Qualified adult change in circumstances letter

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lockster

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I have recently received a letter from state pensions in regard to the IQA to which I have been entitled in relation to my wife, who was a homemaker and therefore did not make PRSI contributions. The letter states that "The Department has recently been notified that the financial circumstances of my spouse have changed".

In truth nothing has changed, she is entirely dependent on my pension, and therefore earns less than the €100 per week to qualify. I now have to submit new forms. I have a couple of related queries.

Does anyone know what the notification received by the Department might have been?
How do bank account savings affect the calculation of entitlement? Is it related to weekly interest received or is there an amount assigned as weekly income dependent on the amount saved? Is there a formula to work out how this affects the entitlement?
Does the department have access to bank account information in relation to my accounts, my spouses accounts or joint accounts?
Should I call the Department to ask what the notification was?

id appreciate any advice or wisdom
 
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The QA portion of a pension is means tested therefore any income she receives will have an affect on how much she would receive. The amount is reduced on a sliding scale depending on the amount she earns.

If she has less than €100 per week from employment or perhaps a UK part pension perhaps she has some property or savings or investments. Savings in her own name plus 1/2 the savings in a joint account will be taken into consideration.

SW have a complex system for working out income from savings, it bears no relation to actual income but as a rough guide they €57,000 savings equal to income of €100 per week therefore any savings over that will reduce the QA payment.

Yes they have the power to go to her bank account but this is usually only if they have reason to believe she is not telling the full story.

BTW any savings or investments in your sole name does not have any affect on either yours or her payment
 
Revenue and SW work together on this issue, with the banks providing interest income information to them so please check all that stuff along the lines suggested by Blacksheep before you fill out the forms. Something triggered this so be sure the forms are right. Perhaps its an error....
They don't have, in the first instance access to the bank accounts but they do get the gross interest returns.

I helped a neighbour with this:
forms came out, went back, then they wrote asking for 5 years bank statements to be brought to an interview: it all worked out and they were very nice but clinical but not pernickety
 
Just a thought:- Did she inherit any cash or property recently?

In a case like this there is usually something that alerts SW interest in her/your pension so as Irocha has already said make sure you have all the i's dotted and all the t's crossed
 
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