Universal Credit application system. Researchers say the way the Universal Credit system is designed does not fit the way modern couples and families live their lives.
The report by Universities of Bath and Oxford, entitled Uncharted Territory: Universal Credit, Couples and Money, conducted interviews with 53 households in what is believed to be the first independent research to focus on couples claiming the benefit.
A person claiming Universal Credit in a couple may not realise that how much benefit they receive, or whether they receive any at all, depends on both partners' income and needs.