Hi,
Has anyone experienced a rival Universal Credit claim for the child element where both parents have a shared lives with court order?
My daughter has a shared lives with order for her 4 year old. Under the normal four week arrangement, the other parent has 15 nights and my daughter has 13, although there are separate arrangements for school holidays.
There has also been controlling behaviour towards my daughter, which has made the situation particularly difficult and stressful for her. I don’t want to go into identifying details, but I’m mentioning it because communication and arrangements around the child have not always been straightforward.
My daughter currently receives the UC child element childcare costs and Child benefit,She pays the nursery fees, is the main contact for nursery and the dentist, and is the person nursery normally contacts about her child’s welfare and development.
Both parents provide clothing and everyday essentials and care for the child during their respective time.
The other parent has now made a competing Universal Credit claim.
I’ve read the DWP guidance on main responsibility which suggests the decision isn’t based solely on overnight stays.
Has anyone been through this recently? Did the DWP calculate annual overnight stays, or did they look at who takes responsibility for the child’s day to day welfare?
Im worried sick as she privately rents and if she loses her child element she will lose the rent element as she will no longer have a child on her claim, which will potentially make her and my granddaughter homeless, she can’t live with me as I live 60 miles away and there is a lives with order that will get broken it’s all a mess really.
She does work for context, will also lose her job if the ex gets the UC award
Just to add the ex has a house that was given to them so no housing costs has a good job etc.