CCM20090 - Migrant workers: single or joint claim

Single Claim

A single claim shall be made where

• The customer is in the UK and their partner lives outside the UK and they do not have any children. This would be a single WTC only claim assessed on the customer’s income alone
• The customer is in the UK and their partner lives outside the EEA or Switzerland
• The customer has permanently separated from their partner and their children are in the EEA or Switzerland who are financially dependent on them
• The customer is in the UK, doesn’t have any children and their partner goes abroad temporarily but for longer than 8 weeks or 12 weeks if the absence is connected with disability, illness or death of someone close. This would start off as a joint claim and would need to be terminated from the day after the partner left the UK if the absence from the UK was not temporary from the outset. If the absence is temporary then the claim would need to be terminated the day after the 8 or 12 weeks temporary absence is complete. The UK customer would then need to make a single claim.

Joint Claim

• The customer is in the UK, has children and a partner living and working in the EEA or Switzerland. This would be treated as a joint claim for CTC based on the total household income i.e. customers’ UK plus partner’s Other Member State (OMS) income. The WTC claim would be treated as a single claim based on the UK migrant worker’s UK income alone.

Note: Although under domestic legislation the partner/spouse is not in the UK; EU law overrides this as CTC is a “family benefit” which is why we need a joint CTC claim. WTC is considered under domestic residence conditions and is therefore treated as a single claim in the name of the worker. CTC and Child Benefit are both classed as UK Family Benefits under EU law

• Both customers are in the UK and partner goes abroad temporarily for up to 8 weeks or 12 weeks if the absence is connected with a disability, illness or the death of someone close