Deprevation of capital question.

feelinggood_2

Elderly couple receive inheritance. Takes them above £16,000 savings.

Couple plan to use the money to:
redo the kitchen (It has bare plaster walls in places, tiled floor, non fitted units - it is at least 30 years old). Move a large outbuilding in the garden.
Do maintenance work on the original roof.
New carpets.

Do these things sound reasonable, and not deprivation of capital?

healy

feelinggood wrote: »

Elderly couple receive inheritance. Takes them above £16,000 savings.

Couple plan to use the money to:
redo the kitchen (It has bare plaster walls in places, tiled floor, non fitted units - it is at least 30 years old). Move a large outbuilding in the garden.
Do maintenance work on the original roof.
New carpets.

Do these things sound reasonable, and not deprivation of capital?

Yes they do sound reasonable but it would be best to get advice from a welfare rights officer or contact the DWP and see if they think it would be ok.

dookar

feelinggood wrote: »

redo the kitchen (It has bare plaster walls in places, tiled floor, non fitted units - it is at least 30 years old).

seems reasonable

feelinggood wrote: »

Move a large outbuilding in the garden.

for what reason? Is it currently unsafe?

feelinggood wrote: »

Do maintenance work on the original roof.

If it needs doing then it seems reasonable

feelinggood wrote: »

New carpets.

Again, why? For aesthetics or are they threadbare and dangerous, for example?

alwaysonthego_2

What benefits are they claiming? If they are getting pension credits then the capital rules are completely different and there is no ceiling limit to savings, which in turn does not affect LHA/HB and CTB.

Vader123

feelinggood wrote: »

Elderly couple receive inheritance. Takes them above £16,000 savings.

Couple plan to use the money to:
redo the kitchen (It has bare plaster walls in places, tiled floor, non fitted units - it is at least 30 years old). Move a large outbuilding in the garden.
Do maintenance work on the original roof.
New carpets.

Do these things sound reasonable, and not deprivation of capital?

Its still deprivation of capital regarldes of what its spent on.

Its much easier for them to apprach the DWP with the issue beforehand.

Vader

mabainborough

It is only deemed deprivation of capital if the DWP thinks the money has been spent in order to obtain benefit or more benefit.

If the couple do carry out these improvements, keep all of the reciepts as they will be asked to send these in to prove what the money was spent on.

Always on the go is correct. For Pension Credit there is no upper limit, £1 is taken into account per £500 above £10,000.00.

Whiteknight

feelinggood wrote: »

Elderly couple receive inheritance. Takes them above £16,000 savings.

Couple plan to use the money to:
redo the kitchen (It has bare plaster walls in places, tiled floor, non fitted units - it is at least 30 years old). Move a large outbuilding in the garden.
Do maintenance work on the original roof.
New carpets.

Do these things sound reasonable, and not deprivation of capital?

Those things do sound reasonable at first glance but how much is a reasonable amount for example to spend on redoing the kitchen? One or two thousand might seem reasonable but to others it may not.

I don't think calling the DWP beforehand will be a great deal of help to you, they could tell you that the things listed do sound reasonable and when you come to submit receipts a decision maker could decide that there has been a deliberate deprivation in capital in order to get benefits.

I would suggest that if the work needs to be done that they get it done - remembering to keep the receipts for any work done or items purchased. If there is a claim for benefits then all the information can be supplied.

The worse thing that could happen is that they are seen to have deprived themselves of money and will be treated as still having the money - they may not get benefits depending on the circumstances but they would have a new kitchen.

alwaysonthego_2

As I have said before we need the OP to confirm what benefits are being recieved as they may not be commiting DOC if they are claiming PC.

feelinggood_2

I'm not sure what they are claiming, it could be dla, ib and carers allowance. It came up in conversation that they got a letter saying due to savings they'll have to
pay full council tax.

alwaysonthego_2

You should find out what they are claiming because if they are entitled to PC they would get CTB despite their savings.

fluffymovie

feelinggood wrote: »

I'm not sure what they are claiming, it could be dla, ib and carers allowance. It came up in conversation that they got a letter saying due to savings they'll have to
pay full council tax.

Have to say that it now sounds like it could be considered deprivation as they are now discussing spending their savings following a letter saying that they need to pay full Council tax.

Might not be as straightforward as it first seemed.