I have an elderly couple who were both awarded refugee status on the 13th March 2006.
After a lot of negotiation we finally managed to get an award of Guarantee pension credit for the couple. Pension Credit have refused the full 52 weeks backdate. They will only backdate to the 13th March as they say that the client was not entitled before this date.

I know that there is not the same provision in pension credit as reg 21ZB of income support but my argument is that the grant of asylum is retrospective to the date they entered the country. Because of this they can get the full 52 weeks backdate - only have to show that the circs are the same throughout this period.

6 months down the line I have finally got them to forward to the appeals service and was wondering if anyone has had a similar case or has any pearls of wisdom that can help.

The pension service do not seem to know how to handle claimants with refugee status - it took nearly 4 months to get the actual claim up and running.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.