Having visitors to stay when on benefits.

[kloofnek]

I am on State Pension+Pension Credit.I get housing and C/T benefits.Plus high rate mobility allowance.
I have just been told that one cannot have anyone staying eg:
My daughter and son-in-law coming for a holiday.
Does anyone know more about this,please?

[gingejbee]

I think you are confusing "living with" and "visiting"!

[rowanwitch]

There is a time restriction on someone staying with you it will be on the directgov website

[fliptheswitch]

They just mean you can't have anyone staying with you and paying rent/contributing to bills.

[kloofnek]

No,they said "staying"...
rowanwitch...could you give me the link for that please.

[fliptheswitch]

Yes, they mean staying as in "living" with you. I wouldn't have thought they could tell you no visitors.

[rowanwitch]

http://www.direct.gov...ToBenefits/DG_4016267

most of the stuff is on links from this page

[kloofnek]

thank you rowanwitch,had a look but cannot find anything about having people to stay....

[albaqwerty]

Who told you this?

If in doubt, check with your local council. A brother-in-law would stay with his dad (senior citizen, but am not sure about his entitlements regarding rent etc) for about a fortnight during the summer and a week at Xmas or New Year. My FIL had no problems.

[andy-hughes]

If you are having family to stay, and it is obvious that they are not paying you rent, or staying for an extended period, i cannot imagine that you will be contravening the conditions of your payments - after all - how are they going to know about it?

If anyone official queries this with you, confirm that the couple are family who are holidaying with you - that should be the end of the matter.

If your family opt to make a contribution towards their expenses while staying with you, then make it cash, and keep it between you.

[jackthehat]

Whoever told you this is either a) incorrect, or b) has misunderstood what you mean by 'stay with'.

There will be NO problem with you having visitors coming to stay with you for a holiday.
If they decided to 'stay-on' and look for work, etc. whilst living at your house....that is a different definition of 'staying' and *would* have an impact.

Don't worry yourself........and enjoy your time with your family.

[rowanwitch]

http://www.ageuk.org....dit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

Try pages 11 and 12 of this fact sheet if the people normally live else where it seems you would be ok AGE UK website has a load more stuffand you can e mail them or phone for more info

[brenda]

I used to have my aged Uncle to stay with me on holiday for 4 weeks , every year in the summer. This had no effect on his benefits nor on mine.He made no contribution to the running of my house or to my income but would always pay for meals when we went out and would sometimes pay for petrol when we went out say for the day in the car.Whoever told you that you cannot have a family member to visit you and stay over for a holiday is talking a load of baloney.

[kloofnek]

Thank you all for your imput.
rowanwitch,fact sheet very helpful,thank you.

[maclarencat]

Thats rubbish. If you were paying a carer to help look after you at night they would be "staying" but would not affect benefits. I regularly go and stay with my Mum who is on the same benfits as you as she lives 100 miles from me.

[kloofnek]

Hi maclarencat,
I posted this on another section of AB. and as your mother is in the same position as myself,so to speak,wonder what you know about this:

My son wants to come back home to live.I am in receipt of both HB and CT plus pension and Guaranteed Pension Credit and know that this will affect this.

Went to my Local Link and they told me that because I receive DLA mobility at the high rate,.my son would not have to contribute anything...can you believe that...I asked if I was hearing right
One of the posts answer to this say:
"1. What Link have told you is quite right. If you are on the top rate of DLA then no deduction is made from your Housing or Council Tax Benefit as a result of your son coming to live with you.

2. Your son cannot claim Carers Allowance if he is working and is paid more than £100 per week. This is the upper earnings limit which applies to that benefit.

3. Eddie is right to say you will lose the 25% single person's Council Tax discount, but as you are on Pension Credit I guess the whole of your Council Tax is covered by the Council Tax Benefit & that will continue to be the case. Nonetheless, you must let the Council know when he moves in. You must also make sure they know about your DLA. "

[kloofnek]

I have also read a Fact Sheet which rowanwitch gave me the link to,thank you, which then led to other fact sheets for HB and CT and these say the same,that any non-dependents will NOT have to contribute or a partner if one is in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credit also if one has a care componant of DLA.

I am having difficulty getting my head round this but it is there in black and white in the April 2011 fact sheets!!!!

[BenDToy]

Is there perhaps a regional issue here? In Scotland when someone uses the expression "stay" this seems to mean the same as "living with" or "residing". For example "where do you stay?" actually means "where do you live?" Or "my son stays with me" means that he lives with you. South of the border this generally means a temporary arrangement such as overnight or on holiday.

[kloofnek]

Am in England.
I was referring to "actually living" in my last post.I know it jumped from the "staying" question in the first post but was asking maclarencat if she knew anything about it after reading her post.
Sorry

[maclarencat]

I am sorry but I dont know about this but I do know that because Mum lives on her own she gets an additional payment everyweek I will try to find what it is called. I know this because she wasnt getting it and the benefits dept rang her oout of the blue and told her they had been underpaying her and that she was entited to wait for it £13,000 back payment! We were worried it wasnt correct but looked into it and it was right. If you are on top rate attendance and live alone and no-one is claiming carers allowance for you you get extra money. The £13000 was paid to her tax free etc. and didnt affect her benefits. So check you are getting that too.

[kloofnek]

thank you maclarencat .I just get my pension+PC and DLA.
Will be interested in what you say your Mum got...wow...I bet she was over the moon.
Trouble is,a lot of people do not know what benefits they can get and the DWP will not tell them...although they did right with your Mum.