Graham
I raised this very issue from a Scottish perspective directly with DWP in June last year and got the following brief, to the point response from a senior DWP/HB Strategy Division official
‘Kinship Allowance is treated in exactly the same way as Foster Allowance ie these children are ignored for HB/LHA purposes and so the income is ignored and they are not included within the size criteria for LHA purposes’
All very well for DWP to take this approach but where is the legislation which underpins this specific guidance? Also, I am aware from previous threads (last year I think) that some doubt exists as to whether foster children should be excluded from the household for HB and latterly LHA size criteria purposes.Don’t suppose these doubts have been pursued through the appeals system otherwise we probably would have heard.
