Benefits Integrity Centre

Derek4 wrote:

I suspect if you have £5500 in the bank, the DWP would be interested in how much cash you have, in case it's over £500.

Or perhaps if you have £5500 in total they might look at when your next benefit payment is due, ready to nab you for having more than £6000.

But if you're allowed £6k, you will always exceed the savings limit every time you recieve your IS or DLA.

So, I thought there was a rule in place that disregarded any normal regular DWP payment for a set period of time ( two weeks for fortnightly payments etc), to avoid a mass admin nightmare when claimants exceeded the £6k by £50 or £70 every 2 weeks ?

Hi Doris

As far as I'm aware there is no such rule.

Claimants with significantly less than £6K do not need to worry, but as your savings approach £6K you need to be aware of your capital.

The most bizarre aspect of the law is that if you have £6,501 in total and you buy a pint of beer, leaving you with £6,498, strictly speaking that's a change of circumstances that's material to your claim and needs to be reported.

If the following day you pay your rent, that's another one! I'm not quite sure how they administer these recalculations.

As far as benefit fraud allegations are concerned you only fall foul of the law if you fail to report a change that you could be reasonably be expected to be aware of, and you would not be expected to keep up to the minute accounts.

Regards

Derek

I thought the limited for savings was 16K?

Doris wrote:

But if you're allowed £6k, you will always exceed the savings limit every time you recieve your IS or DLA.

So, I thought there was a rule in place that disregarded any normal regular DWP payment for a set period of time ( two weeks for fortnightly payments etc), to avoid a mass admin nightmare when claimants exceeded the £6k by £50 or £70 every 2 weeks ?

Sorry Doris, you were right. There is such a rule.

Income, including benefit payments, are disregarded as capital for the period that it is paid for.

Money set aside for bills (if you pay them quarterly for example) however, still count as capital, so claimants still need to be careful if they are approaching £6k.

Regards

Derek

Derek4 wrote:

Doris wrote:

But if you're allowed £6k, you will always exceed the savings limit every time you recieve your IS or DLA.

So, I thought there was a rule in place that disregarded any normal regular DWP payment for a set period of time ( two weeks for fortnightly payments etc), to avoid a mass admin nightmare when claimants exceeded the £6k by £50 or £70 every 2 weeks ?

Sorry Doris, you were right. There is such a rule.

Income, including benefit payments, are disregarded as capital for the period that it is paid for.

Money set aside for bills (if you pay them quarterly for example) however, still count as capital, so claimants still need to be careful if they are approaching £6k.

Regards

Derek

Many thanks for that Derek.

Here's something that may be of help ( for those who understand the legal speak ).

www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch29.pdf

DM's guide to capitol ( sec 29 )

29020 Defines the term Capital, but note : 29021, which suggests regular IS payments are not capital.