I think (no am sure) my cousin has the rules wrong on claiming?

pastmybest

I speak to my cousin every six months and found she and her husband are both now retired and getting the usual pension. She mentioned they were getting a lot of other benefits housing and council tax allowance. I asked what about the ISA's you have each put into for many years and must have a lot there. At least £50,000.

She said that ISA's were disregarded for income tax and benefits assessments. The former I know but disregarded for benefits I don't think they are. Can anyone help as I feel I need to tell her the real facts and it will sure come as a shock to her?

dmg24

You are correct, ISA's are counted for benefit purposes.

karenx

If they do have £50,000 that means they are no longer eligable for housing and council tax benefit and would most likely have to pay these back

pastmybest

dmg24 wrote: »

You are correct, ISA's are counted for benefit purposes.

Thank you I will do a search on Google to try and find some reference so I can beak the news. Unless you have any link that may help me?

pastmybest

karenx wrote: »

If they do have £50,000 that means they are no longer eligable for housing and council tax benefit and would most likely have to pay these back

As long as I can remember they said they were putting in the maximum every year and not paying into a pension scheme. I think this may be why they feel it is disregarded. I guess if they bought a pension the income from that would also impact on what they can claim.

They are really realy nice, are not intentionally fiddling but to be honest are not the brightest of people.

dmg24

The problem is that the benefit forms are very clear when they ask about savings accounts.

Have a look at the CAB website, they may have an information sheet that helps.

Whiteknight

Unfortunately there are many people (especially pensioners) who think that because ISA accounts are tax free they don't need to be declared when claiming benefits. Same thing happens with money that they have set aside for funeral costs.

pastmybest

Thanks all so much for the help.

Just spoken to my cousin and they did initially speak to CAB but now realise they got mixed up. They are going to call the benefits people to explain and offer to pay back but are now worried in case they get into any trouble.

Will they?

chesky369

I'm sure if they voluntarily own up about their mistake they'll be treated kindlly but they definitely will have to pay everything back a.s.a.p. And because they will be owning up to £50k savings, I doubt very much that they would be able to ask for time to pay.

pastmybest

chesky369 wrote: »

I'm sure if they voluntarily own up about their mistake they'll be treated kindlly but they definitely will have to pay everything back a.s.a.p. And because they will be owning up to £50k savings, I doubt very much that they would be able to ask for time to pay.

No they would write the cheque this afternoon and are just so upset as they think they may get into trouble.

karenx

I think they will have to supply statements as far back as when they first started to claim the benefits so they know the date to which they were over the threshold for claiming.
I doubt they will get into trouble for coming forward and admitting they were in the wrong. I think they would only of gotten into trouble if they were found out and the benefits department wrote to them and asked them about it. But thats not the case so I dont think they should worry!