cohabitation? benefit procedures?

I have another procedural enquiry for you fine folk out there.

I have a client who is a lone parent. Income support, housing benefit and child tax credit in place.

Her ex partner has moved back in but not as a partner. He had a bad accident and was hospitalised. His hospital bed has been moved into her place as he was living with elderly parents and their property could not accomodate the hospital bed.

I have advised he claims ESA.

I have also advised she contacts the council ref her 25% single person CT discount and also about Housing benefit (no non dep deductions as he has no income and will be on ESA and DLA)

Will she have to contact Income Support and HMRC about these new circumstances?

She is adamant she is not resuming a relationship, merely helping him out as he needs a roof over his head whilst he is convalescing. I dont want some jobsworth at DWP / HMRC stopping her money for months while they decide wether she is cohabiting with him as part of her household.
I dont want her to be judged as overpaid later on either.

Any help regarding making this painless would be appreciated.

She needs to let HMRC know the circumstances now.  If she fails to do so they may well pick up some way down the line that he is living there, & they will then almost certainly stop her claim immediately.  She will then either have to make a couple claim with him (which would be under protest as they are not a couple in any meaningful sense of the word) &/or dispute the stopping of her payments & go to appeal.  Either way, she will have an interruption of her payments & a lot of hassle.  They will also demand repayment of all the TC she has had from the date he moved in up to when they stopped the payment.  This should then be offset by what they would have been entitled to as a couple (i.e. the same amount, as the previous post says) providing she then accepts they are a couple.  Again, a lot of hassle & time wasting.

If she tells them now she will quite likely get incorrect advice from the helpline about the situation, & they may want to stop the payments & demand a couple claim, so she could have some of the hassle etc. which will occur later if she doesn’t tell them.  However, she will - in their eyes - have some right on her side as she will not have failed to tell them.  She should keep a note of the date & time of any phone call she makes about this, & the name of the person she speaks to.  She should also write to them to confirm what she has told them on the phone, & send it recorded delivery & keep a copy.  [In a normal world, you wouldn’t have to do all these things, but HMRC TCO do not live in the same world as us ordinary humans!]

Tony In my post I was assuming TCO would find out & stop the payments while the alleged co-habiting still existed, & I think this could be worse than sorting it out at the start.

I agree a couple claim ought not to be made if - as is the case here - they are not co-habiting, but I have heard of cases where this has been done simply in order to try to get essential money for living costs - the claim being stated in writing to be under duress and protest because the couple do not accept they are a couple.  Of course, this could lead to TCO refusing the claim - a complete Catch 22 situation.