Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

I have a claimant who has appealed and am going round in circles at the moment.

He is a pensioner in receipt of Guarantee Credit. Has been in receipt of HB since 2002. In June 2005 his wife gave birth to twins. However, he did not inform us until March 2006. Adding the twins to the claim does not directly affect the level of HB, but because of the need to refer to the Rent Officer because of the change in the household composition, the new RO decision does, as it increases the level of benefit.

Having had a look at the HB(state pension credit) regs, para 6 of Reg 69 implies that he does not have to tell us of the twins being born.

What date should the twins be added to the claim from, and what date should the new RO decision be applied from?

We have used March for both, and as his full rent is now being paid, he wants this back to June 05.

Any opinions?

[Darren W]

In reading the Regs I think you may have to go back to June 05.

[b:fdc9da9b21]Reg 69 (8)[/b:fdc9da9b21] of The Pensioner Regs 2006 states…

[i:fdc9da9b21]A person who is on housing benefit and on state pension credit need only report to the designated office the changes specified in paragraphs (6) and (7).[/i:fdc9da9b21]

Since the birth or addition of dependants is only mentioned for those on savings credit, he did not have to inform you. Unless he is in receipt of both types of pension credit.

[jmembery]

Interestingly, we recently had a case where my Processing Manager (Who deals with most appeals) went to tribune with a similar decision and won.

In our case, the argument put forward was that as the claimant was in receipt of HB before they claimed Pension Credit they retained responsibility for keeping the LA informed of changes. The “practical” argument used was that unless the claimant had informed the Pension service that they were in receipt of HB there was no way for the pension service to know that they needed to keep the LA informed of changes in the first place.

The case is not going to commissioners and I am not certain I would have made the same decision, but there is a strong point there.

[seanosul]

[quote:0feaa0c666=”jmembery”]Interestingly, we recently had a case where my Processing Manager (Who deals with most appeals) went to tribune with a similar decision and won.

In our case, the argument put forward was that as the claimant was in receipt of HB before they claimed Pension Credit they retained responsibility for keeping the LA informed of changes. The “practical” argument used was that unless the claimant had informed the Pension service that they were in receipt of HB there was no way for the pension service to know that they needed to keep the LA informed of changes in the first place.

The case is not going to commissioners and I am not certain I would have made the same decision, but there is a strong point there.[/quote:0feaa0c666]

This is definately why the Tribunal Service is not fair as that decision is clearly wrong. I see nothing in the legislation that differentiates the claimants duties when on pension credit to report changes of circumstances to the Local Authority.

In terms of reporting children, I would have looked on what is on the application form. We have four designated offices on our form and they do not specifically state “The Housing Benefit Section, Town Hall…” They state simply the Town Hall and various other locations across the Borough. (Elaine, I noticed your claim form does say The Benefits Section)

In which case if the child (ren) had a birth certificate the parents will have reported the change to the Local Authority and the designated office of the Local Authority.

[Anonymous]

[quote:26817e065c]In which case if the child (ren) had a birth certificate the parents will have reported the change to the Local Authority and the designated office of the Local Authority.[/quote:26817e065c]

Not if you’re a second-tier authority.

[Author]

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