i have a client who was getting SDP but this stopped when her daughter turned 18 (aug 31 After). daughter left home to go to uni on 18th Sept.and they are arguing that mothers home is still her main home and therefore her mother is not entitled to SDP.

i am going to challenge arguing that it is no longer daughters main home and it is in fact uni.

does anyone have any caselaw to support this; or anything else i can throw at them, please?

No caselaw comes to mind but you can argue by analogy. Reg 7(3) of the HB Regs treats the dwelling which the student makes payment in respect of as the dwelling occupied as his home and not the one he does not make payments for.

It is also a question of fact. If she has taken practically most of her belongings and effectively decamped to another town/city and taken up virtual residence there and does not even know for sure if she'll even go to her mum's during the vacations (as opposed to staying where she is or backpacking around Europe) then I cannot see how they can argue that her mum's is her main home.

thank you. i will defo use the argument about paying rent else where; and i agree,DWP seem to have made sweeping asumptions that daughter will return to her mothers home.

thanks

Wed 09-Jan-08 05:33 PM by past caring 1

Caselaw - take a look at CSIS/100/93 and CIS/14850/96 - both available on rightsnet. Not sure that either of themselves settle the issue, but worth a look.

Both decisions emphasise that the legal test is whether the claimant has a non-dependent who "normally resides with" them and not some variation on this theme such as "still her main home". That said, if daughter returns home during the holidays, if she is living in halls of residence or is occupying university accommodation under some form of licence that would not permit her to remain there other than during term-time, you may still be up against it.....

thanks. thats helpful.