council tax / rent rebate

paulsm

My mother retires in Nov and will be putting in a claim for council tax and rent rebate , we have the forms and have noticed that it asks for last 3 months statements for bank accts and isa's etc , thing is she took £5k out recently to help me buy a van and in nov this will still be within the 3 month statement period , I rang the council who say this could affect her getting a rebate , I asked if we waitd untill this debit was outside the 3 months and they said it could still affect it ? any ideas ?

she would have been better to be a benefits scronger as she would get looked after better when she retired

dmg24

Firstly, there was no call for the second comment. Your mother's entitlement will not differ from anybody elses of her age.

Would your mother have over £6K in savings if the £5K was included? If so, this would have impacted on her ability to claim housing benefit, and the spending of the money could be seen as intentional deprivation of capital.

bwgames

Does she need to claim immediately after retiring?

And dmg24, its £8k of savings, not £6k for HB to be affected.
HB is affected if you have between £8 and £16k of savings, after £16k you cannot claim at all.

dmg24

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/benefits/help_with_your_rent_-_housing_benefit.htm#what_is_housing_benefit

To get Housing Benefit, you must have income and capital below a certain level. Capital means savings, land, property or anything else which could provide you with income. If you have more than £16,000 in capital you will not get any Housing Benefit (unless you are on Pension Credit, see below). If you have capital of over £6,000 then you will be assumed to have some income from that capital (but see below if you get Pension Credit).

http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=2923002&

For savings and investments between £6,000 and £16,000 we will
add £1 to your weekly income figure for every £250 or part of
£250. For example, if you have £7,600 we will add £7 to your
weekly income figure.

minimadtrix

paulsm wrote: »

My mother retires in Nov and will be putting in a claim for council tax and rent rebate , we have the forms and have noticed that it asks for last 3 months statements for bank accts and isa's etc , thing is she took £5k out recently to help me buy a van and in nov this will still be within the 3 month statement period

Firstly you'll need a receipt for the van to prove where the money has gone as they will question it.

Secondly, was the money a loan? If so, they'll want to know at what rate you're paying it back (this could be advantageous to her claim because you could come up with some agreement that would never take her over the £6000 threshold, but they may also see this as a form of income)

The other problem you might incur is if it was not a loan and the van was for business purposes, you'll have to prove that she is not involved in the business/not earning from it.