Using parents money to pay for conversion for their use - Deprivation of funds ?

shap101

My mother has had a few falls recently ( fracturing her back twice in the space of a year )  and coming to a stage where she is struggling a bit mentally a physically .  She owns her own home and has around £30,000 in savings so is over the limit for applying for any pension credit or benefit help . We want to use the money to convert my garage  / extend my house so she can stay with me a few days a week giving her and my sister a break ( my sister lives with her ) . We're worried that if she uses the funds for the build and later applies for benefits, it might be classed as deprivation of funds. Is this the case? 

Rubyroobs

Having 30k of savings would not automatically put someone over the threshold for claiming pension credit, it would depend on state pension amount and private pension amount but a deduction is made for anything over 10k. 
It could be seen as deprivation of capital as she is basically giving money away which to adds value to your home. If the adaptions were for her own home that would be different. I guess it would depend whether she could have realistically forseen that she may need to apply for benefits or care at the point she gave away the money. I imagine it would go to a decision maker when the time comes and the length of time in between. If she significantly reduces her assets for this build then claims pension credit a couple of months later then it could raise issues of deprivation of capital as she may need to provide bank statements.