We have had two very similar cases recently. I understand the premise that whatever the PS says goes, however, we have been advised that if a pensioner’s capital increases to more than £16k after an AIP has been set, the LA can make the claimant fail to qualify from when the capital increases.
If the regs make provision for this, it seems to me a nonsense to award hbctb based on a backdated AIF we know to be incorrect. I can go with the idea we award from the Monday after the AIF is set (i.e. date of PC award notification to claimant), as capital may have changed since our last assessment, but to award the backdated benefit as well seems crazy.
One of our claims has now been sorted by speaking to the Pension Service, the other, however, is pending a response from them. We have sent an LA17 to the Pension Service to notify them that the claimant has declared £10k more capital to us than to them only 6 weeks ago. This is a slightly different scenario to the notional capital but I would be interested in other people’s opinions on this. If the Pension Service come back with the answer I expect – that the AIP they have set will not be changed so the AIF stands, do I award a 52 week backdate?