My aunt and her daughters PIP/ benefits

Op if I understand you correctly, you are simply asking about your cousins capacity to manage her own money, not whether she is entitled to it.

I can't tell from the info you have given whether she is capable but I think she will have to consent to her mum doing it on her behalf.

I actually think 16 is quite young to manage your own benefits if you are still at home but if she does , her family will have to support her being sensible with it.

But the main criteria for PIp is that you are not capable of caring for yourself independently and need help with washing ,dressing ,cooking and cleaning and navigating independent travel ,.

The Op Has her staying over 3/4 nights a,week so I assume Has a good idea of her capabilities, I assume your relatives don't have your child staying over 3/4 nights a weeks?

The main thing you can do is help her set up a bank account in her own name if she doesn’t already have one.

If she does get PIP then she can at least get it paid into her bank account.

Cash in hand job? What is the job? You are aware if anything happens to her while she is doing this job she is not insured. Hopefully, it is a job which has minimum risks to her.

Sounds as though your aunt is afraid of the drop in income as she has just been adding the DLA to the household budget. It is a shock when benefits come to an end but she needs to be prepared for this.
I wouldn't get involved myself though.

I would imagine it is a shock to parents who get UC with childcare to lose that chunk of money. So I think she is probably worried about paying the bills. £70 isn't much really towards food & rent.

It all sounds a bit dodgy though - your cousin seems able to work Saturday & Sunday & they aren't declaring that income. Meanwhile both Aunt & cousin are claiming UC.

Is there a reason your Aunt can't work? Because long term she won't have access to her daughter's benefits & will have to manage without. Also your cousin could lose benefits if they discover she is in fact more capable than they have been told.

You are not entitled to Pip unless you have care needs.

It's nothing to do with how bad your health is. It's to do with whether you need specific care or not.

If she can:

Make food without help
Eat without help
Take meds without help
Washe and bathe without help
Toilet without help
Dress and undress without help
Communicate verbally without help
Read without help
Engage with other people face to face without help
Manage her money without help
Walk without help
Make journeys without help

Then she is not entitled to PIP at all

They will do an appointee interview.

My autistic ds wants me to be appointee as he finds it too much dealing with things himself and he also holds down a job.

So they made me appointee at his request.

Your niece can tell them she wants to manage it herself. If they deem her to have mental capacity then they will pay it direct to her.

PIP is intended to support disabled people whether they are in work or not. So her "job" isn't relevant for it.

As others have said her mum can apply to be her appointee.

The process is quite gruelling - I have just been through it. I submitted over 100 pages of medical evidence and had a detailed interview for about 1.5 hours where they picked up on any discrepancies in the medical info and asked for a lot of examples of things.

Many people apply and are turned down.

Don’t have much experience on PIP so thank you :)
yes completely agree. OP has made it sound like her aunt has just been spending it on herself when it should be used for like you say, the childs costs.

If the claimant has an appointee to manage their benefits, PIP can be paid into either the appointee’s account or the claimant’s.

WRT the DLA, it is fine for it to become part of household income, there’s no requirement to prove what it was spent on. The parent is covering all the child’s costs, and the money becomes part of that.

The DLA money recieved so far should not have been spent by your aunt at all, it’s purely for the child who has SN/ disabilities. PIP I believe needs to be in your cousin’s name and bank account. Your aunt has literally been spending money entitled to her daughter and if gov found this out she’d probably need to pay it back. I have a severely disabled daughter on DLA and feel i’m entitled to spend her carers allowance as I please (as that’s for me in my name) but never her DLA money.

As another poster said, she is transitioning from DLA to PIP, which means she’s 16.

I think we need to suspend judgement on that. We have no idea about this young person’s conditions other than what the op believes. I have relatives who would say the same about my child who claims PIP, and genuinely believe it too. Except he absolutely qualifies and is eligible.

PIP won’t get awarded without supporting medical evidence, so ‘pretending she’s worse than she is’ won’t be an option.

If she's not in education she should be working because when she leaves education her mother will lose money. Do you actually think she should be able to keep all her money herself and only give her mum £70 a month? That's ridiculous.

Then why is this capable person only working 2 days a week in a job she didn't get herself? If she gets her PIP money herself is she going to give her mother more than just £70 a month board? Because that is a ridiculous amount for a fully capable adult to contribute to living in someone else's house.

Where does she say cousin is 16?

16 is the age that people who've been on DLA as children have to apply for PiP instead