Mixed Age Couples - Closed Account

Hi

Helping a couple claim UC who are a MAC - Couple of issues I’ve encountered.

Firstly, client over SPA completed a benefit check (seems to think this was from a government website one but not sure which) which stated he could claim HB instead of his partner (under SPA) rather than claiming UC - explained to him that he can no longer can do that and he phoned the DWP up who said that they needed to claim UC, is that correct? Starting to doubt myself!!

Secondly, we have attempted to make a joint UC claim but can’t link the accounts. We set up the claim for the under-SPA client and got the linking code, however there is an issue with the UC claim for client over-SPA. Over-SPA client had a UC claim prior to becoming SPA (approx 5 months) which was closed in May 2022 when he became pensionable age.

The UC claim simply states the claim was closed in May 2022 and nothing he can do with it. There’s no link to say make a new claim (as I’ve had with under pension age people), nor anywhere to make a change of circumstances. He only has one email address and everytime I put the email address in, it just sends it to his old account which I can’t do anything with!

Any help or suggestions on how to move forward would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ask them to create a new email address and make the new claim on that. If they/you are tech savvy you should be able to put a rule on the new account to forward mail to their main account.

Most email services allow you to create an additional email ( an alias ) to run alongside your main one.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/add-or-remove-an-email-alias-in-outlook-com-459b1989-356d-40fa-a689-8f285b13f1f2

What is an alias?
An alias is an additional email address associated with your Outlook.com account. An alias uses the same inbox, contact list, and account settings as your primary email address. You can sign in to your Outlook.com account with any alias—they all use the same password.

Outlook.com lets you have multiple aliases associated with a single account, and you can choose which email address you send email from. Creating alternate addresses to use on websites or apps that force you to register can help keep your personal email address out of the hands of marketers and hackers.

Your primary alias will be the email address that appears on your Microsoft devices. You can also sign in with any of your other aliases.