Giving money to childen / grandchildren

roadster1

My dad who is 94 has had a questionaire about his benefits from the council. I haven't seen it yet but he says that it asks how much he has given to chldren /grandchildren etc. As he gives some cash to us all most years and helps my adult children occasionally he is woried that there may be some limit that he has exceeded. He is quite close to the £6000? capital limit for benefits. I think he gets rent, council tax and pension benefits. He also gets a war disability pension but I understand that it doesn't count for any means tested benefits.

RAS

Look up "deprivation of assets" for more information

roadster1

I have found some information but it seems mainly to relate to care costs (he doesn't have any, just benefits).

There doesn't seem to be anything deatailing how much can be given to relatives or am I missing something?

calleyw

If your Grand father has been giving money away to keep him under the limit to keep benefits then deprivation of capital comes in to play.

The benefits people treat you if you still have the money and it could mean not getting or losing benefits.

I think you are getting confused with Inheritance tax about how much you can give away to relatives.

Your Grandfather is going to have be truthful and tell them how much he has been giving away per year since being on benefits.

Yours

Calley

roadster1

calleyw wrote: »

If your Grand father has been giving money away to keep him under the limit to keep benefits then deprivation of capital comes in to play.

The benefits people treat you if you still have the money and it could mean not getting or losing benefits.

I think you are getting confused with Inheritance tax about how much you can give away to relatives.

Your Grandfather is going to have be truthful and tell them how much he has been giving away per year since being on benefits.

Yours

Calley

No he hasn't been giving money away for that reason, they are presents, for example he gave my son some money to help him move into a new house recently.
As a consequence of this it may be that his capital is below the £6000 ?? limit.
Yes I may have confused this with Inheritance tax.

calleyw

roadster1 wrote: »

No he hasn't been giving money away for that reason, they are presents, for example he gave my son some money to help him move into a new house recently.
As a consequence of this it may be that his capital is below the £6000 ?? limit.
Yes I may have confused this with Inheritance tax.

How much are we talking about a few hundred or are we talking about thousands.

You grandfather has to tell the truth and with the evidence provided a decision will be made.

If they treat him as still having the money then he could well loose part of even all of his benefits. As they will have set formula as to how much can be spent per year.

Yours

Calley

dmg24

How much has he given away? The odd £10 is not going to cause an issue, but larger amounts may.

(Crossposted!)

roadster1

I'm not sure how much, about 3 or 4 thousand I think between 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

I'm sure he will be honest! You don't get to his age being a lying cheating scoundrel and still sleep at night!

It's my Dad btw.

Why is it a secret "set limit", "set formula"

karenx

Depending on if its a single person, couple, children etc as to how much you should effectivly spend per week/month. So a single person will have a different allowance to a couple with 2 children.

calleyw

roadster1 wrote: »

I'm not sure how much, about 3 or 4 thousand I think between 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

I'm sure he will be honest! You don't get to his age being a lying cheating scoundrel and still sleep at night!

It's my Dad btw.

Why is it a secret "set limit", "set formula"

Oops I meant to say dad but my brain fixed on the grandfather in the title.

No one is accusing him of being a lying cheating scoundrel. How dare you suggest anyone has when they are trying to help you.

Sadly as it 3-4K I do believe that there could be a problem if he is claiming means tested benefit such as rent and council tax benefit. Which we have not been told yet?

You have to look at it from the same way the council/DWP do. He had between 9-10K and now he has 6K. I assume when he had higher amount of money he declared it just as he did when he had the lower amount?

There are to many questions left unanswered that I am now out of this query. Like what benefits the person is on? how much has been given away not just a vague guess? over what time period? was both the higher and lower amounts declared to the council.

Yours

Calley

Oldernotwiser

Does he get Pension Credit, because I believe the capital limit for this is higher?