The rule affects people receiving the State Pension, Pension Credit or Attendance Allowance, who are advised to contact the Pension Service about their circumstances. According to DWP rules, claimants must also report stays in rehabilitation centres and care homes, while someone unable to make the call themselves can ask a friend or relative to do so.
What Pensioners Need to Report to the DWP
People entering hospital for at least one night must tell the office responsible for paying their benefit as soon as possible. The same reporting requirement applies when someone enters a rehabilitation centre for one night or longer, or when a hospital stay or medical appointment means they will miss a Jobcentre Plus appointment.
Claimants are also expected to report when they move into a care home while receiving benefits. According to the DWP guidance, failing to report a change in circumstances can result in a claim being stopped or reduced. People who provide incorrect information, or fail to report a relevant change, could also face a penalty or court action.
When contacting the Pension Service, claimants need to provide their full name, date of birth and National Insurance number. Details of a partner must also be supplied where that person is included in the claim. Anyone calling for a friend or relative must give their own name and contact information as well.
The DWP also asks for information about the hospital stay itself. This includes the exact admission date and, if the person has already left, the exact discharge date. Claimants may need to provide the hospital’s name, the ward where they stayed if known, details of any transfers between hospitals and information about other hospital stays during the previous 28 days.
The department also asks where the person was discharged to, such as their home or a care home. Both the day of admission and the day of discharge are treated as days spent outside hospital when the relevant benefit periods are calculated.
How Longer Hospital Stays Can Affect Benefits
Attendance Allowance stops after a total of four weeks in hospital. This can be one continuous stay or several separate stays where the gaps between them are no longer than four weeks each.
According to Disability Rights, an additional amount paid for severe disability also stops after four weeks when a person in hospital loses qualifying payments including Attendance Allowance, Pension Age Disability Payment, certain Disability Living Allowance components, Personal Independence Payment or Adult Disability Payment. A partner who remains outside hospital and independently qualifies for the severe disability addition can continue receiving their amount.
Carer-related additions are subject to a different period. Disability Rights states that the additional amount for carers stops eight weeks after Carer’s Allowance or Carer Support Payment stops.
Long hospital stays can also affect Pension Credit housing costs. After a continuous hospital stay of 52 weeks, a claimant with no dependants living at home can no longer receive Pension Credit housing costs. Where dependants or other people remain in the home, their entitlement depends on their own circumstances. For couples, Disability Rights says that once one partner has been in hospital for 52 weeks, the two people are treated as separate claimants.
