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Married couple + dependent children, in 2 properties
Hi all,
I’m sure much of this will have been discussed elsewhere but cannot find a relevant thread.
If a married couple with a very large family are to be offered 2 entirely separate tenancies to discharge a homelessness duty, it is clear that they will be entitled to HB for both properties however I’m not entirely clear on ESA, CB and CTC entitlement and how these impact on the HB entitlement.
My reading is that they will continue to form one household for CTC purposes (because they are married, will continue to remain a family and plan to return to living in one single property when circumstances allow) is my understanding correct?
For ESA (or other MTB they may be entitled to), I am unsure whether this should (or could?) be one claim that includes both members of the couple, or 2 individual claims. It doesn’t seem clear cut either way looking at the Living Together signposts? Is there any precedent in this sort of scenario?
Similarly for CB, it seems appropriate that one parent would claim for the children occupying one property and the other parent would claim for the children occupying the other property, as these living circumstances are likely to be stable and in place for several years. However I believe in this scenario, a single CB claim for all the children could legitimately be maintained (though this would be financially disadvantageous).
[ Edited: 17 Apr 2018 at 03:48 pm by Tom B (WRAMAS) ]