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mixed-age HB claim - moving to new local authority
Hi everyone,
I have been helping a couple who are moving to a new local authority. One of the couple is pension-age and the other working-age. In 2020 I assisted them to claim PC as the pensioner had been in receipt of pension-age HB since 14/05/19 (this was a long, drawn-out issue that was resolved after I submitted a complaint).
Now they plan to move to a new local authority and so they will have to submit a new claim for HB if they can. They cannot do this based on their PC award as they only been in receipt of PC since September 2020, but can they rely on their current award of pension-age HB in order to be able to claim HB again in the new local authority if there is no gap between claims?
I think they should be fine. As you note, the savings provisions in Art.4 of CO31 have enabled them to claim PC.
Further, Art.5 of CO31 amends Art.7(4)(a) of CO23 as follows:
(4) Paragraph (1) does not apply to a claim for housing benefit… where—
(a)in the case of a claim for housing benefit, the claim is made by a member of a State Pension Credit Act couple who has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit, where the other member has not reached that age, and entitlement begins, or in the case of claims made in advance of entitlement is to begin—
(i)before 15th May 2019; or
(ii)on or after 15th May 2019 where one of the savings in the sub-paragraphs of article 4(1) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 31 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 21 and 23 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019 applies to that person and the saving has not ceased to have effect under article 4(2) of that Order, and
entitlement to housing benefit is to be construed in accordance with article 2 of that Order.
This does a number of things - first, it provides an exemption to the general rule that a new HB claim isn’t possible, but importantly for your clients, Art.7(4)(a)(ii) allows the new HB claim to be made by a mixed-age couple where the savings provisions in Art.4 of CO31 have not ceased to have effect - the fact that your client is now receiving PC under the savings provisions demonstrates that the savings provisions still have effect, and in turn, therefore, a new HB claim can be made in the new local authority area.