Terms & Conditions

[Darren Broughton]

I’ve been given a query and I’m a bit stumped, and would appreciate some advice.

The scenario we have is a claimant starting work on 24/10/06 (Tuesday) and changing address on 28/10/06 (Saturday) and she also qualifies for Extended Payments.

Reg 77 states we should end HB from the end of the benefit week – then we award the EP after this.

Reg 79 states where there are 2 changes occuring in the same benefit week,but effective in different weeks (and one of them is a change of address (CoA)), both should take effect from the CoA date.

The change to the income & the rent in the same week has thrown me – does Reg 77 override Reg 79?

Does her 4 week EP period run from Saturday 28/10/06 or Monday 30/10/06?

I assume that if it begins on 28/10/06 then the level is based on the entitlement for the old address (unless the new address is a Rent Rebate property).

If it begins on 30/10/06, do we amend to the new rent on the 28th and then base the EP award on this new amount?

Any ideas?

[Mark]

OK – I’ll give it a stab:

The rent increase takes effect from the 28th Oct – the day the rent changed (HB Reg 79(2)).

Normal entitlement ends on 29th Oct 06 (HB Reg 77(1) or 78(1))

The Extended payment starts on 30th Oct 2006.

The 2 changes in a week rule in 79(4) doesn’t apply because it is “subject to para 8” which means that if one of the changes leads to entitlement ending then the 2 changes in a week rule doesn’t apply.

Strictly speaking, your claim isn’t ending because of 79(8) – it’s ending because of 77(1) or 78(1) – but nonetheless the date on which it is ending is exactly the same under both provisions. It’s clear too that the wording of 79(4) was always intended to prevent the “2 changes” rules applying when entitlement ends.

[Darren Broughton]

Thanks Mark, we’d decided this was the case, and calculated the EP amount based on the “old” rent amount – Sch 7 contains a provision for when the week before the EP has a change in rent/address (you base it on the week before)

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