Deprivation of Capital

Whiteknight

Andy_Colombini wrote: »

To be fair, I was receving benefits already when I took my pension, I then declared it to the appropriate people and when I looked on the direct.gov.uk website, it stated that to qualify you could not have savings in excess of £16,000, as my lump sum was £14,000, I never gave it another thought,

It was only after months of correspondence between myself and the DWP that all of a sudden they mentioned that the ceiling was actually £6000, by then I had spent alot of the money. Now after 8 months they announce that due to deprivation of capital I was not entitled to Income and Support and I assume subsequently to HB and CTB since 23 February 2011, as you can imagine this is a major issue.

With regard to the cost of the hoilday, 3 children and 3 adults in a hotel for nearly 4 weeks in Italy was not cheap, but it was a decision that I took rightly or wrongly but certainly innocently, to have my parents spend time with their grandchildren. Perhaps a trifle extravagant, but at my age and with the efforts that I have made studying for a degree at the age of 52 so that I can get off the benefits, I feel a little wrongly treated, and ultimately now that I am aware of these deprivation of capital rules, then I would have to accept that the cost of the holidays is regarded as frivolous spending.

The money that I have spent, fixing my car (twice), buying things for my kids, helping my older son with the work on his flat, are perfectly reasonable in my very humble opinion. They have virtually disregarded everything to come to the notional fund of £12700, which means that it takes me £11 per week over the qualifying total.

Thank you for your interest.

The cost of the holiday certainly would raise a few eye brows, who were the three adults that you had to pay for the hotel for - I would assume one was yourself?

HappyMJ

I'm trying to work this out. You have an income of £216 per month that is deducted pound for pound from income support reducing your income support from £67.50 to £17.65 per week. You then have capital of £12,700 which £6,000 is ignored and the remainder reduces your income support by a further £27 to nothing therefore you claim to have income which is £11 over the limit. Your council tax and housing benefit will continue even though they have suspended it due to the ending of income support it will resume.

Andy_Colombini

my parents were the other adults, it was a 3 star hotel half board in Tuscany where my family are from, and the whole idea was for family members to be able to come and visit my parents who now live in Trieste in North East Italy.

It was all done with the best intention, but had I known that it would be punished I wouldn't have done it really... that's the benefit of hindsight !

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

this is why i have no intention of ever having a pension. you are now £50 a week worse off BUT if you hadn't of had a pension you'd be getting £65 a week. It makes more financial sense to put any spare money into a different type of saving to pensions.

Andy_Colombini

Thank you HappyMJ, When I spoke to my local HB people yesterday, they were really helpful and quite puzzled by the decision. ALl I am trying to establish is that there was no intention by me to spend money just to maintain my benefits, it is an accusation that I refute and I will not just accept it.

I am happy to accept that the holiday was an extravagance and should be added back to the notional fund, but I feel that they should have told about this in February not in October.

Thanks for your interest

Andy_Colombini

valid point about the pension, once again the benefit of hindsight. Retirement is never going to be an option for me

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

it's not hindsight for me as i'm "only" 46 - seriously though, what is the point in having a pension you can't keep? Any spare money I have will be spent helping my kids through the extortionate university fees rather than a pension.

In this economic climate it is prudent to keep your income as low as you possibly can - it's not what your income is that is relevant any more, it's what you don't have to pay for that counts.

Rockaway_BabyDoll

Firstly, I'm not a benefits expert so this is merely my point of view.

You were struggling financially so you were given help by the Government, which is there to help those who are going through a tricky time.

So the money you were able to get your hands on should have be directed at THE MOST IMPORTANT PURPOSE: helping you and your immediate family survive, instead of the Government helping you. Government cash should be the very last resort. That's possibly the point of view of the decision makers?

I understand your intention was to do something good for your family, which is of course nice. But a good intention is the same as ignorance - it's no excuse if it goes against the rules or logic that your living needs come first, so the Government doesn't have to support you any more. I don't think - and I get no joy out of saying this - that you are entitled to the luxury of helping family members out, even if it means seeing them for a last time/giving them a wonderful experience, when you are not in a situation where you can look after yourself financially. By that I mean, you're not looking after yourself financially if you rely on Government money. This isn't a criticism, as it's a safety net I hope will be around for me if I ever need it.

And although I can understand how frustrating it is for the decision to have taken so long to be communicated to you, I guess it's possible the the department is on its knees so has two options: take on more staff to help with claims/service or use the money to help more struggling households. I think I'd rather the latter.

I wish you all the best. No one deserves to have the stress money (or the lack of) seems to bring.

paulwellerfan

how much housing benefit???

Ames

I'm in the middle of getting some inheritances after my mum died. When I get the big one I want to buy a house, but I've been told that even that would be deprivation of capital. The way my welfare rights guy put it was that having been on benefits for years the DWP will expect me to know the rules.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you've got any chance of changing their decision. I've spent a few hundred pounds of a 7k lump sum, and my welfare rights guy says hardly any of it will be allowed, even things like a computer because my old one was broken, or even £20 on disability equipment. There's no way a 7k holiday will be allowed - especially when your parents live in Italy and you could have stayed with them.