cash gifts to family - without affecting benefits ?

sscrabble

I would like to give my daughters some cash weekly (maybe £50) to help them out - is there any way I can do this through a bank account without affecting any benefits they get - or would I just have to give them the money in cash - I would rather they could just access it themselves.

The_ICT_Engineer

It would be classed as income and they would have to declare it.

sscrabble

I have just read this on the 'Entitled to' website - so it appears it does not affect benefits ?

Any income you receive from voluntary sources - such as from friends and family or from charities - is disregarded completely when calculating benefits. This means the amount of benefit you are entitled to is not affected by this kind of income.

If you receive regular income from friends and family, or from charities, you do not need to enter anything under this source of income. Most other sorts of income should be entered into the calculator.

SeduLOUs

The_ICT_Engineer wrote: »

It would be classed as income and they would have to declare it.

A gift isn't income. If it were, we'd all have to complete tax returns to declare the value of our received Xmas and Birthday presents.

pmlindyloo

sscrabble wrote: »

I would like to give my daughters some cash weekly (maybe £50) to help them out - is there any way I can do this through a bank account without affecting any benefits they get - or would I just have to give them the money in cash - I would rather they could just access it themselves.

Gifts are perfectly acceptable if you are on income based benefits.

The problem is that when regular amounts of money are seen in their bank accounts it might cause an investigation (are they working? for example). If it was queried then the benefit could be suspended while it is being investigated which might then have a knock on effect of suspending other benefits.

To save the hassle people recommend that you give gifts in cash or vouchers or similar.

Horseunderwater

What you could do instead is pop the amount into an easy access ISA then when they need say a new washing machine or something similar there would be money sitting waiting for them when needed.

FluffyDuck3

A regular amount each week would raise questions if they ever need to provide bank statements. I think you'd be better making irregular payments now and then into the bank, and do the rest in cash or gift cards.

sh1981

sscrabble wrote: »

I would like to give my daughters some cash weekly (maybe £50) to help them out - is there any way I can do this through a bank account without affecting any benefits they get - or would I just have to give them the money in cash - I would rather they could just access it themselves.

I personally suggest you give it in the form of gold bullion, preferably in gold coins. They will increase in value over time.

And YES it will most certainly affect the benefits they are receiving.

sh1981

sscrabble wrote: »

I have just read this on the 'Entitled to' website - so it appears it does not affect benefits ?

Any income you receive from voluntary sources - such as from friends and family or from charities - is disregarded completely when calculating benefits. This means the amount of benefit you are entitled to is not affected by this kind of income.

If you receive regular income from friends and family, or from charities, you do not need to enter anything under this source of income. Most other sorts of income should be entered into the calculator.

Look up Notional Capital. Technically even barter trade has to be declared according to HMRC. So that means if you buy a packet of cigarettes to thank someone you got to technically declare it.

sh1981

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Gifts are perfectly acceptable if you are on income based benefits.

The problem is that when regular amounts of money are seen in their bank accounts it might cause an investigation (are they working? for example). If it was queried then the benefit could be suspended while it is being investigated which might then have a knock on effect of suspending other benefits.

To save the hassle people recommend that you give gifts in cash or vouchers or similar.

So a cash gift to someone who is on benefits, say on JSA, is acceptable? That sounds wrong on like multiple levels to me.

sh1981

Horseunderwater wrote: »

What you could do instead is pop the amount into an easy access ISA then when they need say a new washing machine or something similar there would be money sitting waiting for them when needed.

Notional capital, benefit fraud, they will end up getting banned from whatever benefits they are receiving.