Children's savings and parents benefits

ChilliBob

Hey guys,
I'm asking this question from two perspectives for two relatives, but the situation is similar. Bottom line, are children's assets taken into consideration when deciding benefits parents/family would receive?
The two specific situations:
1. A single mother, working part time with low earnings. If her son, 12, had savings over a certain amount, would this impact her benefits? - She has been putting £100 aside into an account each month for him but concerned how this could impact her benefits

2. A family with two children, age 16 and 13, a mother with a terminal illness (MND) and a father who's on furlogh at the moment but otherwise would be both working (from home) and being a carer (mostly full time, a few visits for 1hr a time during a given week)... If the children were gifted 10k from their gran would that impact benefits the father and mother would receive? - The gift would be via a deed of variation for the 16 year old and a give from the gran for the 13 year old as he's too young to be included in the dov.

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks,

poppy12345

1/ although children’s savings have nothing to do with a parents benefit entitlement, as the parent is saving £100 per month that’s an awful lot of money to save for a child. If the parent has access to it then it could be a different story. 

2/ Money left in a will to a child will have no impact on the parents benefits. 

ChilliBob

Thanks, I thought that might be the case regarding 2, not sure how the gift side of thing from the gran would work though for the 13 year old?
Regarding 1, unless the savings a locked until the child is 18, don't parents have access to a child's savings? Even if in the childs name (as a technicality, obviously). 

wilfred30

I would have thought that, in the first scenario, the mother would be considered to be deliberately depriving herself of £100 a month as it is not essential, or even necessary, to put money into her child's savings.

poppy12345

wilfred30 said:

I would have thought that, in the first scenario, the mother would be considered to be deliberately depriving herself of £100 a month as it is not essential, or even necessary, to put money into her child's savings.

Yes that’s exactly my thoughts too. £100 a month is a lot of money to give to a child to save. They could also say them at the person is saving for their self but using the child’s bank account. 

ChilliBob

I think she does this when she is able to, it might not be every month - e.g. I'm pretty sure she doesn't do it around Christmas etc. It's not as if by doing this she prevents herself from eating or paying any bills, I think she basically buys hardly anything for herself mind, as I'm sure is the case with lots in this situation.

HampshireH

Reference scenario 1.

She is in a very lucky position to be able to save £100 a month whilst claiming benefits.

Whilst the money may not get counted, any further assessment for further support if ever needed would certainly query it and likely decline in favour of her retaining that £100.

ChilliBob

poppy12345 said:

wilfred30 said:

I would have thought that, in the first scenario, the mother would be considered to be deliberately depriving herself of £100 a month as it is not essential, or even necessary, to put money into her child's savings.

Yes that’s exactly my thoughts too. £100 a month is a lot of money to give to a child to save. They could also say them at the person is saving for their self but using the child’s bank account. 

See that was my thinking, but then I thought that surely benefits are based on your salary, so it's not like you could hive the money into a childs account and say you didn't have any! - They'd work out benefits based on your earnings. 
Disclaimer: I don't, and (from memory) never have received any benefits so not sure how it all works!

Effectively if her choice is either:
1. Put £100 aside when she can, doing without some stuff herself.
2. Sod her child and spend £100 extra a month on whatever she fancies

It would seem odd if she's penalised in the form of benefits being taken away due to trying to plan for her child's future. 
BUT.. clearly if you have £ available to save (either yourself, or for your child) it suggests you'd don't need the full amount of benefit you're getting. Benefits are surely intended to top up a salary to allow you to live, not to build up a savings account.

wilfred30

ChilliBob said:

poppy12345 said:

wilfred30 said:

I would have thought that, in the first scenario, the mother would be considered to be deliberately depriving herself of £100 a month as it is not essential, or even necessary, to put money into her child's savings.

Yes that’s exactly my thoughts too. £100 a month is a lot of money to give to a child to save. They could also say them at the person is saving for their self but using the child’s bank account. 

BUT.. clearly if you have £ available to save (either yourself, or for your child) it suggests you'd don't need the full amount of benefit you're getting. Benefits are surely intended to top up a salary to allow you to live, not to build up a savings account.

My thoughts exactly!

calcotti

1) As others have said this could be considered as deprivation of capital because it means that she has less savings herself than she otherwise would have and if she would otherwise have over £6,000 this would affect her benefit entitlement. 
2) Any gift direct to child will not affect the mother's claim.

poppy12345

For means tested benefits savings if less than £6,000 are ignored anyway. If they claim tax credits then savings don’t affect it, unless it’s interest over £300. 

Yes you can do what you want with your money but regularly putting money into a savings account for a child could cause problems if the savings go over £6,000. Let’s be honest, anyone can save for a child and say it’s not their money it’s the child’s.