In SPC itself, DWP take no account of an NRPF partner whatsoever: single SPC rate, single income and capital. It’s as if the partner didn’t exist.
If that results in an award of GC, the claimant is passported to max HB. If it’s SC only, you allow a couple’s applicable amount (because they are a couple for HB purposes), but you modify the AIF to include the partner’s income and capital as well if they have any.
If it’s not an SPC case at all, you do a conventional couple assessment for HB.
There is one exception: if you have a mixed age couple without pre-2019 transitional protection, and the younger partner has NRPF, the older partner claims HB as a single person without the partner being included in any way at all.
