Our client had her name added to elderly mother's (modest) bank account so that she could manage mother's affairs. LA have now discovered this and are claiming overpayment of HB, as client had "savings" she had not declared. Client never used any of the funds in the bank account for herself, only for mother's needs. Is there any way of challenging the LA's decision that half of the account belonged to her? This must be a situation which arises frequently but we haven't had to appeal it before.

The LA should be considering whether your client is actually the beneficial owner of any of the funds in this account. As you say, this sort of set-up is surely quite common and should not lead to the funds being treated as the claimant's own monies.

Maybe the quickest way to sort it out would be to show the LA some evidence of the activity on the account, which would presumably show that the expenditure is solely for the benefit of your client's mother, although I appreciate that this route does intrude on the mother's privacy quite heavily.

i agree with the above. you might find CIS 7097/95 useful.

Tue 29-Nov-05 11:55 AM by ken

As luck would have it, CH/404/2005 has recently been issued.

This may or may not assist - it will depend on the facts of your client's case.

Regards