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Income Support after divorce
I am working with someone who is currently living in the same house with their former partner who is due to move out any time, decree nisi iminent. They receive income support as a couple. Can they make application to have IS as individuals or would they have to make fresh applications for ESA when partner moves out?
The question implies that your client is getting income support as a result of their own incapacity for work, not their partner’s.
Changes in the composition of the household of a benefit claimant are normally treated as a change of circumstances, resulting in a different level of benefit but not necessarily requiring a new claim. Certainly if you think about it it would work the other way round for a single person claiming income support of the grounds of incapacity who then acquired a partner not in full-time work.
I am working with someone who is currently living in the same house with their former partner who is due to move out any time, decree nisi iminent. They receive income support as a couple. Can they make application to have IS as individuals or would they have to make fresh applications for ESA when partner moves out?
In answer to your question they can claim as individuals whilst living under the same roof.
Its just a question of maintaining seprate households i.e. not eating together, not washing each others stuff, not pooling money….which are all good grounds for divorce.