Afternoon,
My son's 16 yo GF came to stay in March as she'd fallen out with her Mum. It was supposed to just be for a week or so as a cooling off period but then we got locked down. After much soul searching and tears she decided (for many reasons) that she'd rather stay here and here she has stayed. Her Mum has not been financially supporting her and has only just relinquished her benefits claim so we need to decide what to do.
A) I add her to my UC claim and claim CB for her.
B) She makes a claim in her own right (difficult to do as she's only 16 and will be in ft education and therefor will not be available for work)
Financially there is not much difference - I think that if I claim for her she will be better off by £13 pw (2nd child benefit rate)
She will be moving on eventually but I have extended my invitation for her to stay until at least Sept and will probably extend it again until Jan so she can get her first term at college under her belt.
The Young Homeless Service will be getting involved at some point to help her find a more permanent solution but atm they are only dealing with kids that are street homeless, and, if I'm honest, she may end up staying with us indefinitely.
For clarity, I am not working atm and reliant on benefits myself (lost my job literally weeks before the lock down as my contract ended and am currently a full time carer for my DS who has ASD). I've supported his GF for about 10 weeks now and not really in a position to carry on doing so hence having to decide who claims for her.
So this is not really a "Am I Being Unreasonable" - more of a "What Would You Do?"