windfall will it affect benefits?

jayson1945

Hello, my brother is 67 and claiming benefits (council tax and pension credit) his total savings are nearly £16000. He has just been left £4000 in a friends will so this will take him well over the limit and he will lose his benefits. But as he owes me and my sister more than £4000 from the past he would like to repay us at least the £4000 immediately. Does he have to notify the council or Social Security or whoever about this or does he just repay us and continue as if nothing has happened? Thx for any guidance.

dmg24

Do you have any proof that he owes you this money? The issue would be whether he was truly repaying debt (allowed) or really trying to intentionally deprive himself of capital.

shelovestobuystuff

If his total savings are nearly £16,000 why has he not offered to repay the more than £4000 he still owes you and your sister from the past before now???

real1314

The savings rules might be irrelevant - what sort of pension credit does he get, and has he had an AIP set?

If he doesn't know, he should ring the Pension Service and they'll tell him.

If he's within an AIP (Assessed Income Period) then the extra capital is unlikely to affect his benefits in terms of Pension Credit, and proably CTB.

jayson1945

Seems I need to get some more info from him to understand exactly what he's getting in benefit now, and if he's been straight about his savings in the past.

kosma1

i thought they got rid of upper savings limit for pension credit, and if 67 could also qualify for savings credits which is worked out based on income and savings (so can sometimes be beneficial to have some put aside)

i haven't worked within pension service for approx 3 years so a bit rusty, maybe someone else can confirm if they no onger have the £16k capital limit?

kosma1

and you could also request a full breakdown from pension credit, which will list all benefits/capital they currently have him down as having? may be useful if you are unsure what has been declared before

paisley_lass

original post by shelovestobuystuff ...If his total savings are nearly £16,000 why has he not offered to repay the more than £4000 he still owes you and your sister from the past before now???

seems a bit strange to me