Help for bereaved Uncle - Please...

dizzy-di_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It's written that he has £30,000 savings and still gets HB and CTB?

Hello

Yes it really is on the forms from The Pension Service, and i also know of a few other couples in similar situations, get state pension, attendance allowance, private pensions, pension credit (guaranteed + savings), and get full HB and CTB. Who also have a good lump sum of savings.

So i do think it is correctly assessed, the reason i persuaded them to apply in the first place was becaus i was aware of the good chance they would be entitled. It did take me ages to persuade them though, as they were very wary of claiming benefits, they are from that era where claiming is frowned upon, so it took a lot of persuasion on my part, to get them to agree.

firesidemaid

i know that once you get to 65 if you have more savings then you get some kind of pension/savings credit.

i have had several conversations with benefits people over the years regarding my parents eligibility for benefits as pensioners. they always had about £10 too much income per week - once they reached 65 they might have got some savings credit, except that then they had spent a chunk of their savings by then.

as you say it is the guaranteed/pension credit that opens the gateway to HB/CTB etc. for the sake of £10 per week extra income, hundreds of £s per month can be lost - i totally sympathise with you.

i have just re-checked my parents benefits because of this thread and found they will get about £28 in HB per week when their savings dip below 16k, £38 per week when they dip below 10k.

can you help you uncle look at all of his bills/outgoings etc to make sure he isn't paying for something he shouldn't/too much?

dizzy-di_2

Delilah1976 wrote: »

Could it be that when your uncles wife was still alive that they took the savings into account as being half and half between husband and wife so technically they wouldn't have been over the limit but now he is on his own it now all is credited to him so would take him over the limit.

Hello
Thanks for the reply, I think you may be correct and it may be something like that, as i say they were entitled to it before, so i just wonder what has changed things. He is not in good health and gets the higher level of Attendance Allowance, I deal with all the finances etc, and just want to make sure things are correct.

dizzy-di_2

firesidemaid wrote: »

i know that once you get to 65 if you have more savings then you get some kind of pension/savings credit.

i have had several conversations with benefits people over the years regarding my parents eligibility for benefits as pensioners. they always had about £10 too much income per week - once they reached 65 they might have got some savings credit, except that then they had spent a chunk of their savings by then.

as you say it is the guaranteed/pension credit that opens the gateway to HB/CTB etc. for the sake of £10 per week extra income, hundreds of £s per month can be lost - i totally sympathise with you.

i have just re-checked my parents benefits because of this thread and found they will get about £28 in HB per week when their savings dip below 16k, £38 per week when they dip below 10k.

can you help you uncle look at all of his bills/outgoings etc to make sure he isn't paying for something he shouldn't/too much?

Yes thank you i will do that, your right it does seem unfair, it seems that one day you are entitled and then the next your not....It is a very difficult time for both of us at the moment (she was like another Mum to me and he is like Dad), and the last thing we need is this. He is such an honest man and likes everything to be straight, he keeps asking me what all the letters mean, he doesnt really understand my explanation either - I keep telling him the welfare benefits people will sort it all out for us.

I just wish they would hurry up - so i understand what we need to be paying etc, I mean if he has to pay then that is fine, i just need to undertand why he now does.

Mojisola

Attendance Allowance is not taken into account as "income". Capital over £10,000 starts to affect guaranteed credit benefit - you lose £1 for every £500 or part of £500 you have.

anmarj

there is no upper limit for Pension Credit for savings and investments, that was stopped when it was introudued, the assessment will be bassed on the income and tarriff income.

your uncle appropriate amount should be £132.60 plus £53.65 for a disability premuim due to his aa £186.25 so his income needs to be below this level in order to get the guraranteed credit (the AA would be disregarded as income but other forms of income ie State Pension, works/occupational pensions, tarriff income would be taken into account as income.). when your aunt was alive they may had both may had a a double disability premium may of be of been a double carer preumiumn which ups the approprioate amount by a lot ie they need to have a lot more to live on. your uncle would lose the carers premium after 8 weeks, but he would be give the slight higher appropriate amount, if he has not had any PC2 as this would now needed to complete reveiw then he can phone and ask for one to be sent. If the savings had dropped then it was your uncle's responsiblity to tell the Pension Service so that a complete retirement income review could be done.



if somebody had been awarded guaranateed credit the the level of the savings are ignored for HB/CT, but when it drops to savings credit only then the level of savings do apply as is no longer "income support" which guaranated credit

"Could it be that when your uncles wife was still alive that they took the savings into account as being half and half between husband and wife so technically they wouldn't have been over the limit but now he is on his own it now all is credited to him so would take him over the limit." - no they would of still be taken into account for the claim

"Thank you, I think it has something to do with the guaranteed pension credit being stopped (but i dont understand why it has), if someone recieved guaranteed pension credit, that benefit passports you onto full housing/council tax benefit, regardless of what savings you have.
As i previously said i just dont get why they both were entitled to it and now he isnt, now he is alone. " it will depend on his level of income - it is not guaranteed for the life of the claim it just meant that at that particular time with their circumstances then it was appropriate, but now his circumstances have changed then it changes his entitlement, hence it being "means tested" benefit

tomitma

anmarj wrote: »

there is no upper limit for pension credit for savings and investments, that was stopped when it was introudued, the assessment will be bassed on the income and tarriff income.

your uncle appropriate amount should be £132.60 plus £53.65 for a disability premuim due to his aa £186.25 so his income needs to be below this level in order to get the guraranteed credit (the aa would be disregarded as income but other forms of income ie state pension, works/occupational pensions, tarriff income would be taken into account as income.). When your aunt was alive they may had both may had a a double disability premium may of be of been a double carer preumiumn which ups the approprioate amount by a lot ie they need to have a lot more to live on. Your uncle would lose the carers premium after 8 weeks, but he would be give the slight higher appropriate amount, if he has not had any pc2 as this would now needed to complete reveiw then he can phone and ask for one to be sent. if the savings had dropped then it was your uncle's responsiblity to tell the pension service so that a complete retirement income review could be done.



if somebody had been awarded guaranateed credit the the level of the savings are ignored for hb/ct, but when it drops to savings credit only then the level of savings do apply as is no longer "income support" which guaranated credit

"could it be that when your uncles wife was still alive that they took the savings into account as being half and half between husband and wife so technically they wouldn't have been over the limit but now he is on his own it now all is credited to him so would take him over the limit." - no they would of still be taken into account for the claim

"thank you, i think it has something to do with the guaranteed pension credit being stopped (but i dont understand why it has), if someone recieved guaranteed pension credit, that benefit passports you onto full housing/council tax benefit, regardless of what savings you have.
As i previously said i just dont get why they both were entitled to it and now he isnt, now he is alone. " it will depend on his level of income - it is not guaranteed for the life of the claim it just meant that at that particular time with their circumstances then it was appropriate, but now his circumstances have changed then it changes his entitlement, hence it being "means tested" benefit

thanks for explaining that.

dizzy-di_2

anmarj wrote: »

there is no upper limit for Pension Credit for savings and investments, that was stopped when it was introudued, the assessment will be bassed on the income and tarriff income.

your uncle appropriate amount should be £132.60 plus £53.65 for a disability premuim due to his aa £186.25 so his income needs to be below this level in order to get the guraranteed credit (the AA would be disregarded as income but other forms of income ie State Pension, works/occupational pensions, tarriff income would be taken into account as income.). when your aunt was alive they may had both may had a a double disability premium may of be of been a double carer preumiumn which ups the approprioate amount by a lot ie they need to have a lot more to live on. your uncle would lose the carers premium after 8 weeks, but he would be give the slight higher appropriate amount, if he has not had any PC2 as this would now needed to complete reveiw then he can phone and ask for one to be sent. If the savings had dropped then it was your uncle's responsiblity to tell the Pension Service so that a complete retirement income review could be done.



if somebody had been awarded guaranateed credit the the level of the savings are ignored for HB/CT, but when it drops to savings credit only then the level of savings do apply as is no longer "income support" which guaranated credit

"Could it be that when your uncles wife was still alive that they took the savings into account as being half and half between husband and wife so technically they wouldn't have been over the limit but now he is on his own it now all is credited to him so would take him over the limit." - no they would of still be taken into account for the claim

"Thank you, I think it has something to do with the guaranteed pension credit being stopped (but i dont understand why it has), if someone recieved guaranteed pension credit, that benefit passports you onto full housing/council tax benefit, regardless of what savings you have.
As i previously said i just dont get why they both were entitled to it and now he isnt, now he is alone. " it will depend on his level of income - it is not guaranteed for the life of the claim it just meant that at that particular time with their circumstances then it was appropriate, but now his circumstances have changed then it changes his entitlement, hence it being "means tested" benefit

Thank you so much for explaining that, it is a minefield, but i do understand much more now - Thanks again.

dizzy-di_2

I am looking for more advice please for my Uncle again, to recap, he lost his wife 2 years ago, when she was alive they got Pension credit Gtee, AA both of them, State pensions, Uncle private pension small, uncle industrial injuries benefit. Had savings of around £30,000 when they first claimed which was 3 years before aunt died.

They got full housing benefit, and council tax benefit.

When aunt died, he lost Pension credit, HB and Ctax benefit. I decided to apply again for him to get some help with his rent and council tax, at first he was awarded full benefit, then after months they reduced it and then said he is not entitled at all as he has savings. I was also waiting to hear about a claim i had made to see if he could get some help towards his care charges, they told me to apply in the council office, as i understood if your savings were below £24.000 you may do.

They refused saying he had savings of over £24.000, but half of the total they had in savings was my aunts and when she died she left that to a family member (not in a will but she had always made it clear to everyone -even uncle). The said as he couldnt prove what he had spent money on, other than funeral and a few things, stair lift and raiser chair, bath seat etc, they thought he still had the money.

He is a very proud man, and it took me ages to get him to accept claiming benefits in the first place, he could have got them years ago, but wouldnt claim. So now he is struggling he gets state pension, attendance allowance, small pension, and industrial injuries, and he had only £10,000 now in bank, he is housebound and so cant get to the bank, and so i am paying some of his bill for him, i pay his gas/elec £135 per month - he is 87 and had heating on even in summer.

I would love to fight this but as i said he is too proud, could i do it on his behalf?
I am so worried as i am his main carer, and he recently spent 6 weeks in hospital after a fall and i was scared he would need a care home, but he couldnt afford to pay and neither could i.

Any advice on what i may do would be a huge help, i do everything for him and wouldnt have it any other way, he is like another Dad to me, but i am worried for the future, he is very old school and thinks he should be believed because its the truth.

Mojisola

dizzy-di wrote: »

They refused saying he had savings of over £24.000, but half of the total they had in savings was my aunts and when she died she left that to a family member (not in a will but she had always made it clear to everyone -even uncle).

If your aunt died without a will, then, by law, her husband would have inherited her money so he will be assessed as if he still has it.