Separating - when can you apply for UC?

[Toomuchpinot]

Hi,
My husband and I are separating. We have a house together with a mortgage and two children. He has a serious chronic illness and works two days a week, I work full time and earn a lot more than him, therefore the plan is for him to stay in the family home and for me to move to a rental, but keep paying half the mortgage as well. Ideally we'd share the kids 50/50 but will have to see if this works out due to his illness.

I looked on entitledto website and based on that he could top up his income with UC, the website estimates £1600/month.

I am currently saving to move out (deposit, rent, moving costs, furniture etc), but due to his low income I pay for most of the household expenses, making saving rather difficult.

My main question is therefore when can he apply for UC? Can he do that whilst we still live together?
Is it OK to keep an existing joint account for bills or should we move everything to come from his account?

Are there any drawbacks to the current plan? We have decided not to apply for divorce for now, just to separate. Should we have a separation agreement in place?

So far it is all fairly amicable and I am trying to keep things that way.

Thanks.

If you are not planning on getting divorced and still be a married couple just living separately I'm not even sure you'd be entitled to UC especially if you keep a joint bank account. You'd need to check with DWP.

If you're separated but still living under the same roof then it is possible to claim UC as a single person.

You would though need to show that there are two households. Eating together would stymie that and joint financial arrangements would be a potential problem too.

As ever a word with the Help to Claim service would be a good shout. I'd trust them over the DWP to give good advice.

Thanks for the repsonses.

We are definitely separating and initially I wanted to divorce but he says he can't afford the costs associated nor the stress due to his poor health (sadly he may also not live another 10 years which would make it feel a bit silly to spend a lot of money on divorce now).

We have slept in separate rooms for years, I pay for food etc but we don't even sit down to eat together. We have two joint accounts and of course mortgage, council tax etc is under both of our names.

There's no third party involved which is another reason I wasn't going to push for a divorce unless needed, it's not like I want to get married again.

Divorce is neither here nor there so far as UC is concerned.

The test is are you 'Living Together as a Married Couple' (LTAMC)?

My partner and I are both legally single but would be treated as LTAMC as we've done for 40 years.

Separate rooms, finances, cooking and eating arrangements; no evidence of family life would probably be enough for UC to treat us as single.

Does your husband get PIP?

Thanks @Bromptotoo
He hasn't applied for PIP even though I have told him he should... he's really bad at anything like this which is another reason why divorce would be a huge headache with all the paperwork involved. I will most likely have to do the UC application on his behalf as well as he'll never get around to it.. it's like having a third child really which is one of the reasons I want to separate but that's of course not what this thread is about.

I was able to claim UC before my ex moved out.

How did you this, especially with regards to council tax etc? Was there any evidence of separate households that was needed? Also, how much longer did you continue to live together?
Sorry about all the questions, I'm just completely ignorant when it comes to anything benefits-related and would of course want to (or want him to) avoid making any mistakes.

Yes you can apply from the date you decide to separate. You will be liable for 50% council tax and claim benefit on your half if that makes sense. It took her six months to divorce and find a new home. I don’t think there’s a set time limit though.

I only did it a month before he moved out, as I wasn't aware that you could do it.
I think they paid half the council tax.

Thanks @RickyGervaislovesdogs and @patsy999
Would be amazing if he could get the UC sooner than when we actually physically move apart. I have been wondering how on earth I can save enough to move out whilst still paying for most things in the current home. May still have to take a small personal loan to be able to do it but would help immensely if he was more self-sufficient.
Also made an appointment with the bank for next week to split the accounts.
Such a relief to finally make some progress after years of misery.