Universal Credit (again) help please

[MinnieMouse1976]

Hi, my husband and I have recently separated. We now each have our own separate UC claims.

He hasn't worked for 12 years for reasons not relevant to my question, but his UC claim is asking for MY earnings for the past year. My own claim hasn't requested this.

Can anyone shed any light on why they may be asking him this? Why would my earnings affect his single claim?

Thanks for any tips.

I think he has said he is in a relationship/ living with someone if they're asking that.

It's because they will be trying to establish whether he is exempt for the benefit cap and as you were previously living together they will look at whether either of you was working in the past nine months.
If you were working and earning enough he will be exempt form the benefit cap if it applied to him.
They have to ask this because you could have agreed for example that you would work and him be the stay at home parent so it would be unfair for him to now be penalized by the benefit cap because he was not working.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply.