Hi there

I'd be grateful if anyone has any advice on this.

A couple of pension age have recently moved to the UK and are claiming housing benefit. They receive a pension from South Africa but it's value when it reaches the UK varies due to the exchange rate. This means their income from it fluctuates.

The client is concerned that her housing benefit is accurate. Basically she is worried that she might be getting too much HB when the 'exchange rate' is good. She is basically seeking reassurance that she need not inform HB>

The questions I am asking are:

- how would HB treat these fluctuations? I can't seem to find anything relevant in the WB handbook. I was wondering whether they would take the value on the day of their assessment and use that as an average
- any guidance on how often HB would want to review it due to the fluctuation factor

Many thanks

I would say don't worry about it. The HB office will assess on the basis of the exchange rate on the day they assess the claim. As far as I know there is nothing in the regs about this. All it says is treat it as income if there is no prohibition in bringing it into the UK, and disregard any costs incurred in converting it to sterling.

What your client does have to report is any change to the amount of the actual pension award in S Africa.

In "the old days" the exchange rate would probably have been looked at again when the person renewed their claim, but as we don't do renewals now, that's out of the window.