IQA means test

Ce he sin

My father claims IQA for my mother as part of his pension.

He's now received a letter asking him to confirm my mother's means. She has deposit accounts totalling enough to exceed the €100 pw means after which the IQA is cut back. She has not worked for sixty years so all the money on deposit came from my father. If he had kept the money under his own name the problem wouldn't arise. Is it of any use claiming the the money didn't relate to her in her own right and is basically all my father's?

TooTired123

If the money is in an account which only has her name on it then that means she could technically go to the bank, withdraw the whole lot, take it away and do whatever she wants to do with it, independent of your father.

So it is her money and it doesn’t matter really where it came from or how she got it. It’s hers.

Your father is claiming that his wife doesn’t have enough independent means to “keep” herself, so he needs to have an “increase” in his pension in order for them as a couple to live comfortably.

The State says that if your mother has any more then €20000 in saving that he still might be entitled to this “increase” just not the full amount of increase that he would get if she had less then €20000. The more savings she has the less he will get and so on until he’s not entitled to anything.

If they’ve had money that they shouldn’t have had from DSP then they’ll be told that they’re in an “overpayment” and it’ll have to be returned to the drawer.

If this happens I’d advise that they just pay it back in a lump and leave it at that.