Advice required re. Pension Credits Change of Circumstance

spindly

Be grateful for any knowledge/advice please. Elderly parent has been receiving pension credits for a few years. Has been struggling financially and racked up debts, but has finally managed to sell house. Means being able to clear all debts and be self sufficient now. Telephoned Pension department to inform them of change of circumstance due to house sale and therefore would not need to claim pension credits anymore. Pension department asked how much house was sold for as it would need to be put on file. Form needed to be filled in with exact figure. Can anyone tell me if this is correct and they are entitled to know this information. I would have thought we only had to advise them that we're now over the limit and no longer needed to claim. Is it their right to know how much house was sold for. Parent has only ever claimed pension credit and not any other benefits that are associated/available alongside the credits as always tried to manage as best as they could on own. Would be very grateful for any replies.

xylophone

Is it their right to know how much house was sold for.

The price will soon be available on the likes of Zoopla anyway so why worry about giving the information requested?

tomtom256

In a word yes, as they need to update records and check when they received the capital so the claim can be closed from the correct date.

Pollycat

Quite a few years ago, my Mum & Dad were claiming pension credit, living in council warden-controlled senior housing with their house up for sale.

The day they got the cheque for the house sale, we took it to the council (who immediately stopped housing benefit - as expected) and I phoned DWP to tell them Mum & Dad's financial circumstances had changed.
I was told that as their pension credit claim had an 'assessed income period' (or something like that, I'm talking over 10 years ago), the money from the house sale would not affect their pension credit.
IIRC, he said "The assessment lasts for a set period of time and regardless of how much their financial circumstances change "even if they win the lottery", they get paid the agreed amount".

Mum's not been eligible for PC since Dad died over 7 years ago so I don't know if 'assessed income periods' still exist or if your Dad even had one.
But if it were me, I'd be honest with the DWP and tell them how much your Dad sold the house for and check the PC paperwork in case the benefit will still continue.

Apologies if I'm giving out old information that doesn't apply to your Dad.

calcotti

Pollycat wrote: »

Quite a few years ago, my Mum & Dad were claiming pension credit, living in council warden-controlled senior housing with their house up for sale.

The day they got the cheque for the house sale, we took it to the council (who immediately stopped housing benefit - as expected) and I phoned DWP to tell them Mum & Dad's financial circumstances had changed.
I was told that as their pension credit claim had an 'assessed income period' (or something like that, I'm talking over 10 years ago), the money from the house sale would not affect their pension credit.
IIRC, he said "The assessment lasts for a set period of time and regardless of how much their financial circumstances change "even if they win the lottery", they get paid the agreed amount".

Mum's not been eligible for PC since Dad died over 7 years ago so I don't know if 'assessed income periods' still exist or if your Dad even had one.
But if it were me, I'd be honest with the DWP and tell them how much your Dad sold the house for and check the PC paperwork in case the benefit will still continue.

Apologies if I'm giving out old information that doesn't apply to your Dad.

See https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/assessed-income-period

OP, bear in mind that there is no capital limit for Pension Credit. They will want to know amount of capital remaining in order to assess whether there is any ongoing entitlement to Pension Credit.

Pollycat

calcotti wrote: »

See https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/assessed-income-period

Ah.
I did say:

Pollycat wrote: »

Apologies if I'm giving out old information that doesn't apply to your Dad.

calcotti

Pollycat wrote: »

Ah.
I did say:

My post was not intended to be a criticism of yours - just wanted to provide up to date information. You did well to raise the possibility of an AIP applying, wether or not it is relevant to OP is for them to discover.

D_M_E

Just a thought - the DWP want to know how much the property sold for, but would they also need to be informed that it sold for £xxx but there is £yyy left after having paid off £zzz debts?

Would that make a difference if the recieved funds were £zzz and not £xxx?

calcotti

D_M_E wrote: »

Just a thought - the DWP want to know how much the property sold for, but would they also need to be informed that it sold for £xxx but there is £yyy left after having paid off £zzz debts?

Would that make a difference if the recieved funds were £zzz and not £xxx?

It's the remaining capital that will affect entitlement to benefit but if this is less than the selling price they will want to know where the difference has gone (to check that it hasn't been given away, for example).

Pollycat

calcotti wrote: »

My post was not intended to be a criticism of yours - just wanted to provide up to date information. You did well to raise the possibility of an AIP applying, wether or not it is relevant to OP is for them to discover.

S'OK, just sharing my experience.

[Deleted User]

As an adjunct to this question, we were discussing this last night. My wife is older than myself and now on state pension, we claim a small pension credit as top up. If we had a large cash injection and informed them I understand that until the end of the AIP (no idea if we actually have one or when it's up too, I'm at work so can't check right now) no change would take place.

But what happens once the AIP end date kicks in? Are we removed from PC entirely in which case we couldn't apply again until I can claim SP or do we carry on claiming it while actually getting paid zero due to savings?