Some questions on IR ESA/DOC

frenetic_2

tx, it really is complex,

so, how can they determine if and how DLA is spent if it goes into your current account which has other income, for example, I pay my carer out of my current account which has transfers from my Post Office account.Btw, DLA for me is monthly.

in terms of H/B, bi- weekly then out to landlord end of month.


I want to pass all this info on to other disabled people

enabledebra

They don't section off the DLA or HB deposits/expenditure from the balance in the account. Basically, they say ok, you've got £7000 in your account today and then knock off the last payment of DLA/HB (and other regular income) from the balance to get your capital.

rogerblack

frenetic wrote: »

tx, it really is complex,

so, how can they determine if and how DLA is spent if it goes into your current account which has other income, for example, I pay my carer out of my current account which has transfers from my Post Office account.

This is largely irrelevant.
Even the maximum rate of DLA is only £300/2 weeks or so, so it's going to make little difference.

How it's spent only matters during the 2 weeks - in principle if you have £6250 in a savings account, get £250 of DLA into a current account, then it matters which you spend first - as if you spend the £250 from the savings account first, you have less capital, as the DLA has not turned into capital yet, and will get £1 more benefit.

But this is mostly irrelevant - simply as once the two weeks is up - any remaining left over is capital. If you build up £10K of unspent DLA, it absolutley positively is capital, as much as any other capital.

enabledebra

rogerblack wrote: »

This is largely irrelevant.
Even the maximum rate of DLA is only £300/2 weeks or so, so it's going to make little difference.

How it's spent only matters during the 2 weeks - in principle if you have £6250 in a savings account, get £250 of DLA into a current account, then it matters which you spend first - as if you spend the £250 from the savings account first, you have less capital, as the DLA has not turned into capital yet, and will get £1 more benefit.

But this is mostly irrelevant - simply as once the two weeks is up - any remaining left over is capital. If you build up £10K of unspent DLA, it absolutley positively is capital, as much as any other capital.

And if you spend the savings account money instead of the current account income in order to reduce your capital for benefits we come back to deprivation not that I've ever seen the income/capital rules applied other than 'roughly' you have 'this much' capital. After all it's generally a £1 or £2 at most of income from capital at stake.

frenetic_2

tx for all the info,

one question, shouldn't CAB's(not withstanding the massive pressures on them now) have all this info and be able to explain it to claimants in an accessible way, some I know have limited understanding of these matters and have no extra support to guide them, yet another growing gap in care provision.

rogerblack

enabledebra wrote: »

And if you spend the savings account money instead of the current account income in order to reduce your capital for benefits we come back to deprivation not that I've ever seen the income/capital rules applied other than 'roughly' you have 'this much' capital. After all it's generally a £1 or £2 at most of income from capital at stake.

Deprivation of capital has to be for the primary purpose of getting (more) benefit.
If you are purchasing something you reasonably require, it can't be deprivation of capital.

frenetic_2

nearly sorted, one more question, I have two forms of latest statements, one I got printed off by my bank in their branch, is basic, doesn't even have name of bank on, but does have name, sort code, etc,

tow, print off of netsite, very comprehensive, all details, will they accept this?

I think they accepted the former when I last submitted statements

epitome

Why not just say how much money you have in all your accounts at present? when your last payment in for DLA & HB was and for how much...and what you have had leave your accounts since then.

And we will tell you what to expect.

CAB is run with volunteers, even DWP staff don't have the full training to know everything about benefits, there isn't 1 single person in the UK who knows everything about UK benefits. I doubt the CAB training is as thourough as the DWP training, and even the DWP training is severely lacking.