CCM15073 - Undisclosed Partners: Absences From The Home

Absences from the home, whether occasional or regular, do not necessarily mean that a couple is not LTAHAW or LTACP. For instance, the absence could be due to:-

• work (eg. oil rig worker or long distance lorry driver)
• hospital in-patient
• holiday
• visit to relatives
• higher education
• custody of less than 52 weeks
• armed forces

This list is not exhaustive, but gives some suggestions to the types of absence.

The common feature of all of these reasons for absence is their temporary nature. There is no specific period of time after which an absence ceases to be temporary and you will need to draw conclusions based on the particular facts of each case. Factors to be considered include:

• the length of the absence
• how much longer it is expected to last
• to what extent the couple have maintained contact
• their future intentions

One situation you might encounter is where the partner works away for a few days at a time and either lives with friends or in hotels/bed and breakfast accommodation. They only return to the claimant’s home for a couple of days at a time, the suggestion is this is purely to see the children and they stay at the claimant’s home as they have nowhere else to stay in the area. As well as exploring the other criteria described in CCM15080-15110 you will need to establish

• the reason why they have this arrangement
• how long has the arrangement lasted
• how much longer is it likely to last?
• what would happen if the partner lost their job?