Help for my Mum

swt61

Hi All, In 2005 My Mum had to move into a local council flat for the elderly as she was poorly, During this time we put her flat up for sale and she applied for rent allowance from the council. They gave her 75% rent allowance so she paid very little.

When the flat was sold in Nov 2006 we informed them of everything wanting to be all above board so to speak. After the final sale we paid off all her debts and she was left with £39000.
She gifted a total of £25,000 between myself and my sons through her solicitor. The council stopped her rent allowance immediately so now she pays nearl £300 a month to live there.
We then applied again for rent allowance and they wanted the final breakdown of funds from the solicitor and because she gifted the funds they have refused to help her.

Anyone got any suggestions to whether or not they can penalise her like this?
Her monies have now gone down to approx £2500 currently and she is finding it hard to pay her full rent every month.

many thanks,

Simon

dmg24

Her gifts would be seen as intentional deprivation of capital. Therefore she would be unable to claim HB.

Can you not give her the 'gifts' back?

swt61

Sorrry No I cannot give her the gifts back as it helped get us out of a financial hole at that time.

How long would it be before they forget this and she can re-apply as I am sure that they cannot hold this against her forever,

Simon

dmg24

£25K is a lot of money. They will look at how long she could have lived off this money for.

To do this, they look at how much she would have received in welfare benefits and deduct this amount from the amount of notional capital.

So if she would have been eligible for e.g. £150 per week in benefits, £150 would be deducted from the £25K each week.

This is only a very general illustration of the rule, you would need to ask the LA for a more specific calculation.