Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and Savings Query

Rubyroobs

Nerdtech said:

I was thinking about when he asked me why am I not claiming the carers element of UC and I told him because I had savings (what I believed to be my savings at the time). Since he's now told me that the majority of the savings are my fathers now I technically have no or very little savings could I now apply for the carers element of UC?

If you give a large sum of money back to your dad then try to claim UC you could come under scrutiny from them as it could look like you have given money away in order to claim a means tested benefit. I guess you would have to be able to prove it wasn't your money and explain the situation to them if they asked . It's all a bit of a mess really. What is your plan going forwards? Is your dad going to be keeping the money in his account and just transfer you what is needed for his half of the bills and shopping etc? I think it's going to be very difficult to show what is your savings and what is your dad's really as others have said he is allowed to gift you some if he wishes.. Perhaps set up a joint account purely for household bills to be paid from ?
If you claimed Universal credit successfully you would get around £240 a month UC plus your carers allowance paid separately to UC as  carers allowance is deducted in full from UC. If you start building up any savings yourself then you would need to report any savings in excess of 6k in your name as this would mean a reduction in your monthly UC amount.

Nerdtech

Rubyroobs said:

Nerdtech said:

I was thinking about when he asked me why am I not claiming the carers element of UC and I told him because I had savings (what I believed to be my savings at the time). Since he's now told me that the majority of the savings are my fathers now I technically have no or very little savings could I now apply for the carers element of UC?

If you give a large sum of money back to your dad then try to claim UC you could come under scrutiny from them as it could look like you have given money away in order to claim a means tested benefit. I guess you would have to be able to prove it wasn't your money. It's all a bit of a mess really. What is your plan going forwards? Is your dad going to be keeping the money in his account and just transfer you what is needed for his half of the bills and shopping etc? I think it's going to be very difficult to show what is your savings and what is your dad's really as others have said he is allowed to gift you some.

Well this is kind of my point. He's come out and said in that e-mail I showed you that the majority of the savings are my dads. He's already said the money isn't mine so I could prove it by forwarding the e-mail to the relevant department. I cannot give money away that he has already said isn't mine? Yes I think it is a bit of a mess and yes I think it will be very complicated to prove what's mine and my dads even though it seems he has already decided.

To be honest now that he's said the capital isn't mine I simply don't feel right in spending his savings, even thought I only used his money to spend on our bills and things he needed for his care anyway. So I want to send all the money back to his account and just use that to pay his bills, things he needs and day to day living expenses only. Then use my account to pay for my own bills and things I need etc.. I am certainly not going to do this and claim UC carers element without getting proper advice first though as you have eluded to. If this has taught me anything is to be totally thorough before doing anything at all. 

Nerdtech

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

marcia_

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

 I think that should be ok, paying anyone else or splurging it would mean you might be seen as depriving assets but i think this might be ok, what do others think? 

Nerdtech

marcia_ said:

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

 I think that should be ok, paying anyone else or splurging it would mean you might be seen as depriving assets but i think this might be ok, what do others think? 

Thanks for your response. I do believe paying off a debt is "ok"? surely they couldn't force my dad to pay in instalments that sounds crazy?! 

Blancmang25

Nerdtech said:

marcia_ said:

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

 I think that should be ok, paying anyone else or splurging it would mean you might be seen as depriving assets but i think this might be ok, what do others think? 

Thanks for your response. I do believe paying off a debt is "ok"? surely they couldn't force my dad to pay in instalments that sounds crazy?! 

Perfectly acceptable to the benefit section if you repay any hb overpayment and council tax overpayment in full. Deprivation rules will not apply and your father can re-claim hb/ctr following payment.

Nerdtech

Blancmang25 said:

Nerdtech said:

marcia_ said:

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

 I think that should be ok, paying anyone else or splurging it would mean you might be seen as depriving assets but i think this might be ok, what do others think? 

Thanks for your response. I do believe paying off a debt is "ok"? surely they couldn't force my dad to pay in instalments that sounds crazy?! 

Perfectly acceptable to the benefit section if you repay any hb overpayment and council tax overpayment in full. Deprivation rules will not apply and your father can re-claim hb/ctr following payment.

Thank you for the clarification, it's pretty ironic at the same time. Your help has been invaluable.

HillStreetBlues

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

When calculating the overpayment the council should ( but often don't) apply the diminishing capital rule.

sheramber

Nerdtech said:

Blancmang25 said:

Nerdtech said:

marcia_ said:

Nerdtech said:

We still have no decision made on how much my dad owes in overpayments yet, it could possibly take a long while, but I wanted to ask a question. The council has stopped his housing benefit as expected but if he can pay off the overpayments in one lump sum but then he has no savings left because of that could he then still make a re-claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction? or would there be an issue.

 I think that should be ok, paying anyone else or splurging it would mean you might be seen as depriving assets but i think this might be ok, what do others think? 

Thanks for your response. I do believe paying off a debt is "ok"? surely they couldn't force my dad to pay in instalments that sounds crazy?! 

Perfectly acceptable to the benefit section if you repay any hb overpayment and council tax overpayment in full. Deprivation rules will not apply and your father can re-claim hb/ctr following payment.

Thank you for the clarification, it's pretty ironic at the same time. Your help has been invaluable.

Why ironic?

They get back overpaid money and your father gets what he is entitled to going forward.

He would have been claiming anyway.

Nerdtech

*update* Well it has taken this long to find out how much he has to pay in HB and Council Tax and it is a very substantial amount. However we can pay it off in one lump sum because of the savings/capital he built up over the years (which I thought were my savings, please read original post for info on this). We only spent this money on bills, items he needs for his care and day to day living expenses.

However there is one line on the council letter we received that is worrying myself and my dad... it reads as follows: "Your repayment will be accepted without prejudice to any further action from the DWP may wish to take against you in this case."

Does this mean he will have to go to court and possibly face jail!!!?? (he's 82 years old with numerous health issues). If anyone can tell me what this means I would appreciate it.

I want to say again even if you think you're doing the right thing, even if it is his decision as a caregiver for your dad, please check with the right people first in-case you're making a mistake. It's better than getting in the situation my dad and myself have found ourselves in. 

Thank you.