Disposable capital
£1,716 maximum for eligibility
A person whose disposable capital exceeds the capital limit of £1,716 is not eligible for advice and assistance, whatever their disposable income or eligibility for a passport benefit.
Do not assume that an applicant has no capital when they are in receipt of benefits – in certain circumstances a person can have up to £16,000 in capital and still receive benefits
To calculate disposable capital, you should:
- calculate your client’s total capital
- deduct from the total capital the standard allowances
- disregard the level of capital shown in the section below if the applicant or their partner is of pensionable age (60 or over).
Working out your client’s total capital
Capital means savings and anything else of value the client and their partner, if appropriate, own.
This excludes the client’s main residence and the value of any disputed assets.
Examples of capital include:
- the amount that could be borrowed against all land and buildings the client or their partner own, including interests in timeshares
- money in the bank, building society, post office, premium bonds, national savings certificates etc.
- investments, stocks and shares, including ISAs
- money that can be borrowed against insurance policies
- the value of other non-essential possessions, such as a boat, a caravan, second car, jewellery (but not wedding or engagement rings), antiques or items bought for investment
- money owed to the client or their partner
- money due from the will of someone who has died
- money due from a trust fund
- money that can be borrowed against business assets
- redundancy payments.
You should not include in capital:
- the home in which the client and their partner live
- the client’s household furniture and clothing
- the client’s tools and equipment they need for work
Advice and Assistance Income and Capital Disregards
In addition, you should not include any of the following payments and benefits as capital, but where benefits have been accumulated by your client as savings, they should then be assessed as capital in the normal way:
- Adult disability payments and short term assistance given in accordance with the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022
- Armed forces independence payments under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011
- Back to work bonus (payable under the Jobseekers Act 1995)
- Carer’s Allowance Supplement under section 81 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018
- Care Experienced Student Bursary paid under regulation 3(1) of the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022
- Carer Support Payments
- Child disability payments and short term assistance given in accordance with the Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021
- Child maintenance bonus
- Child support maintenance (paid through the Child Maintenance Service)
- Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 payments or any direct payment as defined in section 4(2) of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013
- Cost of living crisis payments via the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2023 and Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment (Temporary Increase) Regulations 2023
- Employment and Support Allowance – Contributory
- Jobseeker’s Allowance – contribution-based
- Personal Independence Payments under Part 4 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012
- Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 payments (financial redress for historical child abuse), or any relevant payments made or due to be made prior to the date of commencement of the redress scheme
- Scottish Child Payments
- Scottish Infected Blood Support Scheme payments
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 (cost of living)
- Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (except statutory sick pay) including:
- Adoption pay
- Attendance allowance
- Bereavement allowance
- Bereavement payment
- Child benefit
- Christmas Bonus for pensioners
- Council tax benefit
- Disability living allowance
- Guardian’s allowance
- Housing benefit
- Incapacity benefit
- Industrial injuries disablement benefit including Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance and Constant Attendance Allowance
- Invalid care allowance (carer’s allowance)
- Statutory maternity pay (non-occupational)
- Statutory shared parental pay (non-occupational)
- Widowed parent’s allowance
- State Pension Credit under the State Pension Credit Act 2002
- State retirement pension
- Tax Credits under the Tax Credits Act 2002
- Universal Credit
- Victoria Cross or George Cross payments
- War widow’s and widower’s pension, and war disablement pension
- Welfare Fund payments
- Windrush Compensation Scheme payments
- Windrush connected payments – any other payments made.
- Winter fuel payments paid by virtue of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments (Temporary Increase) Regulations 2022 (cost of living).
Standard allowances
Standard allowances against capital are deductible for the following persons:
- a partner whose resources have to be aggregated – who is considered as the first dependant and/or
- a dependant person who is wholly or substantially maintained.
No allowances should be made for any children where the applicant receives Foster Care Allowance or Kinship Carers’ Allowance.
For the first dependant |
£335 |
For the second such dependant |
£200 |
For each other such dependant |
£100 |
Disregards for applicants of pensionable age
Where the applicant or their partner is of pensionable age (60 or over in all cases), with a weekly disposable income (excluding investment income and any of the disregarded benefits listed above) below £105, you should disregard capital as follows:
Weekly disposable income up to £10 |
Disregard £25,000 |
Weekly disposable income £11 – £22 |
Disregard £20,000 |
Weekly disposable income £23 – £34 |
Disregard £15,000 |
Weekly disposable income £35 – £46 |
Disregard £10,000 |
Weekly disposable income £47 – £105 |
Disregard £5,000 |
Examples
Applicant of a pensionable age, with no dependents, capital of £21,500 and a weekly disposable income of £20 is entitled to a disregard of £20,000. This leaves them with Disposable Capital of £1500, which is below the eligibility limit of £1,716 so they are financially eligible for advice and assistance.
Applicant of pensionable age, with no dependents, capital of £25,000 and a weekly disposable income of £20 is entitled to a disregard of £20,000. This leaves them with Disposable Capital of £5,000 which exceeds the eligibility limit of £1,716 so they are not eligible for advice and assistance.