Help for dad

KxMx

I've become concerned at how frugal my Mum has been, without any real need, she has a very modest lifestyle but has at least £8k in the bank after an inheritance and some benefit back pay.
I say modest but she's definitely into scrooge territory. 

I spoke to her recently and said I hope she hadn't got some daft notion about leaving it to me & my sibling!

My Nan died with £10k in the bank but was frightened to put her heating on despite our best efforts, I don't want the same to happen to Mum. 

sammyjammy

KxMx said:

I've become concerned at how frugal my Mum has been, without any real need, she has a very modest lifestyle but has at least £8k in the bank after an inheritance and some benefit back pay.
I say modest but she's definitely into scrooge territory. 

I spoke to her recently and said I hope she hadn't got some daft notion about leaving it to me & my sibling!

My Nan died with £10k in the bank but was frightened to put her heating on despite our best efforts, I don't want the same to happen to Mum. 

Thats a common situation, I don't think the media helps by putting the fear of god into these pensioners (and others).  My Aunty is on pension credit and has a similar amount in the bank, we keep saying to her if you are cold then put the heating on, we will all deal with it together when the bill comes in if need be.

slowcars

Pollycat said:

sammyjammy said:

slowcars said:

sammyjammy said:

I don't think it was missed, obviously your Dad should claim all that he is entitled to but he has £34k in savings, what is he planning on spending that money on?  He needs to perhaps change his mindset and use that money to improve his life a little so he can stop worrying about money.

Maybe the £34k is his total savings and may want to be able to pass the balance on after his funeral expenses have been paid.
It's quite normal for the elderly to 'put a bit by' so that any children may have a small legacy. In a way it's what we have done just so that our grandchildren have something from us. Yes, we could spend it all on holidays etc, but to us helping family out following death takes priority. 

I was suggesting he use it to make his life a little more comfortable, not blow the lot on a holiday or two.  If he wants to keep this money for an inheritance this is his choice but on making this choice he also chooses to make life difficult for himself, the state will not pick up the gap and quite right too.

+1 to this.

My sister and I encouraged our Mum & Dad (in their 70s at that time) to spend their money on themselves. They'd both worked hard during their lives.
They enjoyed coach holidays around the UK and had many happy memories and mementos from those times.

As the saying goes "you can't have your cake and eat it".

I do agree to a certain extent. We live within our means and try to save a little each month. Unlike your mum and dad, we cannot and dare not go on any type of holiday simply because our health issues would make it too difficult. There is absolutely nothing that we desire other than a comfy home and enough good quality food to eat. We have a large screen TV (both of us have vision issues) which has all or most of the services such as Sky, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. We have a well-kept garden with friends regularly calling round for tea and cake.
What are we supposed to do with our money? Our children have always been our main joy in life so for that we would like to help them all out when we have gone.

Marjrie

I’d like to thank everyone for the very useful replies.
Someone said they didn’t understand why dads savings were dwindling, as he is getting the pensioner support.
I have sat with him this morning, and told him we don’t want him scrimping so as to leave us anything. He understands that and from what I can tell, his savings are dwindling as his state pension is £135.15 a week, he gets single person reduction on his council tax, but it still works out at £32 a week, his rent on his bungalow (council) is £65. He also runs a small car, so tax, insurance and petrol all add up.
He does have a coal fire, but tries not to light it too much as it makes him cough (he has heart failure) but does use his gas central heating to keep warm.
he goes to his club twice a week where he has a hot lunch for £4 and has been to Asda foot the £1 soup offer.
The outcome is that every week he will dip into his savings as the £37 he has after rent and council tax doesn’t cover it. 

I wanted to explain this and thank everyone, of course the extra help this winter will make a difference, but he does have savings and he will use them.

Clueless56

Do check to see what his local council is doing to support older/vulnerable people as I know our local council has various ways of supporting people and he may well be able to get assistance.

calcotti

Marjrie said:

… his savings are dwindling as his state pension is £135.15 a week,

You said in your opening post that he has no other income. On the basis of £34,000 of capital he is only just outside entitlement to Pension Credit. Maximum PC for a single person is £182.60. Deduct £135.15 leaves £47.45/week. The first £10,000 of savings is ignored. Above this there is a deduction of £1/week for each £500, or part thereof, over £10,000. Therefore there will be entitlement to PC if his capital drops to £33,000 he would then be eligible for guarantee PC. If he gets any PC at all he would then get full Council Tax Reduction to cover all of the council tax bill and full Housing Benefit to cover all of his rent.

Even if his savings were to stay at £34,000 if both his State Pension and PC rise by 10% in April he will become eligible for PC because the PC will rise by more than his SP.

Spoonie_Turtle

Seeing how low his pension is, I really think a benefits calculation would be in order.  At his age he may qualify for the Savings Credit part of Pension Credit already.

It would be best to do a series of benefits calculations putting in different amount of savings each time to see when he might qualify for the other part of Pension Credit.  With such a low state pension he could well qualify for it without his savings having to go very much lower at all - literally, do a calculation with £33k, £32k etc. and see at what point he would qualify for the other part.  Once he qualifies for Pension Credit Guarantee Credit he would then be entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support.

Try these
https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/

Or Age UK https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/benefits-calculator/