benefits & winning money
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To be fair £19k in a year is a feasible amount to be spent in a year when you look at what they class as the average yearly wage and normal outgoings of a working person.
It appears that it's a compliance case from the telephone call?
Basically they will pass on what your mother has stated to a DM who will now decide what period the benefits need to be stopped for and if they are happy with the excuse given for the hiding of and expenditure of said win.
They may also ask for bank statements and confirmation of who and where the money went before passing it to a DM to speed up the process, if this has not already been done.
But it's not 19k in a year (or slightly less) it's £19k plus housing benefit and ESA.0 -
It's quite possible that the DWP may decide to apply the "notional capital" principle.
http://safeadvice.org.uk/main/notcap.php
In effect the DWP will assume she still has this money, so her ESA payments will stop as it is assumed she has notional capital of over £16k. She will also be asked to repay all ESA income-based payments since December.
The DWP will reduce this notional capital by the weekly amount of ESA. Once it is reduced to £16k some ESA payments will restart. However these will be reduced by assumed tariff income from these assumed savings. Only when the notional capital is down to £6k can her ESA payments resume in full (subject to WCA assessment).
It will take some time to get down to this level of notional income.
If she is in receipt of Housing Benefit, a similar process will be applied by her local authority.
(Also for Council Tax reduction).
Your mother is right to be worried. Although she will not go to jail, she may well be subject to a criminal prosecution. More importantly her ESA, HB, and any other means tested payments are likely to be stopped for quite some time. How will she support herself?
Can she recover the money given to family members?
Can family members support her financially (i.e step in, in place of the state) for the next year or so?
If not, can she come and live with you (as she may accrue rent arrears when HB is withdrawn)?
She may have to reconsider her ability to work, as no income will be forthcoming from the state until this runs its course.
As others have said depositing the money with you, for you then to feed it back to her will appear very suspicious to the fraud investigators. They will be much less likely to believe that the money has been given to family members, and much more likely to apply the notional capital rule.
Your mother is, I'm afraid, in for a very difficult time. She will need all the support she can get from her family. Have you savings you could use to support her?
She would be advised to get legal advice before the fraud hearing.
http://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-deal-interview-under-caution
And get advice on her dire benefits situation.Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.0 -
To be fair £19k in a year is a feasible amount to be spent in a year when you look at what they class as the average yearly wage and normal outgoings of a working person.
I have never earned 19K in a year. And still had to pay a mortgage and all bills associated with a house. Run a car and pay for all my prescriptions etc.
£19k is a lot of money and don't forget that it was tax free as well. So to spend £1583 a month is a lot of money for a single person who does not work. And getting their rent and council tax paid. As well as free prescriptions and free dental work.
As I said before the OP's mother needs to get on to the family members who she has given money to and tell them she needs it back. And the reasons why.
Yours
CalleyHope for everything and expect nothing!!!
Good enough is almost always good enough -Prof Barry Schwartz
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try -Seth Godin0 -
you may need to review that in light of 19k plus benefits in ?7 monthsHi All,
I fed her the money whenever she needed it because she admits she useless with money and I am good with that sort of thing
as Alice says it's likely the next months/years may be very very tight as a result, because it's likely she'll be presumed to still have the money0 -
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I think its unlikely the OP will get dragged into the investigation.
However, the likelyhood theyll accept at face value her being the guardian of it, and also it being given to other family members as 'gifts' is highly highly unlikely.0 -
In your position I'd not promise her that 'anything' can't happen. Of course it can. She's not a child, neither are you her mother. But its not likely that she will go to prison. Unfortunately, Fraud Investigators will probably frighten her to get the truth. She will need support in any meetings that are booked.
What you can talk to her about is how she is going to cope. She can cope but she will have to make a budget and keep to it, for the first time in her life possibly. That is a gain. That is something she has control over. She can't control what the fraud investigators will decide. She can prepare. That might help but it is up to her to a degree.
I'd advise her to go to her GP and ask for counselling (a lot of GP services do short term counselling).
You could also try to get help from any charity that supports those with whatever condition she has. MIND might help also.0 -
She did not declare the winnings to the social due to not knowing she had tooIt's an offence to knowingly allow, cause or permit another person to fail to report a change in circumstances.
How could anyone prove that the OP knew she was supposed to report the increase in capital?0 -
They will apply the Diminution of capital rules and assume she still has the money until the assumed level then means she once again qualifies for help.These are my own views and you should seek advice from your local Benefits Department or CAB.0
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marliepanda wrote: »But it's not 19k in a year (or slightly less) it's £19k plus housing benefit and ESA.
Yes but they don't include the benefit they received as income for the period as that will have to be paid back.
They will just take the £19k minus the overpaid benefits and then decide if it was feasible to be spend whatever is left in x amount of time, based on rent, normal bills, holiday etc.
Its all in the Decision Makers Guide somewhere if you want to read it.0
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