Pension Benefit calculator less than she is receiving at the moment ?

Shaps

Hi  , 

Can anyone please give me to some advice 

I ran my mothers figures through the Goverments benefit calculator to see what benefits ( hopefully pension credit)  she maybe entitled to  and it came back with these numbers. 

Total Weekly £179.39 

Pension Credit  153.80

Council tax support 

What I dont understand the forecast is less than she is currently receiving which is 

£196.48 Pension

It does also say that she is entitled to pension credit even though she has around £30k in savings .

She has no other income apart from a small private pension of £15 a week .

Also with her savings does she need to update this when it increases or decreases , she is thinking having some work done on the house but also maybe receving another 10k later in the year due to an accident .

------------------------ 

HillStreetBlues

Quick working out if your mother lives alone.
£218.15 -£196.48 - £15 = £6.67.
£30k capital means deduction on £20k at £1 per £500  so  £40. In total -£33.33
Can't see any PC entitlement unless she gets another benefit or cares for someone or responsible for children or young person.

EDIT are there any other cost such as a service charge?

poppy12345

HillStreetBlues said:

Quick working out if your mother lives alone.

Based on their other thread they live with their mother. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6550500/council-non-dependant-rebate-self-employed-income#latest

8dayweek

Have you accidentally omitted her actual State Pension when doing the calculation? It looks like a Pension Credit amount if she were only getting the private pension and reduction for Capital? 

Newcad

What the calculator tells you is what benefits you should be entitled to as well as your state pension.

However you have to tell it what your current pension is - and you appear to have not done that.

Do the calculation again, but this time put in the state pension that she currently gets, £196.48.

The calculator will then tell you what she should be entitled to as well as that state pension.

PS. Council Tax Support is not a sum of money that is paid to you, it is an amount that is knocked-off how much CT you have to pay.

kaMelo

Newcad said:

The full 'Old' state pension for those who reached State Pension Age before 6 April 2016 is £196.50 a week.

You say that is what she is currently receiving. (within 2p) so that would seem right on it's own for just the old state pension.

Do the calculation again, but this time put in the state pension that she currently gets, £196.50 (or £196.48 if you like).

I think you've swapped a couple of figures around, a full, basic state pension without any SERPS/S2P, GRB elements is £169.50 rather than £196.50.

Newcad

Oops, dyslexia strikes again. (or it may have been wrong on the website I was looking at?).

I'll edit it thanks.

Rubyroobs

Some older people are still on these ridiculous fixed income periods where they don't have to report increases in savings ? Could that be the case with your mum? Have her savings been creeping up gradually ? I met an older gentleman the other day who has 36k in savings and his savings are just building up , he gets all rent and Council tax paid etc so doesn't have many outgoing but his Pension credit award letter says he doesn't have to report changes to savings until 2026 due to being on one of these fixed assessment periods.

Shaps

8dayweek said:

Have you accidentally omitted her actual State Pension when doing the calculation? It looks like a Pension Credit amount if she were only getting the private pension and reduction for Capital? 

Thanks yes I must have missed out the pension she was receiving the figures come back now as 

Total entitlement £3.71


This is on her current savings but in 6 weeks time she is to receive a payout after taking an fall , would I have to wait till this amount has arrived before submitting the details again to the benefit calculator.

Spoonie_Turtle

Shaps said:

8dayweek said:

Have you accidentally omitted her actual State Pension when doing the calculation? It looks like a Pension Credit amount if she were only getting the private pension and reduction for Capital? 

Thanks yes I must have missed out the pension she was receiving the figures come back now as 

Total entitlement £3.71


This is on her current savings but in 6 weeks time she is to receive a payout after taking an fall , would I have to wait till this amount has arrived before submitting the details again to the benefit calculator.

Assuming nothing else is likely to change in the 6 weeks you can do a calculation now as if she had received the payout. 
Obviously if she applied for Pension Credit she would have to give accurate details at the time of application, but a benefits calculator can be used however you want.

There's a possibility it could be disregarded depending on exactly what type of payout it is.