All capital resources held when the application is made must be taken into declared and will be taken into account.
Capital means savings and anything else of value owned by your client and any spouse or partner.
For example:
- Value of any land and buildings your client or their partner own including interests in timeshares
- Additional properties
- Money in the bank, building society, post office, ISA’s, premium bonds, national savings certificates etc.
- Money belonging to your client held in other family members’ names where your client still has access
- Investments, stocks and shares
- Value of other non-essential possessions, such as a boat, a caravan, second car or other vehicle, jewellery (but not wedding or engagement rings), antiques or items bought for investment purposes
- Money owed to your 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
- Value of your client’s car if it is of a high net value
- Personalised number plates
- Coin or stamp collections, and any other valuable collections of memorabilia
- Valuable paintings or other art objects
- Valuable musical instruments (if not owned for livelihood)
- Separate car garages
- Redundancy payments
Redundancy Payments
A redundancy payment is normally treated as capital. However, any element of the redundancy payment which covers a notice period can be considered in assessing disposable income, with any payment covering severance taken into account as disposable capital.
Items disregarded from assessment of capital
The following items can be disregarded from the assessment of your client’s capital:
- Home in which your client and partner live
- Your client’s household furniture and clothing
- Your client’s tools and equipment they need for work
- Payments made from or in connection with the Windrush Compensation Scheme
- Payments made from or in connection with Scottish Child Payments
- Any payment under Part 4 of the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care (Scotland) Act 2021
- Adult Disability Payments (ADP)
- Short Term Assistance Payments while the ADP award is under appeal
- Any payment made under the Scottish Infected Blood Support Scheme
- Any additional payment made under the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 (cost of living)
- Any temporary additional amount to the social fund winter fuel payment paid by virtue of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment (Temporary Increase) Regulations 2022 (cost of living).
