want to help, not make things worse

seven-day-weekend

Pay something towards her Uni fees?

Mara69

ady_j wrote: »

I am unsure of the legalities of gifting money to someone receiving benefits, pretty sure it would be frowned on.

However, I'm not sure how anyone would find out about it.

A simple routine check by the DWP will include a request for sight of the benefit recipients bank statements. A regular payment of £250 per month will certainly lead to questions being asked.

Marisco

Mara69 wrote: »

A simple routine check by the DWP will include a request for sight of the benefit recipients bank statements. A regular payment of £250 per month will certainly lead to questions being asked.

Then just give her the money "cash in hand".

SandraScarlett

What a lovely thing to want to do, and you're showing tremendous restraint by not asking lots of questions. My Mum used to give me a bag of groceries every so often, and I do the same with my DD, and put some cash in there too.

If you're concerned that your daughter may not want to accept it, you could always say that it's instead of taking her out to lunch every week.

But you can also open a building society account for your DGD, and pay a regular sum in that. We do that with our grand-children, the idea being it would go towards a car when they each reach 18. The way things are going, it might cover a tank of petrol!

xx

rogerblack

Marisco wrote: »

Then just give her the money "cash in hand".

Cash in hand payments regularly are income that has to be reported.
Doing otherwise risks at worst case a large overpayment, and conviction for benefit fraud.

It is quite possible to arrange to give the same amount of money, in a manner that does not affect benefits.
(By paying utilities, or making the gifts irregular, with no fixed time, or for the purchase of specific items)

zaksmum

rogerblack wrote: »

Cash in hand payments regularly are income that has to be reported.
Doing otherwise risks at worst case a large overpayment, and conviction for benefit fraud.

It is quite possible to arrange to give the same amount of money, in a manner that does not affect benefits.
(By paying utilities, or making the gifts irregular, with no fixed time, or for the purchase of specific items)

Realistically though, who would phone the DWP and say they were getting £20 a week from their mum?

Bogof_Babe

zaksmum wrote: »

Realistically though, who would phone the DWP and say they were getting £20 a week from their mum?

In the OP's case it is more like nearly £60 a week, or almost the equivalent of JSA. I'm surprised everyone is so supportive of this as it strikes me as being very close to the mark legally.

zaksmum

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

In the OP's case it is more like nearly £60 a week, or almost the equivalent of JSA. I'm surprised everyone is so supportive of this as it strikes me as being very close to the mark legally.

Isn't it just a case of a parent wanting to help their child out with a bit of money every so often?

Bogof_Babe

zaksmum wrote: »

Isn't it just a case of a parent wanting to help their child out with a bit of money every so often?

Without knowing what benefits the daughter is receiving it's hard to tell whether there would be any implications to her being given regular sums of money.

What would be the best way of giving her the money (about £250 per month) so that she doesn't lose any of the benefits she's currently getting? If the money goes as a monthly allowance into her bank account, would she lose out?

Just by asking the question, it appears that the parent already thinks it might be liable to attract investigations by the DWP.

I don't disagree that it is a kind and generous thing for the parent/s to want to do, but means tested benefits are intended for those who are unable to support themselves any other way, which will strictly speaking not be the case if sizeable regular cash gifts are being provided by family members.

trailingspouse

Yes, Bogof_Babe that's exactly what's worrying me - and I don't want to have a situation where she loses benefit, that way we're just subsidizing the government with our own money. And quite honestly, the government get quite enough of our money as it is. We will probably go down the road of irregular payments, supermarket tokens, and maybe paying something into an account for the grandaughter. It's her birthday soon, so that might be a good time to start.