I agree that we must look at the whether the property remains the normal home of the non-dep. If we determine that the move was genuine (e.g. – living with parents, then moves in with partner for 4 weeks, but then moves out back to parents) we should look at awarding the 26 week rule as the non-dep is now someone who ‘took up residence’. However, my problem lies in how we actually process this. The only way I can think it would work is if the non-dep was left in for the period of their absence, but then taken out and re-input on the day they actually returned. I only hope our system allows this to happen, otherwise I can foresee other problems developing.
However, to complicate things further – if we decide to award the 26 week rule then this will also become a beneficial change in circs (as we will now disregard the non-dep deduction) so what happens if we were notified of the return after a calendar month? When does the 26 week criteria start? From the date they moved in, or the date we were notified?
I’m so glad they introduced Pension Credits to simplify our lives!
