Permitted Savings

rogerblack

pauljan18 wrote: »

can`t put some in Trust fund`s to save losing her benefit`s , could she gift some of the money to her children

In short - no.
Once the money has been legally yours - even if it is not in your posession anymore - it counts as savings.

Spend recklessly, or give it away - and it still counts.

An asbestosis claim - for you - is specially treated.
If it was money from a partners claim - it is not.

I don't understand how someone can plead poverty one minute and expect to get this financial lifeline thrown to them whilst sitting on an absolute fortune the next?

It's a financial lifeline, if it actually helps you.
If you are given a moderate amount of money, and for whatever reason it's not likely you can work again due to health - that money is not yours to freely spend.

Every expenditure has to be with an eye to what the DWP/... will think of it.

If you got 50K, spent it over several years, and then someone at the DWP decides that you didn't need X,Y,X that cost 18K together, you may not be able to reclaim benefit.

Added to the fact that many people struggle to get the benefit they are entitled to, having to go to appeal often multiple times.

Needing to go through it all again, along with the above concerns can mean it goes from a blessing to something much less than that.

If you are going to be giving money in your will to someone who is likely to be on benefit for a long time - then MAKE A WILL.
Setup the proper form of trust - and this can be entirely ignored.
Inheritance tax planning is common for the rich.
This is just as appropriate for the not-so-rich who need to leave money to those in trouble.

dippy3103

pauljan18 wrote: »

She only gets her state pension, and housing benefit etc, the money was for an asbestosis claim from my late Father,its a long story but she had to Sue the original solicitor for negligence , he died while original claim was on going , did not leave a will but told my Mum that was what he wanted, we personally don,t want the money but she is insisting on carrying out his wishes,is ther anything she can do to save her having her benefits cut , as she sees it as not gaining anything from the 7 years we have been fighting for this claim

Her state pension won't stop. So it's just the HB/CTRS that would stop.

Yes she has gained- she has had an acknowledgment of your dad's suffering in the form of a settlement. She also can now afford to go on holiday rather than find money tight on benefits. Yes she can't scorned excessively and then expect the tax payer to support her but she can afford the odd treat.

Means tested Benefits are for those that do not have the means to support them self- sorry but your Mum does.

evenasus

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Unless they get Pension Credit Guarantee element - then they could have £250k or more and still get all their rent and Council Tax paid for by the taxpayer.

.........................:eek:

That's ridiculous.

tamiami

So she has £50k in the bank and wants to claim benefits? I thought benefits were for people who had no money.

dippy3103

evenasus wrote: »

.........................:eek:

That's ridiculous.

It is ridiculous - but if someone is in an assessed income period then it won't change their benefit until the end of that period

margaretclare

tamiami wrote: »

So she has £50k in the bank and wants to claim benefits? I thought benefits were for people who had no money.

Yes, that's exactly what they are for. But this lady is wanting to give the money away and continue as before, as if she'd never received it. Her late husband unfortunately did not see fit to make a will, and his widow wants to carry out his verbally-expressed wishes. We're also told that she 'wants to give some of it away so that her benefits will continue unaffected'.

The authorities have no sympathy with this point of view.

seven-day-weekend

Why should she have her rent paid when she has £50k in the bank? Other people with that amount have to pay their own way, why does she think she should she be treated any differently to everyone else?

I will never understand that mindset.

seven-day-weekend

margaretclare wrote: »

Yes, that's exactly what they are for. But this lady is wanting to give the money away and continue as before, as if she'd never received it. Her late husband unfortunately did not see fit to make a will, and his widow wants to carry out his verbally-expressed wishes. We're also told that she 'wants to give some of it away so that her benefits will continue unaffected'.

The authorities have no sympathy with this point of view.

Neither have I.

Mojisola

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Unless they get Pension Credit Guarantee element - then they could have £250k or more and still get all their rent and Council Tax paid for by the taxpayer.

Just to be clear - they wouldn't get guaranteed PC unless they had less than £10k in savings to start with. If, during the AIP, they came into money, they could continue to claim all the benefits.

I think this was brought in to stop people's benefits having to be reassessed every time their savings went up to, say, £11k. The decision makers obviously didn't think it through and so pensioners were able to continue getting benefits even when they came into large sums of money.

There are plans for it to be changed.

confuseddaughter_2

Mojisola wrote: »

Just to be clear - they wouldn't get guaranteed PC unless they had less than £10k in savings to start with. If, during the AIP, they came into money, they could continue to claim all the benefits.

I think this was brought in to stop people's benefits having to be reassessed every time their savings went up to, say, £11k. The decision makers obviously didn't think it through and so pensioners were able to continue getting benefits even when they came into large sums of money.

There are plans for it to be changed.

I hope that these new plans come in sooner rather than later. Do I remember rightly that an Irish couple who won the lottery were still allowed to keep their motability car as well as keep their full Guaranteed Pension Credit payments?
I know what my mum & dad would do and I would encourage them also if they came into £50,000, they would close down their Pension Credit claim and live off the windfall.