Section 84: State pension credit: extension of assessed income period for those aged 75 or over
An assessed income period is a specified period during which time the State Pension Credit customer does not need to report changes to his or her retirement provision. Currently the maximum length of an assessed income period is five years (except under transitional provisions).
Subsection (2) substitutes subsection (1) in section 9 of the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 so that, from 6 April 2009, claimants aged 75 or over will generally be given an indefinite assessed income period. Exceptions to this general rule are set out in section 9 so that, for example, an indefinite assessed income period may be brought to an end early on the occurrence of certain circumstances, such as where the claimant ceases to be treated as a member of a couple.
Under Subsection (4), which inserts a new subsection (6) into section 9, if the claimant has an assessed income period of five years or more which expires when he or she is aged 80 or over, then the assessed income period will also be extended indefinitely. Again, this indefinite assessed income period may be brought to an end early in certain circumstances. This provision is temporary as five years after its coming into force every assessed income period that has been set for a claimant over 80 will be an indefinite assessed income period.