Hi,

does anyone know how much you can gift your grandchildren on a yearly basis without it being seen as deprivation of capital? my colleague thinks £3000 (for all grandkids not just one!) but i wondered if anyone knows for certain?

Its for a pension credit claim by the way!

thanks

Your colleague appears to be thinking vaguely of inheritance tax annual exemptions...I'm not aware of any specified amount for deprivation.

The problem is almost worse for SPC because of the absence of an upper capital limit: younger people who have that sort of money to give away would probably be way over the benefit threshold anyway. And one of the problems is that the notional capital rules have plainly raised their ugly head so ignorance can hardly be pleaded.

I suppose the answer is they might get away with it, but they might have to appeal and show that qualifying for (more) benefit was not in their minds.