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.

I think you would need to be living in a cave if you thought you could win 125k and keep your benefits

Surely a 15k a year payrise would offset the loss of benefits?

That is the thing though, and something someone upthread addressed.

Say you are on benefits because you are disabled and unable to work. You win £50k on a scratchcard. It is not enough to buy property outright, and as a deposit you would not get a mortgage anyway.
So your benefits stop, and you basically have to live on that £50k like you are still on benefits lest you be accused of DoC. The only winner is the government who don't have to pay you benefits for years.
You gained nothing, and have to go through the whole benefit application process again once that money is gone.

I am on UC. If I won £20k, I would rightfully have my UC stopped. But I would still have to live like I am on it... which is depressing.
This is pretty much why I only get the occasional Lotto ticket when it is a massive prize.

Edit - oops, you said a payrise. That is a bit different to a prize win.

Well yes. It happened to me when my flat had to be sold. I lost my benefits and my council tax reduction and had to pay full rent from the proceeds - and I didn't get a huge sum from the sale - but there was nothing I could do about it. And when I was back on benefits I got pulled in for an interview because they accused me of spending the rest too quickly - I wasn't. I was just paying bills and shopping.

But can still keep £15,000 which is lots

Sorry? I had a flat that was bought and paid for that I was forced to sell and from the money that I got from it I had to pay full rent full council tax (and I didn't get a fortune for it). I'm not complaining about that. It's the rules. But if you have between 6k and 16k you get deductions from your benefits

That isn't the point I was making. As someone else said even when you are back on benefits you are expected to spend what you have very carefully - or they can stop your benefits completely

Lots? How is 15k lots? When you are getting something like 280 pounds a month in UC because you have some savings - you have no option but to use them to live on

Well as someone who has never had that amount in savings despite always working full time (no benefits) I think it is incredibly shocking that people think they are entitled to tax payer help so they can hang on to savings at that level. The level of entitlement is unreal

Benefits are meant to be a safety net not a lifestyle choice

Tell her to buy gold. £500 on a sovereign here, £500 there. That's her new hobby, collecting coins. In a safe. Take out the cash £70 at a time : it is for shopping. Two years of that, the money's gone.

I was forced to sell a flat that was being demolished. I had no choice in the matter. If you are referring to me as entitled I have no idea how. I declared the flat sale to the dwp. Came off benefits - there's nothing entitled about that in my view.

I also didn't "hang on" to the money. I used it to live on and then I was told that I was spending the money too quickly and they might stop my benefits.

I was forced into that situation. I would rather still have been in my old flat and not have had the money from the sale of it

The savings threshold for in work benefits hasn't moved in ages and it was always arbitrary anyway. Before universal credit, people on tax credits all the time their kids were growing up, were working part time, using the tax credits to pay off their mortgage and building up savings with the spare. That's how it was for twenty years. You had a whole generation of people brought up under those circumstances. Then along comes universal credit and you can't have more than £6k. What the fuck good is £6k to anyone, in these hyperinflationary times? It won't even buy you a decent fucking car.

My being on benefits isn't a lifestyle choice either. I said it earlier in the thread. I worked for decades before I went on benefit. I would rather still be in the flat that I bought and paid for and not have had the money in the bank

I did the absolute opposite of trying to hang onto that cash. I used it to pay bills and you know -put my heating on in the winter and then I was called in for an interview saying they were going to stop my benefits when I was back on UC because in their view I was spending it too quickly for their liking - which wasn't the case

I suffer from anxiety and I was sick with worry thinking that my benefits were going to stop and I would be made homeless. And when they went through my bank accounts - they actually owed me money as I had been under paid

There's nothing entitled about me in the slightest. I went back on benefits because I couldn't find a job - not for the want of trying either. It certainly wasn't because I was trying to hang on to savings.

I also fractured my shoulder just after that and it took six months to heal. Which made job hunting much more difficult. It's really wise not to assume things about someone's situation when you know nothing about their life

I didn't try and hang onto that money nor did I try and burn through it. I used it to live on - I had no other option.

I think you couldn't have more than 16k on some legacy benefits either and between 6k and 16k there were deductions.

My gran spent decades of her adult life paying full rent and full council tax because she had some money after my grandpa died. Death in service and a very small works pension from his work. It took her just over the threshold to be able to get housing benefit and council tax reduction.

She only got council tax relief and rent reduction after she had a heart attack and got attendance allowance and when social work came to do a benefits assessment they said that she was living below the line - because of the amount she was paying out in rent and council tax compared to her income

I personally don't care if I can't save while on benefits. I wouldn't expect to be able to on 400 pounds a month. I only had money due to a set of circumstances beyond my control

That wasn't the point I was trying to make earlier. The point I was making is that even if you are on Uc and you have some money in the bank. You have to tell them every month how much you have left and if they think you are spending it too quickly they could stop your benefits entirely

Yes, it's like that now too, at retirement. Better to have nothing, if you don't have a £million pension plan, if you're renting. Well, nothing and a good coin collection.

But the working age threshold is the one that's changed. Previously when people were working age and claiming tax credits they could have whatever savings they liked.

You certainly can buy a house and get a mortgage while on benefits and working because I did last year. I also think it’s disgusting that she’s planning on spending it so once it’s gone the rest of us have to pay for her again, she can get a cheaper property for that money and use her wages to get a mortgage for the rest.

On UC, anything between £6k and £16k has deductions. Over £16k, you can't claim at all.

If you work and claim UC, there is the 'Help to Save' scheme, where you get a bonus of 50p for every £1 you save.

BeeHive909 · Today 00:05
You certainly can buy a house and get a mortgage while on benefits and working because I did last year.

Where can you buy a house with a £4 .5 K deposit?

There is a £6k limit on savings, you need at least £1.5 k for fees/costs when buying a house.

I think there’s something wrong with that if she doesn’t need help from the government. Tax payers are paying instead of her. What about some self respect?

No, if you are on UC, you do not have to tell them how much you have left after bills etc.

I have been on UC for years, and you do not have to do that.

You only have to tell them if your capital goes over £6k, because that is when the taper kicks in.
Under that... they don't care. You can actually spend it how you want. It does not matter.

I was talking about when I had over 6k in the bank as I explained in other posts. I didn't word that post correctly but I was referring to when I had over 6k after my flat had to be sold

Ah, sorry. I have never been over £6k.

Presumably you don't have more than £6k then. Once you have more than that, you have to tell them and then they will scrutinize what you do with it. That is, to be clear, once you possess, in this entire world, more than 4 months worth of minimum wage work.

Sorry x post

This. And they check. When she applies to go on benefits again, they will want receipts for absolutely everything, with the exception of the weekly food shopping where you just have to give them the average amount.

I don't now thankfully. I was always honest but it's stressful to be told your spending your own money too quickly and they can stop your benefits. I was also told it was a routine check because people had made fraudulent claims during covid and it was only when I got there they said its going to a decision maker and we might stop your benefits

I actually think the person doing the review was really disappointed when she went through my bank statements and saw that I hadn't made large purchases or given money away and was just using the money to live on

That happened with my gran when she was claiming Pension Credit. They wanted reciepts for everything