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Local authority carer charges

My daughter (26 years old) has Down's Syndrome. She lives with my wife and I and receives Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Mobility Allowance. For some years, the local authority has provided carers who take my daughter out for 18 hours each week.

Recently the local authority sent her an ?Income Maximisation Form? with a view to assessing my daughter?s income so that they could start charging for this service. The form provided two possibilities for her living accommodation:

Lives in own house Lives in rented accommodation.

Neither of these apply to my daughter. She doesn?t own the house and has not the capacity to pay rent so my wife (who filled in the form) left them blank.

The local authority now want to start charging a contribution to the cost of the carers since it looks as if all her income is disposable (ie she has no accommodation costs). This is clearly wrong. I pay the council tax and household bills on her behalf but can not formally pass this on to her. If I do, presumably I become her landlord and liable for the Income Tax assessment that this involves.

Not sure how to resolve this impasse.

Reply to
Eric
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It is not wrong, she is living with you and you have not stated you are charging for this so where are they wrong?

Reply to
Alan Ferris

I would assume that she falls under the severely mentally impaired exemption for council tax, so shouldn't be paying any. However, if both you and your wife live in the house, that won't make a difference.

She is receiving benefits in her own right, in which case you should have a power of attorney, or power under a receivership to spend her income on her reasonable share of the household costs.

I'm not sure you want to go there. Firstly councils tend to ignore attempts to get round the rules, but also it would be her who received benefit in kind and potentially had to fill in a tax form. (There are exemptions for small resident landlords, and I presume there may be ones for live in children.)

At the very least, I think you are talking in terms of a test case before the rules would change.

Reply to
David Woolley

No, whatever makes you think that? She's your daughter and her income contributes to household costs, why should this make you liable to tax?

Why not ask the LA what the rules for this situation are?

tim

Reply to
tim.....

You can receive up to £4250 per year in rent tax free.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

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