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Additional earnings disregard over 60

Mairi
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Welfare rights officer - Dunedin Canmore Housing Association

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Total Posts: 271

Joined: 25 June 2010

I feel that I may be missing something / need to look harder at regulations so thought I’d see what you all thought.

I’m working with someone who turned 60 earlier this year.  At that time she would have possibly had entitlement to WTC but didn’t apply.  Didn’t matter too much because she received the additional earnings disregard of £17.10 in her HB anyway. 

She has now had her HB entitlement recalculated because her working hours have reduced to just over 16.  In the old world (and other parts of the UK) I’d have had her apply for WTC now but her area is a full service UC area so that’s not an option.  She’s now lost the additional earnings disregard and according to CPAG that’s correct.  There’s nothing similar in UC so it looks like my tenant’s had it.

This has never come up for me before and seems a bit unfair (particularly as this age group is one of the ones most affected by the change in pension ages).  Am I missing anything?

Mairi

Prisca
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benefits section (training & accuracy) Bristol city council

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her getting wtc wouldnt give her the additional earnings disregard, unless she had the 30 hour element included in WTC.
There is no linking rule between getting wtc and automatically getting the additional earnings disregard, if her hours have dropped, then she wont get it.

at one time, She may have got the 50+ element of WTC but that has been abolished now anyway.

so no, she needs to up her hours to 16 - if she does that then she’ll get the additional earnings disregard (about 2.5hours wages at minimum wage) disregarded again. she’d probably be better off!

Mairi
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Welfare rights officer - Dunedin Canmore Housing Association

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Total Posts: 271

Joined: 25 June 2010

Prisca - 14 September 2018 09:25 AM

her getting wtc wouldnt give her the additional earnings disregard, unless she had the 30 hour element included in WTC.
There is no linking rule between getting wtc and automatically getting the additional earnings disregard, if her hours have dropped, then she wont get it.

at one time, She may have got the 50+ element of WTC but that has been abolished now anyway.

so no, she needs to up her hours to 16 - if she does that then she’ll get the additional earnings disregard (about 2.5hours wages at minimum wage) disregarded again. she’d probably be better off!

Sorry Prisca, it’s Friday and I’m feeling a bit slow but I don’t understand the last sentence.  She already works more than 16 hours per week - did you mean she needs to increase her hours to 30?

Prisca
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benefits section (training & accuracy) Bristol city council

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Total Posts: 198

Joined: 20 August 2015

let say she works 15 hours @ 7.63 = £114.45
her earnings disregard would be £5. so earnings taken into account would be 109.45

if she qualifies for any of the 16 hour routes to additional earnings disregard (she is a lone parent or qualifies for a disability premium/ component premium) then increasing her hours to 16 @7.63 would trigger the additional earnings disregard as well as the £5
16 @ 7.83 = 122.28 - £5 earnings - 17.10 (aed) = £100.18 - so by doing an extra hour, we’d use almost £10 LESS as her income

if she doesnt fall into any of the 16 hours AED groups, then the only way she can get the AED is by upping her hours to an average of 30.