First time poster here as I haven't been able to find an answer to this anywhere on the boards. Any help is appreciated.
My wife and I have been living apart for six months following a separation, and she has been claiming universal credit in this time. We have recently realised that we would like to make another go of things as a couple, as we have realised there are many good things about us together and we have managed to work through some of our differences. We're intending to start marriage counselling to work through the rest. We also feel it would be much better for our children for them to see us together as a loving married couple.
However, we have also realised that us living together and seeing each other every day does not work for us if we are to make it as a couple and would therefore want to continue living apart. Would my wife in this situation still be able to continue claiming UC under a sole claim? If we had to include my income we'd get nothing, and we would not then be able to afford this. Which would then lead straight back to the current situation with us being apart and my wife claiming UC anyway, so I'm really hoping there is an option for this.
My second question would be whether we would be liable to pay back any of the UC my wife has received? The initial intention was definitely to separate, as we are able to demonstrate if asked about it.