Winning money whilst claiming benefits

trace_567

I'm worrying myself crazy over the fact that I have been winning money off of the tv game shows and I'm claiming benefits. I'm currently on income support for mental health problems (depression, anxiety and fear of leaving the house). I am also getting full housing benefit and council tax benefit. Over the last 5-6 months I have won approx £1000, all in bits like £25's, £50's, £100 here £150 there etc. I thought it was great because on my benefits there is never enough money after the bills for things like buying new clothes, replacing the pink tv, replacing the pentium 2 pc thats on its last legs etc. So having won some money its meant I've a bit of money for doing these things, and also being able to for once buy family decent xmas presents.

But I'm worried, I have not declared any of the winnings to the dss. People I've spoken to have all said that they don't think it counts as income as its winnings and non taxable. Also I haven't been out of the house and worked for it. But is this correct, or do winnings have to be declared. I have not got more savings than I'm allowed, but spending money on people for xmas and replacing the tv, finally have clothes with no holes in etc could the dss say that I should be keeping all the money in the bank as savings and then go over my savings limit.

What happens if the dss look at my bank account and see these winnings cheques going in, and my money all coming out to buy some stuff. Could I get into trouble?

I'm beginning to think that I was better off not playing and winning in the first place as its just causing me so much worry.

Am I right in saying that winnings do not count as income? And those winning is it ok to spend them?

I've looked at all the info online about the benefits i'm claiming and I can find nothing at all that mentions how you stand if you win money.

Can anyone help put my mind at rest.

Voyager2002

Everyone says that these TV game shows are a rip off, so I'm amazed that you are actually making money from them. For a start, check your telephone bills and work out how much it has cost you to win that thousand pounds. I suspect that you must have made a great many calls, and spent a lot of money on the 'phone, and so your actual profit (winnings minus the costs of the calls) will be a lot less than the winnings, or maybe you have made a loss.

Miss_Money

tv game shows?! which ones? do you mean the telephone phone ones that are like 80p a time to ring? i like the last posters think maybe you may have made a loss if thats the case.

Ted_Hutchinson

Income is not defined in law. It can normally be separated from capital because a
payment of income

1. forms part of a series of payments, whether or not they are made regularly or
2. is made for a period of time or
3. satisfies both the conditions in 1. and 2..

The above is from the Decision Makers Guide.
1) The payments you have received do not IMO count as income because they do not form part of a series of payments as there is no link between one and the other. Each is a random event.
2) They are not made for a period of time, In that you have not been employed at any point and the payment you have received is not a reflection of the time you have spent. It could be a one off. You may never win again.

So if I were on income support I would not declare my winnings as income as I wouldn't regard it as one of a series of payments not is it in recognition of time spent earning. I would however keep a record of the money I had invested to get that return so that should a decision maker at a later date decide to penalise me and regard this a part time earnings from self employment I'd be able to work out how much it had cost to earn that return and over the number of weeks it had been earnt.

I would also be aware that several people have mentioned on the radio 4 programme You and Yours that having won a certain amount they were barred from future programmes, and that insiders from the Prize shows have claimed that they are required at times not to answer the phone to ensure that sufficient people have phoned to generate the prize money, overhead costs, company profit, before the phone gets answered. So in general people are being ripped off and it isn't a game of skill, it's a raffle based on the odds of your email/call being selected out of the thousands that are responding.

lazy_girl

Someone i know won money in a similar situation - but his was online gambling! god knows how he managed to make money, but he did. he never thought to declare it, never thought of it as income.

anyway, they found out - i think someone shopped him and they had a look at his bank account etc - and he got in real trouble, i think they wanted to charge him with fraud, but in the end they just took back payments. It was a lot of hassle, over many months, till it was sorted.

If you don't want to declare it, do *not* put any of the money in your bank account. to be honest, i think the best thing is to come clean. After what my mate went though, wouldn't want this to happen to you. The benefits fraud people are not very nice, and ingorance of the law was no excuse for my mate.

lazy_girl

dp, sorry!

trace_567

Thank you all for your advice. I really think its about time the dss made things like the situation like winning money clear. I have literally hunted high and low all over the net to try and find any mention of it and I can find nothing at all.
On all the tv shows they say the money is tax free and all yours. They also say that it doesn't matter if your not working. Because they keep on about it being tax free I just assumed that winnings were not counted as income, as you have not worked for it. I mean its obvious that should your savings go over the limit you need to declare it. Why on earth is there no mention of what happens if you win money that is not a massive sum like over £1000 in one go on the benefits information. With all these new tv shows there must be a lot of people out there on benefits that are winning too.
I'm so confussed. I was only playing on the shows because I enjoyed doing it, it was never anything more than a bit of fun in the evenings and when I couldn't sleep at night.

jayne.doe

Sorry but you are on a means tested benefit and I think you will find that they are interested in any income you have coming into your house. If you are so worried why not ring and ask? or perhaps due to all the worry you know the answer already.

jayne.doe

lazy_girl wrote:

Someone i know won money in a similar situation - but his was online gambling! god knows how he managed to make money, but he did. he never thought to declare it, never thought of it as income.

anyway, they found out - i think someone shopped him and they had a look at his bank account etc - and he got in real trouble, i think they wanted to charge him with fraud, but in the end they just took back payments. It was a lot of hassle, over many months, till it was sorted.

If you don't want to declare it, do *not* put any of the money in your bank account. to be honest, i think the best thing is to come clean. After what my mate went though, wouldn't want this to happen to you. The benefits fraud people are not very nice, and ingorance of the law was no excuse for my mate.

benefit people are not nice!!! last time i remembered they are there to do a job ie, help those who are in need defraud the system expect the consequences. These people as you refer to them do not make the rules up based on personal preferences they have to follow government legislation. Or maybe you expect these not nice people to just say sod it defraud ......

Swan_2

trace, you might get a definitive answer if you try posting your question HERE

trace_567

I have been to my local CAB, they have said that the winnings do need to be declared, of which I should have done at the time of winning them. However according to them it is not classed as income, but classed as capital. So therefore if it does not put you over the lowest savings limit (in my case £6,000 this was uped from £3,000 in april this year, of which it doesn't even put me close to) there is no actual change to income support or housing benefit.
My only problem now is how to explain the fact I have left it so long to declare it, and working out exactly what I got and when.