Wife now works / lives in Hong Kong... can I claim UC ?

aloneathome

My wife has recently moved to Hong Kong to take up a teaching position for minimum 2 years. I now occupy the family home with my 18yrs old daughter who is in full time education. I earn less than £25k per annum. My wife pays the mortgage and most of the household bills from her Hong Kong salary and sends a little to my daughter, but Hong Kong living expenses are more than we expected and money is tighter than we thought. Can I claim Universal Credit or Council Tax reduction etc as a single person as she no longer pays tax here and is now a Hong Kong resident with Hong Kong ID card. Any help appreciated  

Voyager2002

You can certainly claim the single-person discount on your Council Tax.

Silvertabby

Voyager2002 said:

You can certainly claim the single-person discount on your Council Tax.

Are you sure about that?  When a friend's husband worked for BAE in Saudi - for longer than 2 years - she couldn't claim single occupancy discount because her husband returned to the marital home on his leave periods.

Grumpy_chap

Silvertabby said:

Voyager2002 said:

You can certainly claim the single-person discount on your Council Tax.

Are you sure about that?  When a friend's husband worked for BAE in Saudi - for longer than 2 years - she couldn't claim single occupancy discount because her husband returned to the marital home on his leave periods.

I just looked this up on our local Council website and it states "Your partner may live elsewhere from time to time because their job is too far away to commute.  In these circumstances, you cannot usually get a discount. That is because a couple are generally regarded as having their sole or main residence together."  The single person discount is not obviously clear.

aloneathome said:

I earn less than £25k per annum. My wife pays the mortgage and most of the household bills from her Hong Kong salary 

I do not know the rules in detail but would consider whether this is a "single" claim for UC, in which case I expect the income transferred from your wife is also counted as income.
OR, would you still make a "joint" claim by virtue of being a married couple?  In which case, your wife's income will be taken into account in full.

Any claim for UC may be moot if you have savings above the thresholds.

NedS

How many times would you expect your wife to return from Hong Kong to the UK / family home in the next two years?