Help For my elderly MOM

swt61

Hi, This is a post on behalf of my 70 year old Mother.

Going back to jan 2006 My Mother fell ill and needed to Move out of her Owned Flat to live closer to us, I found her a place in Council Sheltered accomodation.
When we completed all the neccessary forms including declaring that she owned a property they still awarded her nearly full rent allowance.
In Nov 2006 the property was sold and after all her debts etc were paid off she had an asset of £35000 approx. She declared this immediately and her allowance for rent obviously stopped.

She gifted some of the monies so to speak to direct Family as a thank you for looking after hetr for many years ( Not that we wanted to take it) But she insisted. After discussions with My brothers family she found out that they were heavilly in arrears with there morgage and repossesion was on the Horizon what did she do bail them out. After this she had a rview from the council and she had just under 16k left and they refused her benefits.

She now today has a total capital left of only £1000 as she is having to pay full rent and council tax the money has gone fast and she is no very worried.

I have just phoned the Housing benefit office to try and re-apply for her, anyone got any advice on where she stands with this ?

,How long can they hold this against her for having money in the past?

Many thanks,

simon

Diamond78

swt61 wrote: »

Hi, This is a post on behalf of my 70 year old Mother.

Going back to jan 2006 My Mother fell ill and needed to Move out of her Owned Flat to live closer to us, I found her a place in Council Sheltered accomodation.
When we completed all the neccessary forms including declaring that she owned a property they still awarded her nearly full rent allowance.
In Nov 2006 the property was sold and after all her debts etc were paid off she had an asset of £35000 approx. She declared this immediately and her allowance for rent obviously stopped.

She gifted some of the monies so to speak to direct Family as a thank you for looking after hetr for many years ( Not that we wanted to take it) But she insisted. After discussions with My brothers family she found out that they were heavilly in arrears with there morgage and repossesion was on the Horizon what did she do bail them out. After this she had a rview from the council and she had just under 16k left and they refused her benefits.

She now today has a total capital left of only £1000 as she is having to pay full rent and council tax the money has gone fast and she is no very worried.

I have just phoned the Housing benefit office to try and re-apply for her, anyone got any advice on where she stands with this ?

,How long can they hold this against her for having money in the past?

Many thanks,

simon

Im sorry to hear all the problems you have had to go through and the hardship your mum has been through. Its really not fair but sometimes the system sucks. make sure you appeal and keep trying. She hardly has much money left so they shouuld not use that against her, its totally unacceptable. If that fails, try your local citizens advice. I hope it all goes well and works out for you and your mum.all the best x

dmg24

Diamond78, I don't think you understand about Intentional Deprivation of Capital?

The money that was 'gifted' will be applied as notional capital. There is a calculation that they use to work out how long this is for. If you request it, the LA will be able to show you a breakdown of how they work this out.

dmg24

Here is a brief explanation of the calculation:

The LA will look at how long she could have lived off her savings 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 £35K each week.

Diamond78

No I dont understand it, Im sorry!! I thought by having little money left she would be entitled to housing benefit, I just hope it gets sorted out.

dmg24

Diamond78 wrote: »

No I dont understand it, Im sorry!! I thought by having little money left she would be entitled to housing benefit, I just hope it gets sorted out.

She really should not have given the money away. TBH the family now need to look at how they can give some of the money back x

TBeckett100

i have just done a long term care exam on this very subject -

if the gifts were made in the last 6 months, the state can force the family to return the money back to your mum, as she could have done what is called "deliberate capital deprevation". i.e. giving money away to qualify for assistance.

swt61

This was done over a year ago.
She applied for rent allowance aprrox 11 months ago and was refused as the monies was not long dispursed but wondered how long they will know or remeber about this gifting as she really needs help now.

Unfortunately she will not accept back the £500 off the children but my brothers money has gone,

Simon

dmg24

swt61 wrote: »

This was done over a year ago.
She applied for rent allowance aprrox 11 months ago and was refused as the monies was not long dispursed but wondered how long they will know or remeber about this gifting as she really needs help now.

Unfortunately she will not accept back the £500 off the children but my brothers money has gone,

Simon

See post #4. Even if she doesn't get the money back, the sanction will still apply.

TBeckett100

ahhanother sign of deliberate deprivation signs. the state would really only accept capital deprivation for a legitimate purpose, i.e. inheritance tax planning.

Debt_Free_Chick

Diamond78 wrote: »

No I dont understand it, Im sorry!! I thought by having little money left she would be entitled to housing benefit, I just hope it gets sorted out.

Unfortunately, the deliberate deprivation of capital principle means that she is viewed as having deliberately got rid of her money just to get housing benefit. She is viewed as having had a choice .... either use your savings to fund your living expenses or give the money away. Either way, as you have enough to live off, you won't qualify for housing benefit.

Sadly, this should have been made clear to her before she gave the money away. But no-one is required to tell her - she is expected to "do her own research".

Sorry