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Overpayment of housing benefit
Comments
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If your mother had been paying full rent , she would have gone under £16k and possibly subsequently under £10k. The council have not taken this into account.
Speculation - we don't know this. Note that the OP advised his mother not to make full disclosure of all her savings to the council - "After a lot of hassle with the bank we eventually got these [bank statements] and despite my advice she gave everything to the council."
As she has now declared her financial circumstances to the council (hopefully in full), they have the information to establish if this is the case (or not).
Under HB Reg 103 & (SPC) 84 councils should calculate an overpayment based on the assumption that if a claimant had declared all their assets, the consequent payment of HB would have caused them to draw on that capital.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405779/hbopg-caselaw.pdf
As other posters have correctly suggested, she should ask for a detailed breakdown of the overpayment calculation to establish if the council have used her correct financial details and income over the 3 years in question, have applied the diminution of capital rule, and check that their calculation is correct.Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.0 -
Hi Steve
Who was the money left to according to the will?0 -
Alice_Holt wrote: »Speculation - we don't know this. Note that the OP advised his mother not to make full disclosure of all her savings to the council - "After a lot of hassle with the bank we eventually got these [bank statements] and despite my advice she gave everything to the council."
Sorry I did not mean that we intended to withhold necessary data! What I wanted to do was redact out a lot of the personal information the council did not need, such as the recipients of charitable payments (they were very small anyway) and when she gave money to friends and family at birthdays and Christmas.
What are the rules on gifting capital which would reduce savings below the threshold?0 -
Sorry I did not mean that we intended to withhold necessary data! What I wanted to do was redact out a lot of the personal information the council did not need, such as the recipients of charitable payments (they were very small anyway) and when she gave money to friends and family at birthdays and Christmas.
What are the rules on gifting capital which would reduce savings below the threshold?
What money she was giving away is definitely "necessary data" - in fact it's absolutely crucial data.0 -
As my father had dementia he never made a will, a lesson for us all!
In this case legally the money belongs to your mum.
If she had given it away this could be considered that she was depriving herself of an asset to claim benefits. So really instead of having to go without and rely on benefits, she should have used it to pay her rent etc until the amount was much lower, then it would be disregarded when applying for certain benefits.0 -
Notional capital rules would apply.What I wanted to do was redact out a lot of the personal information the council did not need, such when she gave money to friends and family at birthdays and Christmas.
What are the rules on gifting capital which would reduce savings below the threshold?
From entitledto "If you deprive yourself of capital in order to increase the amount of benefit you get you can be treated as if you still had that capital (this is called ‘notional capital’). This might occur if you give money away to members of your family or buy expensive items in order to reduce your capital."
May explain why she was told "she must in future notify [the LA] of any large withdrawal from any of the accounts and the reasons".Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.0 -
As my father had dementia he never made a will, a lesson for us all!
Then Rules of Intestacy would have applied. There was a change to these in 2014 but from the information you have given, this change would have made no difference to your situation.
http://www.colinsnaith.co.uk/wills/intestacy-flowchart/
It would appear that your mother was beneficially entitled to the whole of your father's estate that was not specifically held in trust for another person.
If the policies were not held in trust for you and your siblings, then the proceeds were your mother's - any "understanding" she may have had with your father about the policy proceeds would have no legal standing?
Therefore your mother had indeed understated her capital?
The receipt of Guarantee Pension Credit could possibly have made a difference to your mother's situation under certain circumstances, but if your father and mother were in receipt of their state pensions and your father's occupational pensions, it seems unlikely that GPC would have been in payment or is in payment but you can check.
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS48_Pension_Credit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true0 -
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