savings whilst claiming

chel1234_2

you are only allowed under 6000 if claiming income support. The data protection act does not cover you at the bank against the dwp

Smashing

chel1234 wrote:

you are only allowed under 6000 if claiming income support.

That's not true - Income support

You are deducted £1 for every £250 you have above £6,000. Below £6,000 and you receive the full amount (I am referring to a single claimant.)

I am interested in the scenario of someone having just under £16,000 declared while applying and whether or not they 'keep an eye' on such an account, or if investigations are just random.

chel1234_2

there is nowhere near this 16000 the dwp are banging on about but they press a button on thier computer and it stops thew claim aparently. They dont need to ask to see proof of savings, they get to know about it whether you declare it or not. My daughter was asked what happened to 400 pounds in 2001. How would she know if it wasnt her savings. To me they have just assumed that there is over 16.000, if this is the case i will fight this till the death

Fleago

chel1234,

Depending on the severity of your daughter's mental health condition, she may actually be entitled to claim exemption from Council Tax. Have a look at this website to get an idea if she would be. It would then be worth your daughter talking to her CPN or a Social Worker at the hospital to see if they agree and take it from there.

Hope this helps,

Fleago

PS Edited to replace broken link

chel1234_2

thanks thats really usefull inforamtion and very helpfull

pink_phantom

I too am finding this confusing. Surely your daughter would have recived statements from the account that the savings were? Was the money saved for a purpose like a house, education or a car or something? If not, surely she could use the money to live if her IS has been stopped? Unfortunately, if the account is in her name then it is her responsibility unless someone else has been granted it officially.

chel1234_2

my daughters close friend who had worked and improved her home had been saving to buy her house for the future. Before this all came about a letter was shown with regards to a valuer coming out, so yes he was saving to buy her home. Thier is some rules as to acutual owner of capital and benificial owner of capital. The main argument is that the dwp have invented this figure of 16000 where on interview it was said to be 10.000, maybe they thought that her friend had earned intrest of 6000 in a few months...i think not

jooles5a

Hi again

There are a few issues here:

1st of all, if someone is deemed to have over £16000, income is irrelevant with regard to housing and council tax benefits. So, it's vital that DWP tell you exactly what figure they've come to.

Unfortunately, your daughter will be expected to pay her rent and council tax whilst the appeal is ongoing just in case you aren't successful - imagine the monies owing if nothing was paid during that time.

Re. the situation where savings are just below the £16000 threshhold - the DWP send out yearly (the last I knew anyway) review letters on this. This doesn't mean you don't have to do anything in between, it just means that that's how often they check. In between, as the claimant, the onus is on you to notify them of any relevant changes in circumstances which affect benefit entitlement and this include if/when your capital exceeds the limits. If it strays over and you don't tell them, they will pick it up on their yearly review, close down your claim and calculate an overpament from when it exceeded to the date you were last paid EVEN IF your savings are back under the threshhold. On top of that, you will have to make a new claim. It is down to individual decision makers, dependent on your circumstances, as to how lenient they are with this.

As far as them coming up with how they come to £16000 goes, this rests on the balance of probability thing I mentioned - you really need to get them to give you copies of the information they have then you know where you stand. Get your daughter's local MP involved - DWP hate it when they get MP's letters but it usually means that even if their decision remains unchanged, at least you get an explanation in laymans terms !!

Good Luck.

chel1234_2

think good advise to get the mp involved. The friend has informed me that he has withdrawn most of the money now in cash as he thinks the longer the money is there in my daughters name the more trouble she will be in. He has always worked and never thought that these savings would affect her in any way. So many differenet people within the dwp have been involved in this case, the investigating officer went on holidays so another officer took over the case. It wasnt the original officer that made the desicion. Who actually makes the final desicion?I cannot see them being fourthcoming about the figure they have got to but all information to the accounts they requested have been given. The transfers of money between the accounts that they know were also explained and mostly done though the phone to the bank. I agree that if they have come to this decision of a total ammount they should explain.

Bossyboots

Agree with jooles. The onus is on you to notify the necessary bodies that your position has changed. This was an accusation levelled at my mum because they calculated her savings incorrectly and it was one of the things I made a formal complaint about as of course her circumstances had not changed, they had simply done it wrong.