# Old age non contributary pensions, savings and means test



## newseeker1 (13 Mar 2010)

Hi 
How much savings is an elderly person allowed to have and still be able to quality for the full amount of the old age non contributary pension and not subject to pension being reduced after a means test


Are there any rules or regulations in terms of if both husband and wife are alive and both getting the old age non contributary pension and both have savings, some held in their joint names and some in their individual names 

Thanks


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## pudds (13 Mar 2010)

Have a browse here you should get all the info you seek.

State Pension (Non-Contributory)


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## sc12 (14 May 2010)

Hope someone may be able to help me. My parents have a b&b which is their business, they dont live there, they live in a house next door. For the past 3 years the business is making a loss. The business is in my dads name and he has not reached pension age yet, another 6 months to go. My mum applied for the noncontrib pension and they were means tested. The result is she is not entitled to anything as they have listed the b&b as capital worth 600k with a weekly means of over 1k. They are in fairly dire straits as they have nowhere near any kind of income, just about keeping head above water using an overdraft. They have 2weeks to appeal so my question is, do they have grounds for an appeal or is this just the system i.e you are expected to try and sell your business even though no one will buy at the moment? And if you cant sell, you still dont get anything just because you have a business regardless of whether you can make any money from it? It seems unfair, I hope someone can explain to me or offer any suggestions on how to appeal.
thanks


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## laila (15 May 2010)

My mother was in that situation a number of years ago. She moved out of the family home which was in a bad state and my dad could not use the stairs anymore due to a stroke. They moved into a house owned by a brother. After my dad passed away she applied for the pension but was refused based on the capital value of the original family home. The only way she would have got it was to move back to a now semi derelict house which then the council would have had to pay to make habitable with hind sight we should have done that. We had tried to years to sell the place but no amount of pleading our circumstances would change things. Many years later the place was sold and the money was given to family members to reimburse them for financially supporting my mother - there were four of us who direct debited an amount each month. A few years after the sale when the money was gone My mum eventually got the pension at 80!

I can't see any way either of your parents will get a non contributory pension. Even if they give away the B&B - you are not allowed to give away assets in order to make yourself eligible for benefits. I think the only options for an income are to somehow turn the B&B around into something that will pay, could it be converted into self contained units that could rent all year round? Can you or any siblings financially support your parents until things pick up - u could think of it of investing in protecting your inheritance. Sell the lot, move to something more manageable and invest the capital as a pension. Good Luck


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## Welfarite (15 May 2010)

The kernel of the problem is the assessment of the second house (B and B) as capital. Presumably, they also own the house they are living in. Essentially they are looking for a State Pension while still being employed and owning a second property. This would have to change to have any chance of qualifying for state pension; they would have to retire and sell the property. Then, they would still be assessed with whatever capital is realised out of the sale and after any loans/mortgages are paid off. 
Two points about the assessment of income; one, if the B abd B house is assessed as capital, then the income realised from it should not also be assessed. Two, you say they are operating at a loss but SW assessed an income of 1k per week. I don't see how this can be if the accounts show a loss. These are moot points though, as the capital assessment is still way over the means limit.
She could appeal but it is unlikley to be successful given the factual nature of the house valuation.


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## milic (15 May 2010)

The key question here is whether the second property is still in use as a B&B. If still used as a B&B then Social Welfare were wrong to assess capital value of the property. Capital value applies only when the property is not being used.

It seems that SW have decided that the B&B is closed and the 1K assessed is weekly value of the capital assessment. 

If the B&B business is still operating, the actual income from business should have been assessed, not the capital value.


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## gipimann (15 May 2010)

...sorry, post deleted


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