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Income Support & savings, a query.


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Hi folks.

 

I need the following info ASAP and don't know where to find it (Erikaaaaaaa, where are you-hoo? :razz:)

 

the current amount of money you can have in savings without it affecting your income support is £6,000

 

What was the previous limit and on what date did it change to £6000?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who either knows the answer or knows where to look. There's a tickle in it for you. ;-) :-D

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The previous limit (known as lower capital limit) was £3000. It was increased to £6000 from 10th April 2006.

  • Haha 1

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

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Oooh! I've just had a french tickle! :eek:

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

Yes, I'm afraid you have been given the wrong information. If you are receiving means tested benefit, and have savings under £6000 your benefit is unaffected. If you have savings over £16000 you would be disentitled. If you have savings over £6000 but under £16000, they will take £1 off per week for every part of £250 you have between £6000 and £16000. So if you have £12000, your benefit (means tested entitlement) would have to be reduced by £24 per week:

 

£12000 - 6000 = 6000.

250 goes into 6000 24 times: 6000/250 = 24

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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Yes, I'm afraid you have been given the wrong information. If you are receiving means tested benefit, and have savings under £6000 your benefit is unaffected. If you have savings over £16000 you would be disentitled. If you have savings over £6000 but under £16000, they will take £1 off per week for every part of £250 you have between £6000 and £16000. So if you have £12000, your benefit (means tested entitlement) would have to be reduced by £24 per week:

 

£12000 - 6000 = 6000.

250 goes into 6000 24 times: 6000/250 = 24

 

I knew I had been given wrong information Erica do I then lose a further £24 off the council tax and a further £24 off the housing benefit? (£72 lost benefit ?)

 

What an expensive mistake had that much worry since sister died in August leaving me her son whom is autistic and insulin dependent I had to get onto my MP before I actually recieved a penny for him finally in November I had a deposit to find for her funeral of £600 I still owe £1,888 on the funeral I hardly got much of DWP the flowers had to be paid for

 

I have had to borrow to buy furniture, new glasses, I pay £50 a week to get him to his old school as he won`t change so when my bank offered me the loan online I took it I just keep getting punished further and further for no fault of my own

 

DWP said an assessor will ring me what then?

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No you only loose it once, they might divide it between the various benefits but they can only take one lot. I've just been looking into this as well due to impending redundancy.

 

If they do try to take it off both rates of benefits you can appeal (and should win).

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As sillygirl says. HB and CTB disregard all savings of those on DWP means tested benefits, on the assumption that they have already been declared to DWP.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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Please forgive any thread derail, but I have a question that relates, in a way, to this..

 

The previous limit (known as lower capital limit) was £3000. It was increased to £6000 from 10th April 2006.

 

I'm currently engaged in a legal slog-out with my bank and looking to pursue litigation through the small clains courts. As am on JSA at the moment and should I (fingers crossed) win an award (£5k max claim), would I be liable to have to repay any of that to the DWP??

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Hi Gil.

 

No, because it was not available to you when the lower capital limit was £3000 (it's not a compensation recovery for incapacity) and it is below the lower capital limit now.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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As sillygirl says. HB and CTB disregard all savings of those on DWP means tested benefits, on the assumption that they have already been declared to DWP.

 

 

Thanks for this Erika puzzled as to why the council have asked me to let them know the outcome of telling dwp what do they want to know for if it makes no difference to what savings you have council have said I must let them know within 1 month of what dwp say about the savings or they will stop benefits

 

Feel a bit better that I will only lose £24 but still annoying that you have to lose anything when I have had to pay partially for a funeral I had to borrow money for 3 months before I eventually got any benefits for my nephew (had to involve my mp) I borrowed £600 for the funeral deposit it annoys me I wonder what dwp do allow you to spend your savings on? what is it that they don`t regard as squandering your savings on?

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I have no idea why they have asked you to tell them what DWP say about it, but they have no right counting it if you're on IS. It's disregarded in full for people on Income Support. This is outlined in schedule 6 of the housing benefit regulations.

 

You can spend your savings on anything of your choosing. If however you spend it in a manner which enables you to claim means tested benefits, DWP can treat your claim as if you still had it if the spending is unreasonable. Is that what you mean? If so I'll throw a couple of examples, but they are just examples. I can't say for certain what DWP would do because each case is weighed on its own merits and I have no idea what goes through the mind of someone making that decision.

 

An example would be someone who had come into say, £20000. They spend £5000 on a new suite, £7000 on a new car and £4000 on a TV and stereo sound system/varying electronic gagets. Finally they pay £2000 of catalogue debt off - there is no risk of the person being incarcerated if they don't pay the debt immediately and they can make lower repayments over a period of time to repay the debt, therefore this is not a priority debt. They have £2000 left, which is below the lower capital limit, and make a claim to DWP for income support. It is highly likely that DWP would regard this spending as unreasonable and uneccesery and would treat the claim as if the claimant still had the money. And to be perfectly frank, I wouldn't help that type of person with an appeal if they asked because I couldn't justify their spending whatsoever.

 

Another person has £7000. They spend £150 on a cooker as the old one which they had for 15 years was no longer functioning. They owe £2000 in council tax due to arrears from previous years. They have been unable to pay and have been through every stage of recovery attempts. They are now at the stage where if they don't pay this debt, the next step may be imprisonment. This is s priority debt, and must be paid to avoid the person being incarcerated. They also spend £150 on a new mattress as the other one was 10 years old and affected their existing back problem. They have £4700 left, below the lower capital limit and ask Income Support to re-assess their claim. They have not spent unreasonably or uneccesserily, and DWP would unlikely treat their claim as if they still had the money. If they did, then I would be right behind them fighting their case all the way to tribunal.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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Laura when was your sister's funeral? Did you arrange the funeral and if so, did you apply for a Social Fund Funeral Payment for help toward the funeral? If you did, I can go over the figures for you if you like if you feel they didn't award the correct amount.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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Funeral was in September dwp awarded me £1,190.50 yes I arranged the funeral

 

Concerning the loan I got I declared it on my council tax housing benefit renewal recently they then sent this. "Benefit Application" Further details are required from you in connection with your application for benefit and I shoull be obliged if you would let me have original proof of the following

 

*Please advise if you have notified income support of the loan received and what they have advised

 

please supply this information as soon as possible. The earlier we receive this information the sooner we can assess your entitlement. please return this letter with your reply.

 

Failure to provide the jnformation within ONE CALENDAR MONTH may result in your benefit being suspended or in the cancellation of your claim.

 

you must also tell us immediately in writing of any changes which may affect your benefit. some examples of changes are increases in your or your partners income or savings, if someone leaves or joins your household and any rent changes. you may lose benefit if you do not tell us within one calendar month of any changes. if you are overpaid benefit you will have to pay it back.

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I would assume from that, that they want to ensure you have informed IS, because they have a duty to share information about your claims. If you've told IS and haven't had a response, I would write back to the council stating that you have contacted IS about it and are awaiting a response.

 

The funeral payment is a bit more in depth than an award amount. It's a breakdown of costs, as they can only award specific services and the amount of what they would pay for example in Edinburgh would be different to what they could award in the Welsh Valleys due to the difference in local authority charges. They can also reduce the award for any money they consider available or due - but what they can take off is restricted by law. They cannot take off your own money or money that you had to borrow. If you want to email me a copy of the funeral bill, or even just list out the items as they appear on the bill and amounts for each, I can take a look. I appreciate that the information is sensitive so I can take it by pm if you prefer. If you don't want me to advise, that's fine too obviously. Funeral payments are very complex and few people understand this benefit. I know it rather well and have done submissions for tribunals for people on this benefit for the last oooh - six or seven years.

 

For example:

 

Funeral directors services - £xxx

Burial charges - £xxx

Flowers - £xxx

 

and so fourth.

 

If they have reduced the award amounnt, the award letter will say something along the lines of "money you have told us about" and an amount. If they have done this, I can tell you if they were right to take off this money, because this is one thing where mistakes are often made.

 

You'd also need to let me know the local authority area that you live in so that I can asses the burial/cremation fees they have awarded, as the amount they award depends on the fee set by the council for that area.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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Ok Laura - try now.

My advice is based on my opinion, my experience and my education. I do not profess to be an expert in any given field. If requested, I will provide a link where possible to relevant legislation or guidance, so that advice provided can be confirmed and I do encourage others to follow those links for their own peace of mind. Sometimes my advice is not what people necesserily want to hear, but I will advise on facts as I know them - although it may not be what a person wants to hear it helps to know where you stand. Advice on the internet should never be a substitute for advice from your own legal professional with full knowledge of your individual case.

 

 

Please do not seek, offer or produce advice on a consumer issue via private message; it is against

forum rules to advise via private message, therefore pm's requesting private advice will not receive a response.

(exceptions for prior authorisation)

 

 

 

 

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