Savings on income support-how much?

DX2

iamana1ias wrote: »

No, just rose tinted specs it seems.

I generally call a spade a spade, especially if there is even a tiny sniff of fraud however I'm just not getting this.

iamana1ias

The OP hasn't once mentioned being concerned that her brother isn't spending all of their benefits. Their only concern is ensuring that savings don't reach a level where benefits would be affected. For this to be a risk there must be surplus money. What do you think would happen if, while "monitoring" her brother's accounts she notices that there is £5990 in his savings account and £100 in his current account? I'm betting that spare £91 would disappear pretty damn fast.

jetta_wales

iamana1ias wrote: »

No, just rose tinted specs it seems.

Nope not worn them since I was a kid thanks.

mumpig

[If there's a dark cast to made of a post, you can be sure posters hereabouts will pounce on it. What a miserable view of the world and everybody's motives some people have.

People with mental health issues, especially those serious enough to warrant high level DLA, are often bad money managers. They may neglect themselves and not spend what they should. They may hoard. Perhaps the OP just wants to ensure her brother manages his money ok - including ensuring he doesn't stockpile money he should be spending to keep himself fully maintained and comfortable thus falling foul of benefits rules.]
Thank you poster for the supportive post, this is exactly the situation. My brother is poor with his money and will not spend his fully entitled benefits on things he really needs after years in some very poor institutions he is terrified of having to go back into "care". He now has his own little home for the first time in 30 years but uses things until they are beyond repair, unsafe etc., and hoards evrything, paper, plastic bags etc., when after all he has been through he should be able to treat himself occasionally and buy what he needs to keep his flat and himself decent. He lives very simply, so he does have a small amount of savings, and I have to spend weeks talking him into getting things he needs, recently his CD player which he uses every day broke, but was terrified to spend money to buy a new one. If I don't help him he will end up being juged unfit and taken back into care, which will cost the taxpayers thousands more (those people I assume who so hurtfully suggested I am commiting fraud!) All I wanted to know was how much he is entitled to have in savings, for no other reason than to help him manage his money and provide him with a rainy day nest egg in case he needs it.
Thank you all those of you who were helpful, to the others who suggested my question was to commit fraud, you made me cry.

Sixer

mumpig wrote: »

Thank you poster for the supportive post, this is exactly the situation. My brother is poor with his money and will not spend his fully entitled benefits on things he really needs after years in some very poor institutions he is terrified of having to go back into "care". He now has his own little home for the first time in 30 years but uses things until they are beyond repair, unsafe etc., and hoards evrything, paper, plastic bags etc., when after all he has been through he should be able to treat himself occasionally and buy what he needs to keep his flat and himself decent. He lives very simply, so he does have a small amount of savings, and I have to spend weeks talking him into getting things he needs, recently his CD player which he uses every day broke, but was terrified to spend money to buy a new one. If I don't help him he will end up being juged unfit and taken back into care, which will cost the taxpayers thousands more (those people I assume who so hurtfully suggested I am commiting fraud!) All I wanted to know was how much he is entitled to have in savings, for no other reason than to help him manage his money and provide him with a rainy day nest egg in case he needs it.
Thank you all those of you who were helpful, to the others who suggested my question was to commit fraud, you made me cry.

Try not to let other people get you down. I think it's great you're helping your brother. Old people often go without in this way too and to my mind, there is no issue of bloody fraud if they end up with £6001.00 in their bank.

tallerton

Sixer wrote: »

Try not to let other people get you down. I think it's great you're helping your brother. Old people often go without in this way too and to my mind, there is no issue of bloody fraud if they end up with £6001.00 in their bank.

There is if when the balance of all savings exceeds the limit, which in your example it does, and the authorities are not notified.

I know it is extreme, using your example, but then if they spend the excess in a way that is not acceptable, primarilly because they know the level of benefits would be reduced if they didn't, then it is deprivation.

And as for the older person, would they use their age as an excuse?

Besides which, older people are far less likely to make a claim for a benefit, be it AA or PC even if they are entitled to it, so really that argument would not arise.

Sixer

tallerton wrote: »

There is if when the balance of all savings exceeds the limit, which in your example it does, and the authorities are not notified.

I know it is extreme, using your example, but then if they spend the excess in a way that is not acceptable, primarilly because they know the level of benefits would be reduced if they didn't, then it is deprivation.

And as for the older person, would they use their age as an excuse?

Besides which, older people are far less likely to make a claim for a benefit, be it AA or PC even if they are entitled to it, so really that argument would not arise.

Oh for goodness sake! Get a grip!

We are talking about people who have an income sufficient to maintain themselves decently, but who are not necessarily capable of managing that income to maintain themselves decently, whether it be through age infirmity or mental health issues.

These people do not deliberately hide their assets in order to claim benefits - which is the definition of deprivation in a benefits sense. So they are not committing fraud. There's no intention.

Those who help such people maintain themselves properly by spending what they should are not abetting deprivation or fraud.

Try to remember that benefits do not provide people with luxurious lives. If someone on benefits has accumulated a large sum in savings, it's not an indication of fraud !!!!!!: it's an indication they need help managing their lives. In the OP's case, presumably this is one of the reasons her brother needs benefits in the first place!

Stop scaremongering.

AnxiousMum

mumpig wrote: »

Thanks for the answers!
I was not thinking of misinforming them, just wanted to know for future reference so I could monitor his account and make sure he stays under the limit

.....in order that he doesn't get a reduced amount in benefit? Surely, if he does have the savings to provide for himself, this should be used instead of the, what I believe you may think is an 'overflowing pot of free money' for those who wish to use it instead of their own money to support themselves? Do you wonder why you pay so much taxes each month? I used to......but posts such as this remind me of the reason I do!

Mojisola

Sixer wrote: »

We are talking about people who have an income sufficient to maintain themselves decently, but who are not necessarily capable of managing that income to maintain themselves decently, whether it be through age infirmity or mental health issues.

These people do not deliberately hide their assets in order to claim benefits - which is the definition of deprivation in a benefits sense. So they are not committing fraud. There's no intention.

Those who help such people maintain themselves properly by spending what they should are not abetting deprivation or fraud.

This is the position I am in with my parents. They receive benefits that they are entitled to but, left to themselves, they would reduce their spending to a minimum. Having grown up in the 1930s depression, been young adults during the war with rationing, etc, and started a family on a very small income in the 1950s, they have a fear of running out of money. Their benefits allow them to have some paid carers, heat their home, buy nutritious food, replace worn-out furnishings, and so on. Without my encouragement that they are allowed to spend the money they get on these things, they would live a very mean life.

mulmul

I recently ( last month) got the review form from B.I.C, filled it in and posted it back.

Today in the post I received a letter asking me to return the JSA2 they sent a while back... since their phone line not open on Saturday, thought I may pop-in here and ask.

Is the review form called "JSA 2" ?

Also another letter came today at the same time asking for bank statement regarding the review form I sent. Will they return the bank statements afterwards? Because I always keep track of all my bank statements and worry that they might not send it back or lost in the post on the wrong hands. <--- ID fraud victim once