§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason the rules relating to property disregards are different for pensioners moved from income support to pension credit. [169455]
§ Malcolm Wicks1 t was always our intention that the capital disregards on second properties should be the same in all income-related benefits.
Currently in Income Support, the main property occupied as the home is ignored unless any part of it could be reasonably sold off separately. The value of any second property is normally taken into account, but there are a number of exceptions. In particular, the value of a second property which is occupied by someone who is aged 60 or over of incapacitated and who is a relative of the Income Support claimant or their partner is ignored.
We have recently discovered that due to an oversight, this rule was not carried forward into Pension Credit legislation when the principal regulations were drafted. This means that the disregard only applies if the occupier is a close relative of the Pension Credit claimant themselves. We will make the changes needed to the legislation to ensure that this is corrected at the earliest opportunity.
Meanwhile, we will be considering extra-statutory payments to anyone who has lost out.