Extended reductions (qualifying contributory benefits): pensioners
32.—(1) Except in the case of an applicant who is in receipt of state pension credit, an applicant who is entitled to a reduction under an authority’s scheme (by virtue of the falling within class A or B) is to be entitled to an extended reduction (qualifying contributory benefits) where—
(a)the applicant or the applicant’s partner was entitled to a qualifying contributory benefit;
(b)entitlement to a qualifying contributory benefit ceased because the applicant or the applicant’s partner—
(i)commenced employment as an employed or self-employed earner;
(ii)increased their earnings from such employment; or
(iii)increased the number of hours worked in such employment,
and that employment is or, as the case may be, those increased earnings or increased number of hours are expected to last five weeks or more;
(c)the applicant or the applicant’s partner had been entitled to and in receipt of a qualifying contributory benefit or a combination of qualifying contributory benefits for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks before the day on which the entitlement to a qualifying contributory benefit ceased; and
(d)the applicant or the applicant’s partner was not entitled to and not in receipt of a qualifying income-related benefit in the last reduction week in which the applicant, or the applicant’s partner, was entitled to a qualifying contributory benefit.
(2) An applicant must be treated as entitled to a reduction under an authority’s scheme by virtue of falling within class A or B where—
(a)the applicant ceased to be entitled to a reduction under the authority’s scheme because the applicant vacated the dwelling in which the applicant was resident;
(b)the day on which the applicant vacated the dwelling was either in the week in which entitlement to a qualifying contributory benefit ceased, or in the preceding week; and
(c)entitlement to the qualifying contributory benefit ceased in any of the circumstances listed in sub-paragraph (1)(b).