If you have separated from your partner but are still living in the same home as them, you may qualify for means-tested benefits as a single person or, if you have dependent children, as a single parent. Means-tested benefits are universal credit (UC), housing benefit and pension credit.
Most of the previous working-age means-tested benefits have been replaced by UC, and some have now been abolished.
Anyone still getting income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), which is also a means-tested benefit, should by now have received a migration notice inviting them to claim UC and giving them a deadline to do so. Although most awards of income-related ESA have now ended, the DWP state some people's migration from income-related ESA to UC may not be complete until the end of summer 2026.
If you're still living with an abusive ex-partner, before taking a decision to claim benefit as a single person, it's important to think about whether doing so will threaten your safety, or cause a continuation or escalation of the abuse.
If you and your abusive ex-partner have an award of means-tested benefits as a couple, your ex-partner is likely to become aware if you make a claim for benefit as a single person or single parent. This is because your claim may result in your ex-partner’s benefit award ending, or benefit payments to your ex-partner being reduced.
If you haven't been getting benefits as a couple, think about whether you can claim benefit as a single person or single parent without alerting your ex-partner, particularly if claiming benefit could cause an escalation of abuse.
If you still live with your abuser, get advice and support from an advice agency or organisation that supports survivors of domestic abuse before making a decision to claim benefit as a single person. See Further information and advice on domestic abuse.
If you made a joint claim for UC with your ex-partner, your online UC accounts are linked. This means, for example, that your ex-partner can see what is written on your UC journal and your ‘to-dos’. If you decide to claim UC as a single person or single parent, make sure your UC accounts are unlinked to ensure details on your online account aren't visible to your ex-partner. Do this before you enter any information online which you don't want your ex-partner to see. If you aren't sure, get advice. Find out more about support at the Jobcentre.
Also think about whether you need to cover your tracks online. You can read Cover your tracks online from Women’s Aid, and use Refuge’s Digital break-up tool to help you keep devices safe from your ex-partner.
If you're a member of a couple your entitlement to means-tested benefits is normally assessed on the basis of the circumstances of you and your partner. In addition, for UC, both members of a couple normally have to make a joint claim.
If you decide to claim a means-tested benefit as a single person or single parent while living in the same property as your ex-partner, you may need to provide additional information to convince the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or, for housing benefit, your local authority, that you and your ex-partner are no longer a couple.
If you have been getting a means-tested benefit as a couple, see below for details of changes to means-tested benefits when you separate.
Note: housing benefit is administered by your local authority, other means-tested benefits are administered by the DWP. If you are claiming housing benefit and getting another means-tested benefit, your local authority should normally follow the DWP’s decision on whether you are part of a couple, unless it considers that the benefit claim is fraudulent.
You count as a ‘couple’ if you and your partner are:
This applies to both same-sex and different-sex couples.
Different rules may apply if you are polygamously married and, for pension credit, if your partner is a ‘person subject to immigration control’. If either of these circumstances apply, get further advice.
If you and your ex-partner are married or in a civil partnership, you're treated as a couple if you are members of the same household. If you're members of different households, you can qualify for means-tested benefits as a single person or single parent.
The term ‘household’ isn't defined in the legislation. Living in the same physical property isn't necessarily the same as living in the same ‘household’, and you can be in separate households while both living under the same roof. A house or flat can contain a number of separate households.
If each of you has use of your own exclusive living accommodation you should be treated as living in different households. If you share living accommodation, other factors are considered when deciding whether you are members of the same household. To be in the same household there normally must be a particular kind of tie, binding you together in a domestic unit.
For example, you may be in separate households if:
If you're still married or in a civil partnership, even if there is a shared understanding that the relationship is at an end, this may not be enough to show you are in separate households.
Therefore it's important to provide information and, if you can, evidence to show you are living separately. Evidence might include:
If you and your ex-partner aren't married or in a civil partnership, you'll count as a couple if you're ‘living together as if’ you are married or civil partners.
There are a number of factors which are normally considered relevant to whether you're ‘living together as if' you're married or civil partners.
None of these factors is conclusive on its own, and the decision will depend on your individual circumstances. Your situation should be looked at as a whole, and the overall quality of the relationship should be considered, including the emotional aspect of it. This includes your interdependence, devotion, love and affection. The following questions or ‘signposts’ are relevant:
See above for information on the meaning of ‘household’ and the evidence that may be relevant to showing you and your ex-partner are living in separate households. If you and your ex-partner aren't married or in a civil partnership, even if you live in the same household, you may be able to successfully argue that you are no longer a couple.
Although the DWP or local authority is unlikely to ask you directly about this, if you don't have a consensual sexual relationship it may be helpful to inform them of this.
If you have separate financial arrangements, explain how you manage your finances, make payments for bills or split bills and so on. If your financial arrangements have changed because of your separation, explain how they have changed.
If your relationship has ended permanently, explain this and explain that it is due to abuse and/or other factors. Explain, as much as you feel able, the history of abuse. If professionals have been involved, such as the police, courts, domestic abuse workers, social workers, your GP or counsellors, include details of this. If possible, include any relevant evidence of this or of the abuse. Set out your long-term plans for living arrangements. If you and your ex-partner effectively lead separate lives, you should state this and explain the ways in which you do so.
Although having children together and living in the same household as co-parents may strongly indicate that you are a couple, it is not conclusive, so if you have children together explain the reason why you are still in the same property.
Whether you still present yourself as a couple to other people may be relevant. The DWP or local authority may check whether you present yourselves as a couple and may check the electoral roll and claims for other benefits, for example. If you don't have a committed, emotional, loving relationship that is publicly acknowledged you can argue you shouldn't be considered to be a couple.
If the DWP or your local authority consider you are a member of a couple and you disagree, you can challenge the decision. For advice on challenging decisions and time limits for doing so, see in our Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers):
If you have been getting means-tested benefits as a couple, and then separate, your benefit entitlement is affected.
If you and your ex-partner had a joint claim for UC prior to your separation, you don't have to make a new claim for UC but you should inform the DWP of your change of circumstances as soon as you can.
If the DWP accepts that you are no longer a couple, you can be paid as a single person (or single parent) for the whole of the monthly assessment period in which you separated, provided you informed the DWP of your separation within that assessment period. This time limit may be extended if there are special circumstances that meant it wasn't practicable for you to notify the DWP earlier, you apply for the extension of the time limit within 13 months of the change in your circumstances, and it is reasonable to grant your request. However, the DWP is likely to adjust the award for any period prior to the start of the assessment period in which you notify them of your separation if UC has already been paid to you as a couple over that period. Get advice in this situation.
Your monthly UC assessment period remains the same as before your separation.
If you and your ex-partner had a joint claim for UC and had either a transitional element or a transitional severe disability premium (SDP) element included in your award, if you stop being a couple your entitlement to those elements will end for both you and your ex-partner.
The elements included in your UC award are shown in your UC payment statement on your UC journal. For details of how to access this information see:
Getting statements from your online universal credit account
For further information about the transitional SDP element and transitional element see our Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers):
Transitional severe disability element
or on GOV.UK:
Health conditions, disability and Universal Credit - If you get the severe disability premium
How the transitional element is calculated when you move to Universal Credit
If your joint award with your ex-partner included a transitional capital disregard (because you and your ex-partner had over £16,000 capital when you transferred from working tax credit to UC under the managed migration process), you will lose this disregard when you are no longer a couple. If the value of your own capital is more than £16,000, you won't qualify for UC as a single person or single parent (but always check if any of your capital can be disregarded when calculating your entitlement to UC).
To be entitled to housing benefit you must be liable to pay rent or be treated as liable to pay it. Additionally, unless you are pension-age, you must be living in certain kinds of supported accommodation or temporary homeless accommodation.
If you are working age, have been getting working-age housing benefit as a couple, are living in certain kinds of supported accommodation or temporary homeless accommodation, and you (rather than your partner) are the claimant, when you inform the local authority that you are no longer a couple it doesn't automatically end your entitlement. If the local authority accepts that you are no longer a couple your entitlement will be reassessed on the basis of your new circumstances. If your ex-partner was the claimant, your ex-partner’s housing benefit will no longer include an amount for you. If you are both liable for the rent (for example, because you are joint tenants) and you have a low income you may qualify for housing benefit for your share of the rent. The local authority apportions the rent between you taking into account the proportion of the rent actually paid by each of you. In some circumstances it could decide your portion is equal to the whole rent. Even if you aren't liable for the rent, you can be treated as liable in certain circumstances.
If you're pension age or over and single, or a single parent, you may qualify for pension credit and pension-age housing benefit.
If you were getting pension credit as a couple before you separated and your pension credit included a transitional additional amount, this will end if you stop being a couple. You may have qualified for a transitional additional amount in your pension credit if you were previously getting child tax credit and you got a ‘tax credit closure notice’ telling you your child tax credit was going to end. For further details see our Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers):.
Transitional amount if you were previously on child tax credit
and on GOV.UK:
Pension Credit: closure of Tax Credits for people over State Pension age -Transitional protection
Universal credit:
People included in your universal credit - Couples
Housing benefit and pension credit:
People included in your housing benefit and pension credit - Couples
Universal credit:
Living together as a married couple, Advice for decision making: staff guide (Chapter E4)
If you are a member of the public, you can find free, independent advice on benefits by checking
If you are an adviser or support worker, contact our advice line:
Our Welfare Benefits Handbook is a comprehensive guide to benefits for claimants and advisers which is available in print or online.
The Early Warning System gathers information and case studies about how changes to the benefit system are affecting the wellbeing of children, families and the communities and services that support them. This helps us explain the impact on families and work for improvements in the system, to deliver better outcomes for children.
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