Hello Jim,
A colleague has just flagged up your post to me because I am working with a number of Jewish charities in London on this issue.
The situation for Pension Credit is a little complex.
The starting point is that if the payments are "A pension paid to victims of national socialist persecution under any special provision made by the law of Germany, or any part of it, ir the Republic of Austria", then the payments are treated as income with only a £10 per week disregard (SPC Regs, reg 15(5)(b) and schedule IV, para (f)).
I have just represented someone in a FTT appeal, in London, in which Tribunal Judge Wright accepted that the particular type of Holocaust payments my client receives did not fall within thts definition (and were therefore disregarded completed), and it might be possible to run a similar argument in your client's case.
In addition, there are Human Rights Act and Race Relations Act discrimination arguments because it is only Holocaust reparations that are treated as income under reg 15(5)(b) - periodic payments of compensation for all other human rights abuses are disregarded completely. (And, although I have not looked into it, if the care charging rules mirror the Pension Credit rules then the same arguments might apply).
I've spent quite a bit of time on this issue and I am quite keen to find other people who are affected by these rules as we are lobbying the Secretary of State to amend them. If you or your client wanted to get in touch please do, my contact details are on our website: www.pierceglynn.co.uk.
(As for HB, the receipt of State Guarantee Pension Credit would in of itself lead to full HB, so the receipt of these payments by your client would, in those circumstances, be irrelevant - i.e. it is not necessary to look at the HB disregard rules.)
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