To think it's outrageous that a poor pensioner is charged money because she saved

[MummyChelleKent]

I'm so upset with the mail story. A very poor pensioner on a pension of 150 a week saved a bit every month. After a while she saved up 22k to help with her funeral costs and now she's being told she can't have housing benefit and will have to give them all of her savings!

[Kazzyhoward]

she wasn't on benefits

Err yes - it's all about her wrongly claiming housing benefit.

[HeadintheiClouds]

What are you on about, Rubbing?

[Alsohuman]

It’s about her claiming housing and council tax benefit, to which she was entitled on the basis of income. I doubt very much that she was aware that the money she’d saved from her pension over 30 years removed that entitlement.

I’m really conflicted on this one. Of course it’s technically benefit fraud but I suspect it’s inadvertent and unintentional. It seems quite sad that 30 years frugality has brought her to this when she’d be fine if she’d spent it.

[Piffle11]

@RubbingHimSourly she was claiming Housing Benefit.

Someone - whether her or her representative/relative - was repeatedly ticking the box to declare she didn't have savings over £16k. If they did 'leave her be' then her family would be pocketing the money, all the while she hadn't been paying Council Tax. If I stopped paying Council Tax I could save a lot, too.

[Knittedjimmychoos]

I agree there has to be a cut off somewhere for savings and 16 grand is v low. It should be at least 25.

I can't get excited about someone who has probably lived very frugally to put that money away. That generation has been frugal, self denial.

She had bad advice or no advice, as pp said she should have kept it just below 16 grand and enjoyed herself more.

I don't think she should be fined. I imagine she's made sacrifices for that money.

Also I'm sure I read she has a ld.

If that's the case it all needs to be cancelled.

[DennisMailerWasHere]

Yes, I could save a lot in the bank if I simply stopped paying my council tax too.

I'm sure I read she has a ld.

Absolutely not! People can commit huge benefit fraud then claim to have not understood when found out? If this woman genuinely (medically) lacks capacity, then her guardian or carers who assisted with benefits claims needs to be prosecuted instead. You shouldn't just get tens of thousands of pounds of fraud written off so trivially!

[DennisMailerWasHere]

I'm sure I read she has a ld. If that's the case it all needs to be cancelled. Quote fail. This I fundamentally disagree with

[Kazzyhoward]

when she’d be fine if she’d spent it

Which is exactly everything that is wrong with benefits UK. There must be a better way rather than effectively punishing the frugal and supporting the feckless.

[Alsohuman]

I don’t think it should be written off and forgotten about either. But I do think it’s very sad. People of that generation have frugality and saving in their DNA and she thought she was doing the right thing. It’s just a pity she didn’t spend that money on little luxuries over the last 30 years.

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

OneRing.......she wasn't on benefits. She'd previously worked as a.chambermaid. this money has been saved from her state pension

The state pension isn't means tested though and has nothing to do with it. Are you reading the same story?

[SagAloojah]

Housing benefit is a benefit, but I do have sympathy for this woman, as ppl say, I wish she hadn’t denied herself. Maybe she had hoped to leave the money to her kids.

It’s a lesson for others, I’ll certainly be urging my mother to not be so frugal. And it’s look like you have to declare savings over £10k if you get pension credit.

[codenameduchess]

I agree there has to be a cut off somewhere for savings and 16 grand is v low. It should be at least 25.

Low? Many working people, unable to claim benefits, struggle to save £16k so why should someone with over a years NMW sat there be given handouts?

The care funding for the elderly is another matter, and I believe where the £23k figure comes in. But again if there are assets there to pay for care then surely they are better used to actually care for the person then relying on a crumbling and inadequate system that isn't going to be fixed any time soon.

This lady was committing fraud, age is irrelevant at this point.

[Idontwanttotalk]

I know of someone who gets ESA and PIP for their illness (MH condition) who has sleep issues and hardly goes out. They live frugally and are worried about having money in their future retirement. As a result their bank balance goes up..and their ESA goes down as a result. If they just spent more money on new clothes, household goods and holidays etc as other claimants must do then they would be able to keep the higher amount of ESA.

[twattymctwatterson]

This is a woman who is actually materially quite comfortable. Asset rich with huge savings(let's not pretend she saved £22k just from £150pw, but she's committed benefit fraud for years.

Not some poor little old lady who made a mistake.

[MyDcAreMarvel]

It was THIRTY TWO. But yes she saved £29 a week for 21 years . How is that such a difficult concept.

[NitrousOxide]

I haven't read the actual article, but can't you see that a 36 year old should be at work and able to finance themselves, whilst an 86 year old is not going to get a job tomorrow, is she.

Lots of younger people on housing benefit do work. There are also disabled people who are unable to work.

Either way, whether or not she could get a job is irrelevant: the facts are that she received benefits and didn’t declare her savings like you’re supposed to. It’s hypocritical to think that someone who broke the rules and the law should be given special treatment because of their age.

The whole system needs an overhaul in favour of claimants, but not in a way that involves double standards.

[WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt]

Either way, whether or not she could get a job is irrelevant

of course it's completely irrelevant, an 86 year old is no longer able to support herself financially! but has to rely on previous savings to do so. She is not going to start earning the money back now, is she.

[WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt]

the only lesson of this story is to hide your assets, or best spend everything as quickly as you can and rely on the state to pay off when you need it.

It's high time we transform the benefit system! Penalising people who carefully save but not the ones who have been splashing all they had is ridiculous.

[HeadintheiClouds]

Isn’t that just what’s wrong with the system? If it’s a choice between being able to save your benefit payments or choosing not to and “splashing” it instead? No wonder so many consider claiming benefits a lifestyle choice instead of the temporary safety net it was designed to be.

[Alsohuman]

She did save it from her pension. Why do people find it so hard to believe?

[NitrousOxide]

of course it's completely irrelevant, an 86 year old is no longer able to support herself financially!

Yes, which is why she was on benefits and subject to the same rules as everybody else.

Severely disabled people who can’t work are also unable to support themselves financially. Do you think it’s okay for them to amass £32K in savings and not declare it? I hope you don’t have a double standard here.

I completely agree with you that the system should be changed to reward frugality. I also think that this should apply to everybody, regardless of their age.

[NitrousOxide]

I just thought of something. If she was on housing benefit, shouldn’t she also have been on council tax benefit, or whatever it’s called now? The council have already made several calculation errors, so maybe they need to check if they’ve made a further error in denying her help with her council tax.

It wouldn’t cancel out her housing benefit overpayments, but if the council have made an error re: council tax benefit eligibility and she’s entitled to back pay, it could wipe out the council tax she owes.

[HeadintheiClouds]

She was able to save from her pension because the benefits office was subsiding her rent, Alsohuman.
What do you find hard to understand about that? How can it be ok to claim rent money because you can’t cover it yourself whilst saying “well yes, there is that money from the pension, but I’m not wasting that on rent; it’s mine”?

[Alsohuman]

She was getting council tax benefit. Huntingdonshire District Council (mine) is notorious for its inefficiency and incompetence, it’s a complete laughing stock round here. This story won’t do them any favours at all. In one year the average age of people they caught out for benefit fraud was 97. Yes, 97!

[dottiedodah]

If she has 22k stashed away then she is not a "poor Pensioner"!.People who are claiming benefits ,regardless of age are not allowed to have such a large amount "put by".She is not being very forthcoming with the truth ,and could not have conceivably saved this amount from £150.00 P/W unless she was not spending any money at all!.The problem is with many old people ,they tend to feel a little "hard done by" sometimes, and feel "entitled" to many benefits they dont qualify for! .Cue National paper gets hold of the story and it goes viral!.The cap on savings ,is so many old folk who are in need ,get the money they are owed fairly and squarely and who are unable to save anything at all!