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Neutral Citation Number:
Reported Number:	R(A)2/07
File Number:	CSA 469 2005
Appellant:
Respondent:
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge D. J. May Q.C.
Date Of Decision:	01/12/2005
Date Added:	15/08/2006
Main Category:	DLA, AA, MA: general
Main Subcategory:	accommodation costs
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Attendance allowance – claimant resident in nursing home – interpretation of “accommodation” and “cost of accommodation” The claimant had been in receipt of attendance allowance since 1985. She had resided in a nursing home which was privately owned and run since 2 November 2000. The claimant had been in receipt of free personal care and nursing care allowance from her local authority, Highland Council, from 1 July 2002. Notification of the free personal care allowance was made to the Department for Work and Pensions on 11 August 2003. The decision-maker decided that the claimant was entitled to attendance allowance but that benefit was not payable to her from 22 July 2002 and that there had been an overpayment of benefit which was recoverable from her. The tribunal upheld that decision. The claimant appealed to the Commissioner. Held, dismissing the appeal, that: 1. CSA/164/2004 (now reported as R(A)1/07) had been correctly decided. If the interpretation of “accommodation” and “cost of accommodation” did not having the meaning set out in that decision, regulation 7(5) of the Social Security (Attendance Allowance) Regulations 1991 would be deprived of meaning or content (paragraph 11); 2. the “cost of accommodation” was the aggregate cost of the bricks and mortar of the building and the ancillary services provided, including personal care (paragraph 12); 3. the distinction between the payability of attendance allowance being affected by a care allowance in the case of a person who resides in a private nursing home but not being affected in the case of a person who resided in his or her own home was a policy matter within the discretion of the Scottish Executive. To whom attendance allowance was payable, in the light of the introduction of the personal care allowance, was a matter for the UK Government (paragraph 13).
Decision(s) to Download:	R(A)_2-07_bv.doc