Julian – I’m not sure I completely agree with you on this one. Fostering payments are already disregarded in the current (now working age) regs under Sch 5 para 24. So their absence from the list in the new HB reg (for pensioners) 25(1) makes sense to me. Adoption payments are a different matter and it does indeed seem as though no comparable provision to the existing Sch 5 para 23(1) is in the new pensioner regs. I’m not sure what the policy intention was though so I’m not entirely convinced that this is an oversight.
As far as Child Benefit goes I don’t agree there either. Child Benefit is income for pensioners by virtue of new HB reg 25(1)(h).
