The decision maker should treat as capital1 any charitable or voluntary payment which is not made or due to be made regularly. If payments of income are made irregularly the decision maker should find out if there is an agreement or intention to pay regularly (DMG24100).
Example 1
In February 1999 the applicant received a payment from a charity for a winter fuel bill. Payments were also made by the same charity, for the same reason, in February 1996, 1997 and 1998, although no intention existed to make another payment.
The decision maker treats the payment as income. It has been paid regularly, even if this was not the original intention. It is the last (or possibly the latest) in a series of payments.
Example 2
In 1998 the applicant's parents gave him £500 for a holiday. Similar payments were made in 1991 and 1992, but no intention existed to make any further payments.
The payment has some features of income because it relates to a period, that is the duration of the holiday. The decision maker should treat the payment as capital because the payment is not made regularly and does not form part of a successive series (or intended series) of payments.
Example 3
An applicant received charitable payments in February, August and October 1998. Each payment was made for clothing expenses. No intention existed on the part of the charity to make further payments.
The decision maker treats the payments as capital because they were neither made, nor intended to be made, regularly and did not form part of a series (or intended series) of payments.
