Hi everyone this may seem like a fairly straight forward question but the brain isn't working this morning!!!!!
Someone asked me about linking rules for HB. Far as i can remember the hospital linking rules only apply to Attendance Allowance not HB. You can get HB for upto 52 weeks while in hospital. If you come out the hospital the clock starts again? Is that right or I'm talking rubbish?

Correct

Yes, you are basically correct.

There was a High Court decision which stated that a return home would always reset the temporary absence clock, no matter how short it was.

The DWP, as often happens, found this tricky to accept, so made up some guidance that heavily implied, without explicitly stating, that the stay needed to last 24 hours to be "genuine".

A commissioner's decision covers both these angles - the return does have to be genuine in the sense that they must be going back to occupy the dwelling as their home- i.e. going to the property only to collect post or water the cactus may not count, but if the staty is deemed to be "genuine", they really do intend to return there to live, then even the shortest of times would count - they could fall ill and call an ambulance after 17 minutes, it would still start a brand new period of absence.