Sad for my friends £125k lottery win.

[Sogfree]

£125k win on the postcode lottery.

Single mum to 3 children (all primary age). Works as a TA, so receiving benefits to top up her income.

She would like to use her winnings for a deposit on a house. But due to the benefits rules not being allowed to pay a mortgage, she can't buy a property.

So she's going to spaff the entire lot as quick as she can, and the government will continue to pay rent to a multi property owner and make them richer.

The only asset she'll get to keep is a newer car - not anything fancy as she knows she won't be able to afford the insurance/fuel once the winnings run out.

Her one chance of breaking free of a life on benefits and she's got to throw it away. It feels wrong.

What are you studying please as I am looking at retraining/studying due to a small inheritance?

Dietetics. The starting salary isn’t massive (where I am in London it’s higher than elsewhere) but it quickly climbs and it’s a growing industry both NHS and private sector. It’s absolutely fascinating work and is also easily applied to self employment if you’d rather do, eg, weight loss dietetics.

I mean this is 25% ownership, so on top of the mortgage of 30k to buy, she's now got to pay rent on the other 75%. I'm not sure what the amount is but paying rent is not going to be a small amount given the property is worth in excess of 600k. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this amount will not be covered by UC. And it's not just the service charge that can go up, these companies can inflate the "market value" and up the rent to cover it at any time. This would not provide security.

also, ‘lose her her benefits’ she doesn’t NEED benefits now.

This. This woman is not being diddled out of her money, or being hard done by by the system. The system is no longer going to help her, because she has a vast amount of disposable wealth now - over 3 times the national average wage before tax, and no doubt 6 or more times her gross salary as a TA. If a person who wasn't hitherto on benefits and was renting found themselves unemployed, but had £125k in savings (however this came to them - through their own work or a windfall), they wouldn't be able to claim benefits/rent either. So why are people posting as if this woman is a victim?

That's a valid point. The dwp only pay the lha rate for the area if someone is in a private let - doubtful if they would pay the full rent charge on this - which would be quite high

No, she can't. She can't spaff it away, either. Both would be seen as intentional deprivation of assets.
DWP will dictate that she spends it on normal living until it runs out, otherwise she won't be able to claim benefits again.
It is a pretty crap situation.

It isn’t a crap situation, it’s just a shame she can’t make better use out of it if she doesn’t buy a property. She can still live off the money for a couple of years and have a few nice extras like a few reasonable holidays and more on the food shop etc, and then start claiming benefits again once she’s below 16k. Her standard of life will be slightly higher until the money runs out, she just can’t take the piss. She’s certainly not been disadvantaged or put in a crap situation by her win.

I have 2 friends who are single parents of one child each. Both work. One inherited some money but with this money she could only afford a one bedroom apartment. So she lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment with her child. One got on the waiting list for a council property and finally got a very spacious 2 bedroom apartment.

Not sure who is better off. Both live in similar areas.

That sort of money is unfortunately not life changing in 2026. Unless you live in a very very low cost part of the country. (not everyone can just move away from their family and support network)

Not sure how owing a property and renting it out would affect ones housing benefits.

Sorry why the sympathy, I was a single mum of 3 with no assets, I was worse off going back to uni than staying on benefits, worse off working in my graduate job after childcare and commuting costs and far worse off financially getting together with hubby (we were just above the threshold for top up benefits but he has CMS payments so we’re worse off than those that do receive top ups (after CMS deduction) plus have a large blended family to accommodate and support) Do I regret any of it, no 🤷🏻‍♀️ should we be rinsed anymore for tax when we’ve already had to just cancel our kids clubs to support someone to keep their lottery win, no too. If I were in her shoes I’d buy a shared ownership house, keep 16k as an emergency fund and live off my earnings until eligible for top ups again. The only thing I can understand is unfair is that if she already had a house with 125k equity then this wouldn’t affect her benefits so yes if she was to spend it on a house deposit (and thus saving the state significant housing subsidies) then she should be treated like anyone else who already had that equity

Sorry I think people who think single mothers with no housing assets can just get a higher paying job and are better off are incredibly uninformed, I did so but was at least fully aware earning significantly more would have virtually no difference on my overall disposable income. Having the security of your own house is a much more valuable thing to have, particularly if you are privately renting

well, I have never seen a benefits bashing thread quite like this before 😳

The one who owns is better off. They can sell and move wherever they like, they will have an asset to leave their child (if that’s important to them) and they won’t be paying rent in old age.

I don't think the OPs friend is being benefit bashed at all. People are trying to give advice. Advice not to just burn through the cash

It's true, you can do a full degree on apprenticeship wages - although I don't know how easy it is to get a place on one of these courses, I've heard competition is high. Besides, if she'd be getting paid to train, she could be doing it now if she actually wanted to, even without the winnings surely? What she earns as a TA will likely be the same or less than apprentice wages during a degree using this method (for teaching certainly).

You've sort of said what I've said. She can use her winnings in place of her universal credit for a few years. My point that a better off family would see more benefit from the winnings still stands. You've said that she could live a life of luxury and then go back to benefits but the point is that she can't... Enough people have said that you can't get the benefits back if you're seen to have been frivolous with your money. The "sad" thing is that a well off family would be able to spend this 125k as they please - Pay off the mortgage, put it in kids savings, go on holiday. None of these options are open to her if she feels like she will still need benefits after it's spent - 125k isn't a big enough win to cover all her expenses indefinitely. She should get guidance as to how much she can spend a year and it still be counted as "reasonable expenses". Maybe she'll be slightly better off for a while?

My comment about "losing the benefit" was in relation to posters advising her to put the entire amount into savings for the kids. You said she wouldnt need the benefits as they would be living off the winnings. If she gifted the cash, it would mean that they had no winnings to live off in the here and now and no benefits either.

It’s the opposite of benefit bashing. Benefits are for people who need them, not for people with £125k in the bank.

This would work fine, she could spend £££ on a % of a shared ownership property, keep a bit of cash to help with moving costs and furniture and once settled her UC will help over the rent portion of housing costs. Much more sensible than frittering away such a large pot of cash.

She"ll be more than slightly better off with 125k in the bank than being on universal credit. Particularly as she's still got wages coming in

No they won't necessarily. They'll pay the lha rate for the area. They won't necessarily pay all of her rent

Exactly what I said/meant, UC will help with the rent. Not cover it fully.

If she spends it too fast she will be done for deprivation anyway so she should be careful. I know of someone who spent an inheritance, not particularly lavishly just a new car clothes and a couple very good holidays lots of meals out and takeaways till they spent enough to get the benefit back- it certainly wasn’t a more lavish lifestyle than many people have and I don’t know them closely so maybe there is more to it- but they essentially had their previous spending compared to the spending they did to get through the inheritance and were pulled up on them being different.

as others have said part own sounds like the best idea

does she get any child maintenance for the kids? I’m on benefits, I became a single mother after I’d already got my mortgage. It’s true they won’t pay your mortgage but they will I think pay the interest on the mortgage/at least give you a loan for that. However she won’t get a mortgage unless she can prove she can afford to pay it I guess. Anyway my point is it’s I don’t get help with my mortgage but just about managing as the child maintenance I get almost covers interest only. I’m able to pay interest only as I e got a disabled child however not sure you can plan to be in this situation. Child maintenance isn’t factored into benefits calculations but for many mortgages it is and mortgage is often much less than rent so she may find if she sits down and does some maths it’s possible. Certainly she will have less disposable than she is used to now but it’s likely possible. She should definitely get some decent financial advice.

It may be she has to buy something too small for the family but homeownership is possible. I have a 2 bedroom and was living with my ex renting it out and then when everything when wrong for me back here with 3 kids (one high need disability who requires his own bedroom) so I share with two of my kids. It’s crap possibly not the best life compared to help with rent and I’m frustrated I get a lot less than most people on benefits because I own this house. I do get frustrated thinking buying was the worst thing I did but I didn’t know my child would be disabled and I’d be abandoned for that. I pay interest only on my mortgage now and never will stop caring so we are stuck here forever. She won’t have that problem though? So as soon as kids are older she will be able to return to work and pay off the mortgage/move somewhere bigger. Benifits do pay well towards childcare if she wants to work full time.

it’s not just about her life now it’s about her old age and security then. Also inheritance for her kids to get them on the property ladder and their future.

So let me get this clear, she wants to buy a house and let the government ( our taxes) pay the mortgage. If I’ve got this right, this is what’s wrong with our country.

The OP doesn't want to pay rent or pay a mortgage. She wants the same lifestyle she has just now.

Well that isn’t possible, so thats not what’s wrong with this country

Seems so but that won't happen

Thank goodness.