Child benefit & tax allowance. What income is taken in to account when calculating these?

Question

My sisters husband died last September. She gets a monthly payment from his insurance company and she received a lump sum from his pension. When we resubmitted the form to Dept of Social Security to let them know she is now single parent, we declared the insurance payment and the lump sum but they have calculated her benefits without these taken in to account as they said they didn't need to. Is that correct? Has that something to do with the nature of the income? We are worried she is getting more than she is entitled to and this may cause problems in the future

Answer 1

If shes a single non working parent then the monthly payment will count a income, but depending on the amount of the lump sum it may be disregarded as you are allowed some capital. See if you can get an appointment at welfare rights or CAB both of whom can do a full beneifts check for her.

Answer 2

Hi Laure :)

If you're in the UK you can use the government "entitled to" website to give you a rough idea of her entitlement

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

or you can have a look at governemt site for a basic "over view" of the benefit system http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndB...

If those sites dont help, make an appointment at your local CAB; they offer great, free advice.