Terms & Conditions

[karent]

a clt has a boyfriend who pays bills for her. So far he’s paid gas, electric, phone water rates bills, car tax, MOT, car servicing & repairs, some petrol and some groceries. She’s said he will pay any bills for her. Lucky her eh!

Having read the regs i’m still a bit confused re what attracts a disregard as voluntary pyt & what doesn’t.

Do we take into account as income 100% of any payments made for food, utility, rent, ordinary clothing, water rates and council tax? Or is it these that attract a £20 disregard? & do we disregard the MOT, car servicing etc completely?

HELLLLLLLPPPP? Too much Southern Comfort over the xmas break has addled my brain!

[markp]

Are you sure he’s not living there? Seems mighty generous to me!

(Cynic, I hear everyone saying!)

Seriously, is this therefore a dodge around paying maintenance (if there are kids in the household?

Do I know what I'm doing? The jury's out on that........................

[karent]

no cos she hasnt got any

[markp]

Looks like a full disregard to my reading of the schedule (HB Regs 2006 Schedule 5(14).

Lucky lady!

NB What income is she on if she can’t afford her bills? My colleague has just suggested that the boyfriend is fictitious and it’s really her income that’s she’s smoke-screening?

Sounds unreasonable but you never know.

Do I know what I'm doing? The jury's out on that........................

[Anonymous]

[quote:8fd328b358]What income is she on if she can’t afford her bills?[/quote:8fd328b358]

Similar to mine, probably…

[Anonymous]

Hiya Karen
Glad to see you haven’t succumbed to abstinance. 😀 😀
HB 46 (6) and schedule 5 may help, but…..

if you think these are payments of income but are voluntary then I would say disregard them…as voluntary income received – unless you think he may be getting something in return??

I don’t think these are payments in kind, as payments in kind is not a payment of cash but in goods….and that does not seem to be happening here. And this is not as rare as Mark may think, I have certainly come accross it before – but the rules were different then!

(When it comes to working out if he is getting something in return, – I should let your visiting officers sort that one out!!) 8)

[karent]

nah
he definitely exists & we have seen proof that he pays bills for her

her income is a part time job. & you’re right – she can’t afford to live which is why we asked how she was managing, hence the declaration re the generous boyfriend (whose separate address has been checked out)

thanks for your response Mark – ive just looked at HB 2006 Sched 5 (14) and tend to agree with you

Could I have another opinion please -either agreeing or not with this?? Need to be really clear cos it’s the difference btwn us taking it to TAS or not & possibly ending up with a lot of runny yellow stuff on our faces or not…….

[karent]

hi John – happy new year

our postings crossed in cyberspace I think

yes i agree they’re not payments in kind – but is it not really income either cos he doesnt give her the money to pay the bills – he pays them for her?

doh

[markp]

I think it’s all voluntary payments therefore all disregarded.

Does that mean no submission to TTS and a lot less hard work?

Do I know what I'm doing? The jury's out on that........................

[karent]

it means that we dont look like a bunch of twits!

& Mrs ‘i’ve got a Sugar Daddy’ gets the right amount of benefit

& yup – no submission necessary

[Anonymous]

I agree with Mark P – a full disregard under Schedule 5(14) of the HBR 2006 (the £20 disregard business disappeared with the introduction of the 2006 regs).

[karent]

thanks Andy
that’s it – i’m sold on it now

thank you all for your responses

i’m off to get a supersession sorted!

[Anonymous]

❗ Just seen this and have received an appeal about my decision to count such payments for services and food to third parties as income.

Similar circumstances:

Son pays for gas, electric and food for mother (claimant). He makes the payments on cards and buys the goods for her on a weekly basis.

My understanding of Old Reg 26 (3)(a) or new reg 32(6)(b) is that the payments he makes to the gas and electric companies using the charage cards for her are not to be disregarded as notional income but [u:85bcffc118]should be counted as income [/u:85bcffc118]in full [u:85bcffc118]because they are for the benefit of the claimant[/u:85bcffc118].

Question i’m asking is, the son also makes mortgage repayments for her as the guarantor in her mortgage contract.

How does that count? Is that notional income or not?

[Anonymous]

A similar situation re mortgage payments was addressed by the Commissioner in CFC/21/1989.

It was held that the payments were impressed with a resulting trust and so were not part of the claimants income

[Author]

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