Moving Back with Family - Will Their Benefits Be Affected?

MSK2110

We are currently considering moving back with my family to enable us to save more this year to pay off debts etc.

Any way, to cut a long story short, we would if we go ahead be moving in with my grandmother who lives alone and receives full Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit.

Does anyone know how her benefits would be affected if we were to move in with her and NOT pay her rent or board?

As they are income assessed benefits I assume that they won't change, as her income won't change, but how does the council tax work since we both work full time?

Also, maybe not for this board, but she currently has Staywarm for her gas/electricity - I assume this also is unnefected since she is the bill payer and there would only be 3 people living there (I seem to remember reading somewhere that 3 people can live there and still qualify).

Thanks in advance.

Valley's_girl

Hi Msk :hello: I don't have any advice I can give you, but I am sure someone will be along shortly who will be able to advise you.
Best wishes
Ally x

affordmylife

i thought it was based on household income.

so if you are earning well you would be responsible for the household expenses.

they are not going to care that you have moved in there to try and save money and pay off debts.

i think.

MSK2110

Thanks both.

I thought that as housing benefit was income assessed it is based on the income of the individual who has made the claim - ie. my grandmother? And as a result they don't count income which she has no access to - ie. mine if I were living there. When they calculated her entitlement they only asked to see her bank statements. I don't know if they asked her who or how many were living there though.

I could understand if we had to pay council tax (or a % of the household bill since 1 member of the household would be elligible for full benefit).

Oldernotwiser

MSK2110 wrote: »

Thanks both.

I thought that as housing benefit was income assessed it is based on the income of the individual who has made the claim - ie. my grandmother? And as a result they don't count income which she has no access to - ie. mine if I were living there. When they calculated her entitlement they only asked to see her bank statements. I don't know if they asked her who or how many were living there though.

I could understand if we had to pay council tax (or a % of the household bill since 1 member of the household would be elligible for full benefit).

What you're trying to do is keep money in your pocket by not paying your way and having your grandmother carry on claiming the same benefits. I don't know the formula that would be used but this won't be possible. To give a comparable example; student lone parents on benefits have these assessed on their receiving the student loan, whether they choose to take it or not, because it's money available to them.

Whilst you may not see this as illegal, at the very least you're trying to bend the rules to your advantage and risking having your grandmother prosecuted for benefit fraud.

elmer

She will probably have a non dependant deduction taken off her benefits for each of you, the level of deduction depends on your wages. There are some circumstances when no deduction is taken but it usually depends on disability. It would be best to check with the CAB and they should also be able to tell you how much the deduction(ie how much money she would lose) should be.

Hope this helps, Elmer

MSK2110

Oldernotwiser - We are not in any way trying to freeload or bend the rules. I don't think I implied that anywhere in my post. I am simply trying to ascertain how and to what extent they may be affected so as I have all the facts. There is no point me moving in there if she will be worse off as I will have to compensate for that and that could make me worse off. Whatever we do will all be above board and I am Frankly a little annoyed that you made such a sweeping judgement with no facts.

Thanks Elmer. We are both above average earners so I suspect if they assess for a deduction it could amount to 100% deduction?

I don't see how they can say the money is "available to her". Our main intention is to pay off debt, so we would simply pay every spare £ into those debts. Even though we are earning we won't have cash as such as we would pay it all out every month. Does this still count as "available"?

Titch89

if she already has it, she'd lose her single person (25%?) discount on council tax.

taxi97w

Titch89 wrote: »

if she already has it, she'd lose her single person (25%?) discount on council tax.

Yeah, but don't be fooled. That 25% discount means she is paying 75% of the full bill. If someone else were to move in so there was now 2 people in the house, each would only have to pay 50% of the full bill, so would be cheaper for all.:rolleyes:

MSK2110

She has a widows pension and full council tax benefit so pays nothing towards council tax.

Does this mean that if the two of us moved in the council tax would be split 3 ways for liability and she would get benefit for her 1/3 while we would have to pay the remaining 2/3?

John38_2

I think Oldernotwiser makes a very good point.

Why should the state, and indeed, the British Taxpayer, pay for all your Grandma's rent, when there are two people living in the house, working full time, RENT FREE.

If you are going to live with her, please make a fair contribution out of your own wages, as its not fair the taxpayer should subsidise your standard of living.

You asked what effect this pay have on her benefits.

Yes, she'd lose her Council Tax Discount is she's getting her, but I'd guess shes on Council Tax Benefit anyway, which is likely to be effected.

Most other benefits will be deducted slightly because of non dependents living with her.

All in all, she is going to lose some benefit, yes, but if you pay your way, neither of you are going to spiral into uncontrollable poverty.

If you all budget well, I see no reason why you can't save up money to pay off debts.

If your original question was meant to be termed:

"Hi MSE's, I want to move into my Grandma's house, rent free, with her paying for all the fuel bills and food, because at the moment, the taxpayer is currently covering them all. Only problem is, we both work full time. But obviously we don't wanna have to use our own money if mr. taxpayer has got it all covered. Any advice? Cheers"

Then unfortunately you're conspiring to commit benefit theft, so be careful.