Housing Benefit

[The Mullet of G]

I'm looking for people's experiences with claiming housing benefit while they're mb-ing...

When I initially claimed I wasn't mb-ing at all but my claim needs a full re-assessment when I move home later this month and my bank statements show many bookmaker/moneybooker transactions over the past few months.

I'm thinking there's a chance they'll see I've been making money and possibly demand re-payments as well as it affecting my future claim.

Any good or bad experiences with this sort of thing please?.

Cheers.

[rogsmith]

Hello mate,the only thing i can say is that i use a completly different bank account for mbing and thats all i use that account for.Its a bit late now but i would get another account so you can keep this seperate.

[racer54]

Hello mate,the only thing i can say is that i use a completly different bank account for mbing and thats all i use that account for.Its a bit late now but i would get another account so you can keep this seperate.

A friend of mine did this but they called him in to ask why he had not declared on his application form this 1 account,so i can only presume they also have access to your credit file as do the benefits agency.

Regards

[snowdogg]

the inland revenue dont treat gambling profits as income so why on earth should the benefits people? I think your most likely outcome given the kind of jobsworths that work in the public sector is they will make a big fuss over it and may try to cut your benefits but in the long run if you take it far enough you should be found in the right.

Best thing to do is get an appointment with citizens advice and see what they have to say

[Andy]

I'm thinking there's a chance they'll see I've been making money and possibly demand re-payments as well as it affecting my future claim.

Any good or bad experiences with this sort of thing please?.

In the past I was technically eligible to claim all sorts of benefits because I was only making money from Gambling which is not considered an "Income" so you dont have to declare it at all (I have a letter from the Inland Revenue confirming this, I wouls suggest you go to your local office and get one too).

However it was going to open up such a can of worms and although I knew it came from gambling and was not taxable or an income it was an argument I did not want to have so have never claimed a thing. Everyone I know in a similar position did the same and never claimed or stopped claiming. So I am afraid I dont have any experiance nor do I know of any. None of us have in practice claimed AND made money from Gambling at the same time even though in theory you can.

I should expect that ultimately you will be fine, it is gambling winnings and you can show that.

Best thing to do is get an appointment with citizens advice and see what they have to say

Im not saying dont do that and also I dont know what they have said yet anyway but OVERALL with this kind of thing I would say actually dont listen to what most "Experts" try to tell you, I promise you that YOU will be more informed than them about it. I mean with general questions about gambling and the authorities/tax office etc etc. DONT go to either an accountant or a lawer or the CAB or anything like that because I assure you they dont actually know what they are talking about and really YOU and I know better than them. They are just a "man on the street" and have all the same stereotype attitudes and opinions and in my experience have come out with some absolute nonsense but will proclaim it as fact.

I would say just go direct to the housing benefits people and explain in advance what has happened (because it has happened and you cant change or cover it up now so dont try). Then they will have to go away and come back with what the implications are for the past and will be for the future. You can then (and only then) querey this, and you might not have to. But until you have a position to argue against, there is no contrary advice/opinion needed. Do keep us posted though it will be very interesting to see what happens.

[PeterGriffin]

the main issue i see here and this is from a very limited knowledge of benefits is the fact you have the money....

all this talk of gambling profits not been taxable or classed as income is correct, but you will still have a pot of cash. does it really matter where it came from from a benefits POV?

e.g alot of benefits stop completely once you have 16k in savings, it wont matter where that 16k came from surely? if you have it you have it. a much lower amount in savings is required to start affecting benefits in some way.

tax credits. they dont count your capital, but DO want to know about any/all interest earnt off that capital.

of course all the above is irrelevant if you spend everything you earn on a day to day basis and dont save it up.

[cleaner]

the inland revenue dont treat gambling profits as income so why on earth should the benefits people?

because it is money you have at your disposal.
imagine, if you'd win zillions on lottery, it wouldn't be taxed but you wouldn't be eligible for any sort of help from public fund.

[Kranz]

I am a Civil Servant, not in Housing Benefit though.

I can only imagine they might look at bank statements to see interest accrued, as this would be treated as income for a Means Tested Benefit. Gambling transactions have nothing to do with it.

Also, no public servant I know, wouldn't give 2 sh!ts, and try and cut your benefit. If gambling transactions are not treated as income, you're fine.

I doubt any 'jobsworth' will make up the rules to deny you your benefit, if so, just write a letter of complaint or ask for a review of the decision.

[The Mullet of G]

Thanks for those replies guys.

"rogsmith", I do have a separate bank account for betting but I don't think it's for me to pick and choose which accounts I declare.

By way of capital, I have a float in the region of £3k and I know that won't affect things. I don't do a great deal of mb-ing but it still fills my statements up something rotten. Another issue with that is that on the odd occassion I've had a couple of hundred moved between mine and my girlfriend's monebookers so I'd expect they'd want to know what that was for...

I'll be updating the thread when I find out more Andy

[snowdogg]

Kranz I hope no offence was taken by the jobsworth comment. I was referring to my own personal experiences of dealing with the public sector, mostly local government, rather than a generalisation of all public sector workers