Gifting money then claiming pension credit.

sevenhills

He would be better off buying a new bed and iPhone, that would do it. Then once he qualifies for pension credits, spend some more.
But in reality, how much will he gain from pension credits, a few hundred, not worth it.
But still good to give some away, it will help him get through the pearly gates.

Auntycaz

I thought you could only get free dental treatment if you got the guaranteed element of pension credit, not the savings element. If he is on a low income he may be able to get help towards it by having a HC2 or HC3 certificate. 

Brie

The £23k amount is to do with needing support from the local authority for care costs - either in his own home or elsewhere.  A small regular amount may be less noticable (not suggesting any trickery at all) as being regular it would be considered part of his routine outgoings and not him gifting money as such.  So if he set up a standing order of £50 a month to help with someone mortgage payments then that might be better than giving the same person £600 in one lump. 

Pension credit can trigger all sorts of other benefits - TV license etc.  Each may not be a lot but it will add up.

calcotti

Auntycaz said:

I thought you could only get free dental treatment if you got the guaranteed element of pension credit, not the savings element. 

That’s correct.

Auntycaz said:. If he is on a low income he may be able to get help towards it by having a HC2 or HC3 certificate. 

But not if he still has capital of £20,000 plus!

Robbie64

The PC claim form does ask about capital. It's question 115 on the current version of the form. It also asks about savings in excess of £10,000 and asks for further information if they do exceed £10,000.

poppy12345

slowcars said:

I have just had a look at the PC claim form, and nowhere does it ask about capital or what you did with it prior to making the claim.
Let's say he had won £1m in January. By June all of that money bar £10,000 would have been transferred into exempt assets. New home £880,000 (including costs) after leaving his council property and a new car - Range Rover £110,000. This would then leave him with £10,000.
In July he then claims PC. 
What he does with his money when not claiming a means tested benefit is up to him and has nothing to do with the DWP. If he was ever asked a question about why he spent the money to tell them he wanted a new home and a new car and that spending it had nothing to do with claiming PC later. PC was never a part of his decision making when spending the money.
The only time when they could raise questions about past finances is if he was self-employed and to get round that issue there must be a gap of at least 3 months between closing the business and claiming PC.

When I claimed PC they never enquired about anything that I did with our money pre the claim date (2013) not even to question what happened to the six figure I had received as a compensation pay out. 

Buying a house and a vehicle is completely different to "giving away" your money.

slowcars

sevenhills said:

He would be better off buying a new bed and iPhone, that would do it. Then once he qualifies for pension credits, spend some more.
But in reality, how much will he gain from pension credits, a few hundred, not worth it.
But still good to give some away, it will help him get through the pearly gates.

Personally, I would not just 'give it away'. but put some control over it to get around Inheritance Tax and the dreaded future possible social care funding that the council would love to get a hold of.
I always remember the case of Tony Benn. A very wealthy individual and to ensure that every penny he had went to his children and wife he ensured that on death he died penniless.
.

calcotti

slowcars said:

I have just had a look at the PC claim form, and nowhere does it ask about capital or what you did with it prior to making the claim.

Of course the PC application includes a question about capital otherwise they wouldn’t be able to apply the tariff rules to calculate notional from capital.

Ypu are right that what has been done prior to the claim may never be raise and may never be questioned but data matching at a later date might prompt retrospective questioning.