Income Support

[stu123]

hi im on income support and have won some money .most of the winnings has went to debt but im left with 9k. will I need to let them know even though im probably going to spend it all or most of it? ty

[black_cat51]

If someone is held to have deprived themselves of capital in order to get or retain a means-tested benefit, the capital can be treated by the DWP as if they still had it and classed as “notional” capital. In some cases, the amount of notional capital along with actual capital will exclude people from a benefit. Or, people may still be entitled to the benefit but, because of their notional capital, the assessment is related to a higher tariff income than their actual capital would warrant. However, if there are good and sensible reasons for someone spending their capital, and getting, retaining or increasing the means-tested benefit isn’t a significant motive for them spending part of their savings, they should not be affected.
the above comes from a website about inheritance.
The best thing to do is just ask the DWP - if it's fine, then great, but if you have to declare it, better to find out now than when you are in court for fraud i suppose

[Buenchico]

You're required to notify the DWP of any relevant change to your circumstances. (So, obviously, the short answer to your question is 'Yes')

Deliberately lowering your savings to avoid holding more than the threshold for receiving benefit could see you treated as if you still had the savings. However if you can show that your expenditure is entirely reasonable (such as fixing the leaking roof that's had buckets under it for the past decade) then you should have no problems.

[Gizmonster]

Anything less than £6k and you're ok.
Anything over £16k and you're entitled to no means-tested benefits.
I would assume that your entitlement changes, as soon as your financial circumstances change, so if I was you, I'd try and reduce your savings to £6k as soon as possible.

Take a look here:

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/savings.aspx

Copied from the above website:

"If you deprive yourself of capital in order to increase the amount of benefit you get you can be treated as if you still had that capital (this is called ‘notional capital’). This might occur if you give money away to members of your family or buy expensive items in order to reduce your capital.
You will not be considered to have deprived yourself of capital if you have paid off debts or used money on ‘reasonable’ spending on goods and services."

[stu123]

ok thank you.im going to call tomorrow as I would worry too much