No, sadly. There is no exchange of Pension information between DWP and LA's UNLESS the pension is on Pension Credit with an assessed Income figure. Most LA's use a percentage to increase the State Pension rates each year, which is reasonably accurate, and rely on the requirement for a claimant to read and check their notification letter and let the LA know if anything is not correct. Any change in income should be reported to the LA, even if the customer believes they may already know about it. Its the only way to make sure there are no overpayments.Speaking from experience as a former assessor, I'd rather be told twice than not at all. As its an appeal, the LA is probably taking the opportunity to check all the facts of the case to ensure that any OP figure quoted is correct, and to make sure they know what the customer has been doing so they can make a proper recoverability decision. Is the Housing office part of the LA or has the housing stock been transferred to an HA at some point? Its not unknown for people to assume they still rent from the council when they dont, and an HA office has no duty to pass the info on, even though its good customer service to do so.
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