council tax

davehbbert27

my Mother in law has just gone over the threshold to claim a reduction on her council tax,she has £18000 in saving's & the threshold is £16000,she his 90 can she give money to her Grandchildren as a gift to bring it down, any advise would be accepted , thank's

RAS

If she does so, she will be judged to have deprived herself of assets and will be assessed as if she has still got the money.

She might now be able to afford slightly more expensive presents but if she delibarately reduces her assets to access benefits she will not get them,

HappyMJ

davehbbert27 wrote: »

my Mother in law has just gone over the threshold to claim a reduction on her council tax,she has £18000 in saving's & the threshold is £16000,she his 90 can she give money to her Grandchildren as a gift to bring it down, any advise would be accepted , thank's

Has she paid for her funeral? She can purchase a pre paid funeral plan and that won't be counted as deprivation. The purchase of goods and services is allowed as long as they are reasonable. At her age a funeral plan is reasonable.

McKneff

It beggars belief that you/she is trying to wangle ways to beat the system.
This lady has all this money in the bank and you are trying to find ways to enable her to claim taxpayers money.

There are pensioners struggling who havent got £18 quid in the bank !!!!!!

kingfisherblue

Nobody is likely to approve deprivation of capital, which is what you are suggesting. Even if they did approve it, it is against the rules of this site to encourage fraudulent activity. If your MIL decides to buy a funeral plan (which does seem reasonable to me), this should be checked first with the DWP, and approved by them in writing, just in case it comes back to bite her on the bum (so to speak ).

To get a significant reduction in her council tax, I would imagine that she would have to have savings quite a bit lower than the limit, as benefit payable is on a sliding scale.

paddedjohn

so you want mother in law to be able to hand her cash over to you when she pops her clogs, what is the point of having £18k at 90 if she's not going to spend it.

rogerblack

paddedjohn wrote: »

so you want mother in law to be able to hand her cash over to you when she pops her clogs, what is the point of having £18k at 90 if she's not going to spend it.

If spending it would in fact make her happier.

I, for one, if my basic needs were met, and I was in a comfortable environment, would be quite unlikely to wish to increase my spending on items or services that I'm not going to get much use from, but 18K as a cushion versus unexpected expenses - be they medical, or other emergencies would be a welcome buffer.

Edinburgh65

If she lives on her own, I'm pretty sure that she should be getting a discount for single occupancy, regardless of savings. Worth checking that she has applied for that.

CIS

If she lives on her own, I'm pretty sure that she should be getting a discount for single occupancy, regardless of savings. Worth checking that she has applied for that.

She should be entitled to a 25% single person discount.