Pension credit and house sale proceeds

rjp55ep

Hi,

My mother is 89. For the last 14 months she has been confined to bed in a residential care home in England. She has limited vision and needs constant nursing. Her house has been empty and on the market for the last eight months or so. My sister has been claiming pension and pension credit on my mother's behalf under power of attorney. She is seeking to adjust the amounts of pension credit received as the care home fees eat into my mother's savings. These already stand well below £16,000 and will be used up entirely within the next three or four months.

We have been told unofficially by a local pensions officer that if my mother's house is sold and the proceeds invested in a life insurance scheme she would still be entitled to maximum pension credit payments. I have also read somewhere (but I can no longer find the link) that in practice pension credit levels are not reduced as the result of house sale proceeds for people over 80 or 85. I can't find any reference to this in any official literature on pension credits.

Can anyone please advise whether there are any special dispensations in England for over 85s on pension credit and house sale proceeds?

If there are no such dispensations I would also welcome any information regarding the time period after sale of the property that would be allowed for proceeds to be invested in a life insurance product before the pension credit is stopped.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

sleepless_saver

Check out the DWP decision makers guide paras 83038 and 83050.

In most circumstances the Assessed Income Period for pension credit is simply extended indefinitely after 80, but it looks like if someone goes into residential care after reaching 80 this is not the case.

Not sure about the life insurance angle though. The guide does have a section on this, and on property sales.

ETA : I would check with the Public Guardian that using your mother's capital to buy life insurance rather than using it for her direct benefit is acting in her best interests, which is what the person with power of attorney is meant to do..

anmarj

sleepless_saver wrote: »

In most circumstances the Assessed Income Period for pension credit is simply extended indefinitely after 80, but it looks like if someone goes into residential care after reaching 80 this is not the case.

you are right the move to the care home would of triggered a review and no AIP would of been set with the property up for sale, once the house sold then it is taken into account, there is no special dispensations, you have to be aware of the rules regarding drepavtion of capital in order to gain more/or keep the pension credit especially if you put it into a life assurance, timeline - from the date that she gets the money is when it will be looked at