Didnt declare savings

Pollycat

abrockall wrote: »

Personally you make me feel sick. If I even had the minimum £8,000 I would not be claiming benefits.
Shame on you while we struggle to buy gas and food

Actually, I disagree with this.

I think there is nothing wrong with claiming benefits if you are entitled to them.

This is something very different.
The OP's grandparents claimed benefits based on undeclared savings.
It is a clear case of benefit fraud.

fluffymovie

If this couple failed to declare the true level of their capital when they made their Pension Credit claim, then I would contend the AIP will not apply as the decision was made in ignorance of the material facts.

As for what happens with the Council etc, in my area, since Feb 2015, investigations related to HB / CTB (as was) fraud are now done for us by the Single Fraud Investigative Service (SFIS) which means DWP investigate both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit cases and tell us about prosecutions. SFIS are rolling out nationwide so should be in all areas by next year I believe.

We however, also have our own investigation team who look at, amongst other things, Council Tax Reduction (the new CTB) and so you could find they are interviewed by 2 different bodies about the same alleged offence.

If the decision is made that the couple deliberately defrauded DWP / PS or the LA, then it could become a Proceeds of Crime case which could be very serious. The test of 'in the public interest' doesn't apply and prison sentences are quite possible. See here for a very recent case...

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decN/newsarticle.htm?newsarticle_itemid=56837

They need advice but they need to come clean

billywilly

Pollycat wrote: »

Actually, I disagree with this.

I think there is nothing wrong with claiming benefits if you are entitled to them.

This is something very different.
The OP's grandparents claimed benefits based on undeclared savings.
It is a clear case of benefit fraud.

I agree that if you are entitled you should make a claim. Not to do so sends a message to the government that people aren't interested in claiming a particular benefit so the chances are that it could be scrapped or curtailed.

They did this with Pension Credit years ago. It was advertised everywhere that you should claim. Yet only 60% of those eligible actually bothered to ask for the money! The government took this to be a sign of lack of interest and ever since then they have continually devalued the Benefit.

Capital for pensioners that have £50,000 in savings would reduce their Guaranteed Pension Credit by £80 a week. Small change when most Pension Credit awards exceed this figure. Even with a 50p a week entitlement to GPC, you are entitled to max HB & CTS and there is not a thing that the Council can do about it.

cbrown372

billywilly wrote: »

I agree that if you are entitled you should make a claim. Not to do so sends a message to the government that people aren't interested in claiming a particular benefit so the chances are that it could be scrapped or curtailed.

They did this with Pension Credit years ago. It was advertised everywhere that you should claim. Yet only 60% of those eligible actually bothered to ask for the money! The government took this to be a sign of lack of interest and ever since then they have continually devalued the Benefit.

Capital for pensioners that have £50,000 in savings would reduce their Guaranteed Pension Credit by £80 a week. Small change when most Pension Credit awards exceed this figure. Even with a 50p a week entitlement to GPC, you are entitled to max HB & CTS and there is not a thing that the Council can do about it.

And you, Andy, would know all the scams available to claim the maximum possible.

xylophone

Even with a 50p a week entitlement to GPC, you are entitled to max HB & CTS and there is not a thing that the Council can do about it.

Whether they are entitled to PC or not, if they did not declare savings as required they were in breach of the regulations.

And even if entitled to some PC, the likelihood is that they were overpaid?

billywilly

xylophone wrote: »

Whether they are entitled to PC or not, if they did not declare savings as required they were in breach of the regulations.

And even if entitled to some PC, the likelihood is that they were overpaid?

As I have said already. If they are in receipt of GPC AND have an AIP AND the capital didn't come their way until AFTER the AIP had been set, they can legally have millions in the bank AND still be entitled to GPC AND be entitled to max HB & CTS.

You are not required to tell the DWP after an AIP has been set about any extra capital you get.

xylophone

If they are in receipt of GPC AND have an AIP

That's a lot of ifs - and you will note that I said "as required" - if they were not required then no doubt they would know that this was the case.

Of course, they might have forgotten it, since they seem prone to lapses of memory...?

The OP did not indicate the existence of an AIP - in its absence, then my comment

the likelihood is that they were overpaid?

seems justified.

Edinburgh65

It would be a hell of a stretch for anyone to believe that you forgot that you had £50k tucked away safely. Even if we here give you the benefit of the doubt, surely someone who'd suddenly realised that they had made an error would be fessing up and showing some remorse, but you have immediately asked what would happen if you gave the money away. I hope you get caught and severeley punished for robbing hard-working tax payers like myself blind. At the end of the day, that is what you are doing, stealing from tax payers, most of whom could not even dream of having a £50k nest egg for whatever purpose.

neas

Blatantly this was an attempt by grandparents to avoid 'wasting' their savings, they thought they could gift the money and then claim benefits.

Morally I'm less annoyed by this than the poster up above having a go at them because if they had 8k they wouldn't claim.

What a load of trollop, if you have 8k, you would purposefully stay at 7.9k rather than take an immediate pay cut.

Most likely these pensioners worked all their life didn't claim benefits all their life and put more in than they took out....

Now you have someone who never worked a day in their life, having 4+ kids believing its their right to have them and be paid for by the government.

Their decision doesn't look as annoying as the ones milking the system from day 1 now does it.

fed_up_and_stressed

I mislay my keys, phone but never 50k !!!:rotfl: