Money from girlfriend - income?

I have a tenant who receives nil income - he chooses not to claim jsa as he feels the courses they sent him on were wasting his jobseeking time!
His girlfriend gives him £55 pw ‘spending money’ - he’s under 25 and HB are treating this as other income and therefore there is a small shortfall in HB due to his applicable amount.  Is it correct that they treat this as income?
thanks

On the face of it, the LA is wrong - legal side dealt with later….

This response is made on the basis that the “girlfriend” and your client have never been a partner for benefit purposes - certainly not in connection with the current claim / award.  It further assumes that the money being paid by the girlfriend is without strings and that there is no obligation for the money to be repaid.

On the basis of the above qualifications, the monies being paid by the girlfriend are “voluntary payments”.  They are completely disregarded from your client’s income - para 14(1)(b) of Schedule 5 (HB Regs 2006).

There are two arguments I would anticpate from the LA:

1)  Payments are from a former partner (in which case, no disregard) - this overrides the “voluntary” provision.
2)  If the payments require some form of obligation, including repayment, on the part of your client, the payments are not voluntary.

In the case of “1”, a current girlfriend is only a “former partner” if they have previously lived together as a couple.

For “2”, that is just a question of fact.  If the payments are genuinely being made on a “no strings” basis, they are voluntary.  For analysis on “voluntary”, R(IS) 4/94 & SoS v Perkins & Ryedale DC [2004] EWCA Civ 1671 (the latter arose out of CH/2820/2003).

Even if the LA took into account JSA (assuming there was no other income), there would still be max HB - JSA wouldn’t exceed the applicable amount.

NB:  If the clmt would not satisfy the conditions for JSA, he would not be entitled.  If that was the basis on which JSA was not in payment, it is difficult to see how it could be notional income anyway - JSA simply wouldn’t be available to the clmt even if he applied for it.

Hi thanks for those replies - no its definitely the voluntary payment theyre counting - have checked with tenant - never claimed as a couple and no requirement to pay back - is purely voluntary so I can challenge this now.
thank you again
Diane