Housing Benefit

[naomi24]

Is there a savings related cap on it? Someone I know receives her old age pension, lives in a council flat and has her rent paid for her but has around £75,000 in savings. I would have thought that makes her ineligible.

[Cloverjo]

The cap is usually £16,000 unless you receive pension credit. Perhaps she hasn’t told them about all her money. Or she gets Pension Credit.

[Cloverjo]

https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit

[naomi24]

I looked at that before I posted, Clover, but couldn't make sense of it in relation to this question. So if you receive Pension Credit there is no limit on savings?

[emmie]

i thought the cap was 16k as well,

[Cloverjo]

It looks like it, but I don’t know if there’s a cap on savings to receive Pension Credit.

[ladybirder]

I think there is a cap on PC. I'm pretty sure you don't get it if you have £75k in savings. Trouble is I don't think savings are checked. I hope we are not paying HB to people with that amount of savings. If we are we shouldn't be.

[ladybirder]

Google says //Only people who've reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 may be eligible to claim the Savings Credit part of Pension Credit. ... There isn't a savings limit for Pension Credit, but if you have over £10,000 this will affect how much you receive.\\

[Cloverjo]

If she’s got a basic state pension she can have a Pension Credit top up. Savings of over £10,000 are taken into account, but I don’t think there’s a cap.

[naomi24]

We most certainly are, LB. I don't understand it but I would like to.

[naomi24]

LB, //There isn't a savings limit for Pension Credit, but if you have over £10,000 this will affect how much you receive.//

She gets the whole of her rent paid. I don't know how much that is.

[ladybirder]

This link says you don't get any HB with over £16k in savings. I bet she's not paying any Council Tax either.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits#which-benefits-are-affected-by-savings

[naomi24]

I don't think she pays Council Tax. She hasn't mentioned that.

[iluvmargie]

My brother draws pension credit and he has a cap of £10,000 on his savings. But pension credit isn't the same as a state pension, is it?

[naomi24]

Actually, I think if she does pay Council Tax she would have mentioned it. She has a three bedroom council flat so wouldn't she have to pay extra for the rooms she doesn't need? Is that still the rule? I don't think she'd be happy with that.

[naomi24]

Margie, I don't know anything about pensions and benefits. You can tell! :o)

[iluvmargie]

I too am surprised she can receive housing benefit with so many savings. I always thought the 'authorities' were automatically informed when someone on benefits, i.e. pension credit, have a lot of savings, but like you naomi, I'm not 100% certain!

[ladybirder]

So did I Margie until I lived near a lady who knew this sort of thing. Thus was at least 15 years ago but she told me the DWP did not check up because they are not allowed to (Human Rights Act possibly). If they are suspicious, perhaps someone has reported them, then they can go to court and seek a warrant which allows them to do the appropriate checks. I believe we have at least one ABer who has or does work in Benefits who could verify this, or not.

[jackthehat]

Mrs JtH (works for the DWP) has just told me that your acquaintance ought to be receiving *nothing* from the public purse.
She also confirms that banks and DWP talk to one another and, in all likelihood you acquaintance will be asked to account for her neglecting to have been candid about the amount of her savings....

[ladybirder]

Good. But they do appear to be slow in doing that JtH. I wonder how long she has been getting HB Naomi.

[naomi24]

Thanks JtH. She has been on benefits for years - since long before retirement age - and acquired her 'wealth' a couple of years ago when her mother died and she received her share from the sale of the house. I'm wondering now if she's given the money to someone else to look after for her - but it must have gone through her bank account initially so would be traceable. All very odd.