Warm Home Discount Scheme?

OhWow

poppy12345 said:

May1111 said:

My question is about the Warm weather scheme and why I am not entilted as not on the Bill?
Is this a lie from the helpline ?

Indeed but it flagged up when you said you were claiming UC as a single person why you live with your wife.

Here is a link confirming that you must claim Universal Credit as a couple.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-couples-an-introduction/universal-credit-further-information-for-couples

1. Definition of a couple

The Department for Work and Pensions counts 2 people as being in a couple if they live in the same household and are:

• married to each other
• civil partners of each other
• living together as if they were married

2. Claiming Universal Credit

If you are part of a couple you and your partner will need to make a joint claim for Universal Credit ...

calcotti

NedS said:

You keep saying this, but "they" don't do anything - it is your wife who makes a claim for benefit and ultimately they are legally responsible, not anyone else.

People here are trying to explain to you that a mistake has been made, and you and your wife are responsible for correcting it. 

..but only after the OP has reported that he has a living with him (which he should have done).

If he had reported this and his wife did not claim UC would his UC have been stopped?

NedS

calcotti said:

NedS said:

You keep saying this, but "they" don't do anything - it is your wife who makes a claim for benefit and ultimately they are legally responsible, not anyone else.

People here are trying to explain to you that a mistake has been made, and you and your wife are responsible for correcting it. 

..but only after the OP has reported that he has a living with him (which he should have done).

If he had reported this and his wife did not claim UC would his UC have been stopped?

Only if the CM was on the ball and suspended the claim until they were able to clarify the situation, but ultimately it is the claimants responsibility to ensure their claim is correct. There is no action that the CM can take on the claimant's behalf, the claimant must make the claim, report the change and link the claims together. If they are unsure how to do this, they should seek advice as I advised earlier.

The great thing about this forum is that they came seeking advice on one topic (the warm home discount scheme) and have received invaluable advice on correcting their benefit claim.

It will get flagged up eventually and investigated for fraud as there will be two claims for benefit (JSA and UC) at the same address, hence my advice to get this resolved now before it escalates and results in civil penalties or prosecution.

Spoonie_Turtle

May1111 said:

My new  wife is taking care of me at the moment and helping me do the basic things of life,.I have contacted my mental health team but have moved area so waiting to hear back from them,I don't no what to do as I need to make a joint claim as my wife is no longer working

"My new  wife is taking care of me at the moment and helping me do the basic things of life,.I have contacted my mental health team but have moved area so waiting to hear back from them,I don't no what to do as I need to make a joint claim as my wife is no longer working"

So in fairness you did tell them about it on your journal (although not explicitly that you were living together), you told them you need advice how to make a joint claim, and presumably from the lack of joint claim nobody picked it up.  You would expect a decently switched-on member of staff to do something about it, but evidently not.

No judgement here, a genuine question: when nobody picked up on the joint claim aspect, why didn't you do anything more about it?
Who advised your wife to claim JSA?

At least you have proof you did try to tell them, clearly you didn't know what the right way was to report a change, and now you know.  You also now know how to go about putting it right as soon as possible, per NedS' advice.

nannytone_2

On page 2 of this thread, the OP says their wife is now working again, so there is only the UC claim in payment.
I'm not convinced that the OP os sure of exactly what they are claiming ( regarding the type of claim ).

As for WHD.... a lot of letters are being sent out based on the benefit eligibility, without account being taken of either liability to pay or qualification of property type veing considered.
Either way the OP needs to act on the situation 

calcotti

NedS said:. Your wife should not be in receipt of JSA as your wife should be claiming UC together with you.

Not particularly crucial to OP but can I just pick up on this.
I don’t think there is anything to prevent someone claiming new style JSA and UC, indeed 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-jobseekers-allowance
says “ If you qualify for both New Style JSA and Universal Credit, any New Style JSA you receive will be taken into account as income for Universal Credit”.

NedS

calcotti said:

NedS said:. Your wife should not be in receipt of JSA as your wife should be claiming UC together with you.

Not particularly crucial to OP but can I just pick up on this.
I don’t think there is anything to prevent someone claiming new style JSA and UC, indeed 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-jobseekers-allowance
says “ If you qualify for both New Style JSA and Universal Credit, any New Style JSA you receive will be taken into account as income for Universal Credit”.

Yes, correct - my mistake (I forget about dual claims as we just don't see many of them)

NedS

nannytone_2 said:

On page 2 of this thread, the OP says their wife is now working again, so there is only the UC claim in payment.
I'm not convinced that the OP os sure of exactly what they are claiming ( regarding the type of claim ).

Yes, so there may even be an underpayment of UC once the wife is added onto the UC claim given the couple rate, if any earnings are offset by a work allowance and earnings taper.