Reply To: When change of circumstances take effect
AnonymousWhat a shame.
It could all have been so different. Reg 68B is rather well designed (subject to the drafting bugs you have been pursuing) if you read it sensibly to refer to [b:2a9c23dba0]both [/b:2a9c23dba0]the change in Pension Credit [b:2a9c23dba0]and [/b:2a9c23dba0]the underlying change that caused it: DMA advantageous time limits and blame for overpayments are built into the PC amendment date, and HB just follows that date. Works perfectly in all circumstances.
But if you separate the underlying change from the consequent change in Pension Credit it ceases to make any sense at all and becomes a muddled mess. This is not some trivial piece of pedantry as the DWP seems to imply, it’s the difference between SC/AIF cases and end-of-GC cases being workable or not. Maybe they’ll change their mind when all the DWP error overpayments start to appear covering the inevitable week or two’s time lag between the change in the AIF and the Council’s discovery of it through ETD (income changes for PC claimants are non-notifiable by claimant, remember, therefore not his/her fault).
And just for good measure, next Monday all standard pensioner claims will undergo at least one change of circumstance (the consolidation of personal allowance and pensioner premium). It takes effect from 6 October. Many of them will also start to receive Pension Credit from that date or within a couple of days. Apparently that won’t take effect from 6 October, because Reg 68B is not subject to the multiple change provisions, right?