please can anyone help.

I have a client who is in receipt of I.S claiming as a single person as the rules allow because her partner has no recourse to public funds. Clients previously were awarded H/B and CTB in another area but have recently moved councios and had to re apply. Now this council says N/E for benefit as they are a couple and have to claim as a couple. This I beleive is wrong but the founcil will not budge and this case will go to tribunal.

Can anyone advise or help me as i am strugling onthis one.
Please

kind regards

Nigel

Complete nonsense from the LA - pretty much all I can say really!

If your client is in receipt of IS then she passports onto CTB - end of.

I don't understand where the council are coming from frankly; what on earth is their submission to TAS going to say?

My initial reaction was to entirely agree with Andy's respsonce. But, then something crossed my mind....

Does the partner satisfy the NINO condition? If not, no HB/CTB can be paid - irrespective of a passporting benefit.

If the NINO isn't the problem, the LA is wrong. The partner still counts as a partner for the HOUSEHOLD (for HB/CTB purposes), but any income for the partner is disregarded because the clmt is on a passported benefit ("Menear" applies).

I agree with Kevin on this - if the partner has no NI No then it is exactly how the situation was in Wilson in the Court of Appeal. If there is a NINo then the appellant on IS is clearly eligible - people do not make joint claims for HB.

Simon Ennals

I did wonder about the NINO issue, but my sense from reading the OP was that this wasn't the issue. I agree with other respondents that it is about the only thing that could amount to sensible reason for the LA decision!

Thank you for all the replies.

In respect of the above the clients partner has no recourse ot public funds, he also has no NINO. he states he was advised on more than one occassion by a solicitor not to apply for a NINO as this could jeopardise his application for leave to remain.

The client is an asylum seeker.

The council have proof of his ID i.e. passport and other home office documents. he has never hidden the fact that he is in this country his address etc. He is married and has children in this country. he has been here since yr. 2000. His partner is in receipt of I.S child Ben. Child tax credits and they have always aplied for benefits in the same way. At there previous property under a different council they were awarded HB and CTB and had no problems until now. Clients English and understanding not good.

Client has now received a letter from JCP inviing him for an interview re application for a NINO this has been done today I have copied docs and am going to ask council ot look at this cfase again.

I still beleive that if he was advised not to do this he would not have done had he been advised correctly then he would not be in this mess.

the council are aplying the argument under the NINO under section 1(1B) SSA1992 andf the council state that NINO has to be satisfied for both a a couple.

If the client has norecourse to public funds then as far as the law in benefits is concerned he cannot be part of a couple for benefits and has to claim as a single person with no recourse to public funds.

The councils only argument seems ot be based on the NINO and fraud.

I look forward to your comments

thank you

nigel

In terms of whether a partner should be included in a claim, the rules for HB/CTB are different to other benefits.

For example, it may be correct for the DWP to treat clmt as a single person for IS/JSA purposes, but still correct for the LA to take into account the partner for HB/CTB purposes.

My view, based on the info given, is that the LA is correct to take the partner into account for, specifically, HB/CTB purposes. Also, the LA is correct that the NINO condition must be satisfied for both the claimant and the partner.

If your client's partner is now providing sufficient info in order for a NINO to be allocated, a new HB/CTB claim should be successful. Note that it is not enough for your client's partner to simply be applying for a NINO - the requirement is that the info is sufficient to enable the allocation of a NINO.

In closing, I would respectfully suggest that the previous LA were wrong to award HB/CTB.