Housing Benefit & income rules way, way back

Can anyone ever recall that a Mineworkers Pension was ignored as income for HB purposes in the distant past?
I certainly cannot recall this - but maybe someone else can ?? We are looking 12+ years ago.

Thank you

Not AFAIK.  There were some special rules for the British Coal Redundant Mineworkers Pension which made it treated as an occupational pension and there were some special value transfer provisions for contracting out but nothing for HB that I know of.

There was provision for War Pension to be fully disregarded under local schemes but don’t recall Mineworkers Pensions. There were also some issues around cash in lieu of coal at various times, and this was often the cause of overpayments as it is paid quarterly and often missed.

Thank you for all the replies - very helpful.

There was an amendment going back maybe 15 years ago that allowed the fuel allowance paid to mineworkers who opted out of free coal to be disregarded in full. But agree with other replies, in my experience the actual pensions have always been taken into consideration.

Concessionary coal, and Cash In Lieu of Concessionary Coal are disregarded in full as income, but I can’t recall any other specific mineworkers disregards, going back over my 16 years in HB (I really didn’t need to realise that. Feel old now)