Guaranteed Pension Credit concern

SPARKSWILLFLY

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Even if your relative is not on an AIP, if the current payment, be it weekly or four-weekly, takes her over the 10k limit this is disregarded until the next regular payment is due. The payment has to hit an account that has already exceeded the limit of 10k. It is only the 'old' excess that is counted as capital, not the payment that is supposed to cover her until the next payment is due.

Thank you for your reply. It is EXTREMELY helpful and throws a welcome clarity into the murky uncertainty. She's not an an AIP, incidentally, just to confirm. Just so that I am absolutely clear on this, can I come up with a hypothetical scenario:-

Initial capital is say £9,990. £160 benefit is paid into the account and only £60 is used that week (unlikely, but this is just an example). So that's £10,090 in the account (over). Next week another £160 benefit goes in and £120 is spent that week, now leaving the balance £10,130 (even more over). Disregarded or not?

Ames

SPARKSWILLFLY wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. It is EXTREMELY helpful and throws a welcome clarity into the murky uncertainty. She's not an an AIP, incidentally, just to confirm. Just so that I am absolutely clear on this, can I come up with a hypothetical scenario:-

Initial capital is say £9,990. £160 benefit is paid into the account and only £60 is used that week (unlikely, but this is just an example). So that's £10,090 in the account (over). Next week another £160 benefit goes in and £120 is spent that week, now leaving the balance £10,130 (even more over). Disregarded or not?

Not.

It's only disregarded during the payment period for that benefit. If it's paid weekly then anything left by the following weeks payment becomes savings.

She wouldn't be expected to update them every week. At most it would be every time she went in or out of a £500 band.

The easiest thing is to just keep below the £10k.

SPARKSWILLFLY

Ames wrote: »

Not.

It's only disregarded during the payment period for that benefit. If it's paid weekly then anything left by the following weeks payment becomes savings.

She wouldn't be expected to update them every week. At most it would be every time she went in or out of a £500 band.

The easiest thing is to just keep below the £10k.

Good! That's what I thought. Yeah, can expect the £500 plus bracket would have to be a notification job, though that has never been a situation she's been in. She is a good couple of thousand below the £10k so she's absolutely fine in that respect. She gets herself caught up in "what if" scenarios and I think the two weeks that she was unwell recently started all this off as she spent very little money as she wasn't fit enough to get out and about. And that must have sent her mind spinning into overdrive.

Thanks again!

bengal-stripe

SPARKSWILLFLY wrote: »

Initial capital is say £9,990. £160 benefit is paid into the account and only £60 is used that week (unlikely, but this is just an example). So that's £10,090 in the account (over). Next week another £160 benefit goes in and £120 is spent that week, now leaving the balance £10,130 (even more over). Disregarded or not?

Not disregarded, I'm afraid!

Once the monies (not only what's in the account, but also what she carries in her purse or keeps under the mattress) exceed the 10k when the new payment hits, she has too much capital and is obliged to report it. In your example with £9,990 in the bank (and £9.99 in her purse) she is alright although the new payment takes her over the limit. But within a week, she has to spend all of the £160 as to be under the limit again when the payment for the week after comes through.

SPARKSWILLFLY

Ames wrote: »

Not.

It's only disregarded during the payment period for that benefit. If it's paid weekly then anything left by the following weeks payment becomes savings.

She wouldn't be expected to update them every week. At most it would be every time she went in or out of a £500 band.

The easiest thing is to just keep below the £10k.

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Not disregarded, I'm afraid!

Once the monies (not only what's in the account, but also what she carries in her purse or keeps under the mattress) exceed the 10k when the new payment hits, she has too much capital and is obliged to report it. In your example with £9,990 in the bank (and £9.99 in her purse) she is alright although the new payment takes her over the limit. But within a week, she has to spend all of the £160 as to be under the limit again when the payment for the week after comes through.

Thanks. It's all a bit of a crazy affair and I think sticking to the £500 Bracket ruling made mention of by Ames would make most sense, otherwise she would never be off the phone to them with her benefit fluctuating depending on what is spent from one week to the next (Hi DWP, I have £5 in underspent benefits this week so I am sitting at £10,005 so my benefits will need adjusting; next week, Hi DWP, I spent more than usual this week as I had an unexpected outgoing in the form of having to replace my fridge freezer so that brings me back under the £10,000 again so my benefits will need adjusting once more). That would be just insane! And to be quite honest with you, the DWP wouldn't get anything else done if everybody took that course of action.