BENEFITS EXPERT: Will my benefits be affected by my daughter living at home?

I know one of the conditions of having this premium is that I might lose the additional money if someone moves in.

Does the temporary presence of my daughter means I should notify the DWP and will I lose the extra money?

A. There has been no specific changes to legislation concerning SDP and the lockdown measures, however existing legislation states that in order for the premium to end the person residing with you is treating your home as their normal place of residence.

So if your daughter has her own property and will be returning when the lockdown/distancing measures change then it cannot be said that she is resident in your home.

As such the premium can continue to be paid if this is a temporary arrangement.

As always we would advise you to notify the DWP of this but you should stress that your daughter is only there due to the outbreak, that she will be returning to her own home, etc. once lockdown ends and the DWP should confirm the premium can remain in place.

If they do decide otherwise then you can request a mandatory reconsideration of their decision and such a request must be made within one month of their decision.

Additional benefits news:

The bureau has had queries concerning certain payments made to self-employed claimants and previously we had been waiting specific legislation, these were mainly lump sum grant payments and if these payments were relevant for people receiving Universal Credit.

It has been confirmed that such grants will be disregard as capital for the purposes of receiving UC.

If such a payment has been made we would still advise this is declared to the DWP but specify the payment should be ignored for calculation of UC.