Urgent advice needed

magpiesnest

Hi Everyone, I am writing to ask you all for your advice. I sadly lost my mum on Wednesday, this left my dad who is not financially savvy in the slightest. I'm trying to sort out everything for him so he does not have any worries. He is 63 and has been out of work for a good while now and receives no money at all. As my mum worked he could not claim anything. Neither of us know anything about the benefit system at all but after some research I have found he may be entitled to pension credit and council tax benefit? This is what I know:
Outgoings = £345 / month before food etc.
Incomings = currently £2 per month :eek:

He has no mortgage and after my mothers death will have savings of about 40000 after funeral is paid for. He may get a small widowers pension as my mother was in receipt of her pension but I've no idea how much (guessing not too much)
I need to get him to a position where his savings are not eroded on day to day bills but not sure where to start......

All advice will be appreciated.

karenx

With savings above 16k he won't get any council tax benefit

rogerblack

He will be entitled to no means tested benefits at all with savings of 40000.
He will not be entitled to council tax benefit until his savings fall under 16K.
If he spends the money on things he doesn't have to purchase extravagantly - he risks being treated as if he still has the money, when his savings do fall below 16K.
So if he goes and buys a really nice new car, he may be treated as having savings >16K.

As I understand it, pension credit would be significantly reduced in addition by the savings.

JSA, and ESA similarly will not be possible to apply for unless his savings fall below 16K

McKneff

First of all I'm sorry you lost your mum, and your dad must be devasted.

As a single person he will get 25% discount on his council tax.

Is he able to work, he needs to ring the DWP on Monday to see what he can claim.

There's no doubt he will have to use some of his savings. We were not eligible for pension credit and
the savings werent anywhere near £40K, I'm getting the impression he also owns the house.

magpiesnest

Thanks for your replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I went on the turn2us website and put in all of the info I had, detailing the £40000 and suggested he would be entitled to what I quoted. I was surprised myself hence the post on here.
So much contradictory info at a stressful time is not good at all.

skintandscared_2

I'm sorry for your loss. I would imagine that with no mortgage to pay and £40k in savings your father probably doesn't have to worry too much about paying bills in the immediate future so I wouldn't panic.

Mrs_Arcanum

magpiesnest wrote: »

Thanks for your replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I went on the turn2us website and put in all of the info I had, detailing the £40000 and suggested he would be entitled to what I quoted. I was surprised myself hence the post on here.
So much contradictory info at a stressful time is not good at all.

So sorry for your loss and I can appreciate your worries at this difficult time.

Can I clarify that there is Forty Thousand pounds £40,000 in savings or do you mean Four Thousand £4,000 as this will make a HUGE difference to your Dad's entitlements?

pmlindyloo

First of all my sympathies on your loss.

Your dad should apply for Pension credit.

There is currently no upper limit to capital as regards Pension Credit

The first £10000 of any capital (savings) is ignored. The other £30000 has an 'assumed income' income of £1 for every £500.

Unless my maths is incorrect I make that £60 assumed income.

Therefore he would still be entitled to Pension Credit.

Also Guarantee Pension Credit (no matter how little) means that he would also be entitled to full council tax benefit. (It is what is known as a passported benefit and entitles you to full CTB and also full HB - not relevant in your dad's case, I believe)

There are many people who are entitled to Pension Credit who do not bother to apply because they mistakingly believe they have too much in savings.

Ref:

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS53_Capital_income_and_means_tested_benefits_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

pmlindyloo

McKneff wrote: »

First of all I'm sorry you lost your mum, and your dad must be devasted.

As a single person he will get 25% discount on his council tax.

Is he able to work, he needs to ring the DWP on Monday to see what he can claim.

There's no doubt he will have to use some of his savings. We were not eligible for pension credit and
the savings werent anywhere near £40K, I'm getting the impression he also owns the house.

If you were receiving any pensions then they would have probably made you ineligible.

Dunroamin

I think people are forgetting that Pension Credit (with its higher savings allowance) is available to men when they reach the current female pension age, which the OP's father has done.

pmlindyloo

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think people are forgetting that Pension Credit (with its higher savings allowance) is available to men when they reach the current female pension age, which the OP's father has done.

I'm sure that some people do forget this but it is more likely that they forget that there is no capital upper limit for Pension Credit.

I must admit that I did!:)

In fact I started by putting in the figures into the turn2us site (since I have always found it reliable) and it did say pension credit and council tax benefit. Then I did some googling!

I know that there being no upper capital limit for Pension Credit is currently being looked at, so it is possible that this will change in the next few years.

In the OP's father's case it is possible that he will receive his state pension in the near future so that, with his late wife's pension, may make a difference to his eligibility for Pension Credit.