Advice please, will she get into trouble?

dmg24

Has she ever declared to the HB dept that she was living there?

BBBNH

yes, they knew she was living with my grandmother. but i think they were only notified when she moved in, i don't think she ever had any other dealings with them.

Caz3121

Was your grandmother in receipt of DLA?

BBBNH

i know she was in receipt of attendance allowance, not sure if it's a similar thing?

bryanb

BBBNH wrote: »

i know she was in receipt of attendance allowance, not sure if it's a similar thing?

Basically DLA is for people under 65yr. AA is for those older. Yes very similar.

Pigletto

People who claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit who are in receipt of the care component of DLA or Attendance Allowance are not charged non-dependant deductions (your mum would have been classed as a non-dependant). So, your mum's income should not have affected your gran's claim.

Caz3121

Pigletto wrote: »

People who claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit who are in receipt of the care component of DLA or Attendance Allowance are not charged non-dependant deductions (your mum would have been classed as a non-dependant). So, your mum's income should not have affected your gran's claim.

OP with this information it looks like the rent part will be ok however you need to know the situation regards the council tax - were they both on the council tax bill ?

BBBNH

CAZ - i know they didn't pay any council tax, they got a full reduction, honestly not sure if they were both on the bill, although obviously the council tax has now gone in my mum's name.

Oldernotwiser

BBBNH wrote: »

CAZ - i know they didn't pay any council tax, they got a full reduction, honestly not sure if they were both on the bill, although obviously the council tax has now gone in my mum's name.

You don't get a reduction on your CT, you have to claim CTB for it. If your mother was working full time, she probably wasn't eligible.

hurricanewyn

BBBNH wrote: »

she received a phone call today from the council housing department. Was the phone call from the Housing Department or the Housing Benefit Department?
the lady wanted to know my mum's work history and to see wage slips etc, my mum is now panic stricken thinking she has to pay 16 years of rent back to the council.
As your Gran was receving Attendance Allowance, there will have been no charge for your mum living at the property. In Benefit terms she was classed as a non-dependent and so usually there is a charge for non-dependents while the householder is in receipt of HB. these charges are on a sliding scale, going up the more that a non-dep earns. One of the few exceptions is when the benefit claimant (your gran) gets DLA care or, in this case, Attendance Allowance. Then there is nothing to pay.
does this sound right? has my mum done anything wrong? Nope. If there was anything wrong with the claim, then as it was your Gran's claim there may have been an attempt to recover from her estate (to be honest, if someone was in receipt of full HB then there is unlikely to be a huge estate to claim from anyway), but as your mum didn't claim benefit she would never be pursued for any overpayments.

thanks in advance for any advice.

You need to find out if the call was definitely from the benefit department. Was your gran's house a Council House? Could there be a chance that it was from the Housing Department who are trying to assess whether your mum, a single person, needs to have a whole house to herself. Has she applied for a succession of tenancy following your gran's passing?