without any further investigation.