Bedroom Tax and protected rent reduction

Apologies if this has already been raised…

Am seeing a client tomorrow who has had a 13 weeks protection period granted but thinks it should be 52 weeks.

She was a joint claimant with her husband of pension credit (he was 66, she is 58) so no bedroom tax.  She lives in a 3 bed with her 29 year old son.  Her husband passed away in July 2014 and since his death she now has a bedroom tax deduction.

Is she protected for 52 weeks or 13?  Have checked the Regs and it would appear it should be 52 but I might be missing something!  How does it work when someone wasn’t subject to the bedroom tax before?

Thank you!!

Should be 12 months.

Some councils argue that the deceased relative/successor/old tenant/new claimant/old claimant have to be configured in a certain way to come within the scope of this protection, so depending who has died and who is claiming now the protection does not necessarily apply.  I think that argument is incorrect personally; but in any case as far as I am aware that argument is only raised in a case where the deceased person was a relative rather than a partner.  I don’t think that controversy arises where one member of a couple dies: so irrespective of whether the HB claim was in the name of the deceased spouse or the surviving claimant, she should have 12 months without any bedroom tax.  There is one problem: her eligible rent is frozen at the level it was at before he died, so she won’t get any rent increase during the 12 months covered.