Here is my helper function for sending a UILocalNotification, when it gets called while the app is in the background, it does not fire the notification.

UILocalNotiication.m

- (void)setLocalNotificationForType:(SPKLocalNotificationType)notificationType fromUser:(NSString *)userName withMessageText:(NSString *)msgText {
	NSLog(@"setLocalNotificationForType:fromUser:withMessageText:");
	
	if (! useNotifications) { return; }
	
	NSLog(@"setting notif...");
	
	UILocalNotification *notif = [UILocalNotification new];
	notif.userInfo = @{@"handle": _convoHandle, @"room": _convoName};
	notif.applicationIconBadgeNumber = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] applicationIconBadgeNumber] + 1;
	
	if (notificationType == 1) { // message
		notif.alertBody = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"@%@ said: \"%@\"", userName, msgText];
	} else if (notificationType == 2) { // image
		notif.alertBody = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"@%@ sent an image", userName];
	} else {
		return;
	}
	
	if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] applicationState] != UIApplicationStateActive) {
		[[UIApplication sharedApplication] presentLocalNotificationNow:notif];
	}
}

NOTE: I have also enabled remote notifications