Pension credit capital deprivation

Life_of_Riley

Hi wife and I currently on pension credit in wife's name we are over the £10K savings so have some deducted .I would like to upgrade our campervan spend £8000 would this be classed as capital deprivation as would take us below the £10K where savings ignored .

nut

I'm wondering what the scale of deductions might be?

pmlindyloo

Life_of_Riley wrote: »

Hi wife and I currently on pension credit in wife's name we are over the £10K savings so have some deducted .I would like to upgrade our campervan spend £8000 would this be classed as capital deprivation as would take us below the £10K where savings ignored .

No one is going to be able to answer your question as there is little information about what counts as deprivation of capital when claiming Pension Credit.

You can read all about it in this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/419823/dmgch84.pdf

84781 onwards.

The Decision Maker has to decide whether you have deprived yourself of capital in order to continue to get PC or increase your PC.

In some cases it is fairly obvious .e.g. giving money away to a relative. In other cases it is not so obvious.

People will tell you that spending on luxuries is a big 'no no'. So a holiday would be OK but not a 'round the world cruise'.

You have various options

1. Spend it and wait until a Decision Maker looks at your case.
2. Telephone them and ask, explaining what you are going to use it for. If they say it is OK you need to note the name of the person who gives you the 'go ahead', the date and time and ask for the decision in writing.
3. Re jig your plans so you spend less and so it doesn't look as you have deliberately spent that much to be under the savings limit.

Of course, if you use your camper van for holidays and it needs a new engine rather than making it more luxurious then you should mention this if you telephone. This might be classed then as a necessity rather than a luxury. ( Hope you understand what I mean )

kaya

Personally I don't see how investing your cash into an asset that still has a financial value is "depriving" yourself of anything? People invest and buy assets all the time and it's not like you are hiding money or giving it away ? Paying your mortgage isn't depriving yourself of capital so how could buying a camper be?

specialboy

kaya wrote: »

Personally I don't see how investing your cash into an asset that still has a financial value is "depriving" yourself of anything? People invest and buy assets all the time and it's not like you are hiding money or giving it away ? Paying your mortgage isn't depriving yourself of capital so how could buying a camper be?

Paying a mortgage could be classed as deprivation if you decide to pay it off early.

p00hsticks

kaya wrote: »

Personally I don't see how investing your cash into an asset that still has a financial value is "depriving" yourself of anything? People invest and buy assets all the time and it's not like you are hiding money or giving it away ? Paying your mortgage isn't depriving yourself of capital so how could buying a camper be?

I think you are rather missing the point.

Benefits such as pension credits are means tested because they are intended to provide an essential income for the poorest in society.

The more savings a person has, the lower the amount of means tested benefits they get, up to a point where they are no longer entitled to that means tested benefit. The thinking behind this is is that if a person has savings, they can (and should) be using them to pay for their essentials, rather than having to rely on being supported by such means tested state benefits.

If someone instead spends those savings on something that could be considered a luxury rather than a necessity and then claims benefits to live off, then the 'deprivation of capital' rules in place to ensure that they are not treated more favourably than someone who uses their savings to live off rather than claiming benefits.

Monthly mortage or rental payments will be considered a necessity. A camper van probably isn't (unless the OP is actually living permanently in it), but that will be up to the DWP Decision maker to decide.