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.

3 towers coming down where I live. Where are they all meant to go?

That is absolutely outrageous, I'm quite angry on your behalf. Bitterly unfair.

So my area is being swamped with housing by the thousand that is ruining the area and the locals strongly oppose, and elsewhere they're knocking houses down. Bastards.

There are loads of issue with the big towers that were built cheaply in the 1960s.

Lots of them were built with concrete panels, which now leak. They over clad them then Grenfeld (bless those poor people).
Yes they could over clad again. But that only solves part of the structural issues.

Another issue is noise, noise travels in towers, echos up and down the lift shafts. One or two noisy families can make life hell for hundreds of other people. And its hard to work out where the noise is coming from.

That is the case with the towers where I live.
I know a lady who lives in one. She has no idea where they will go if their home is pulled down. I know single people living in hotels because there is nowhere for them to go. Add a few hundred singles/couple/small families to that now.

The scheme I lived in was built in 1970 but the decision to knock them down had nothing to do with Grenfell. There was no unsafe cladding where I was

I was in a four in a block, 16 families per block of flats.

The towers where I used to live are actually still there - they were emptied and now they are being used to house Ukrainian refugees - when they move out they'll be flattened as well.

The council has to rehome them whether they rent or own if these people are being made homeless

I was going to suggest she invests and uses the interest to make up the shortfall from her benefits, but she’d only get around a quarter of what she’s getting in benefits from the interest.

really the only way this money isn’t going to affect her standard of living is if she uses it to house herself and her children somehow.

There is nowhere though. There are currently people living in hotels waiting for similar properties (and not immigrants either... just local people that have fallen on hard times).

Yep, this is her only option really.
Come off benefits and live off the money (which makes you wonder what the point is of playing lotto type things), or buy a property outright, or with a small mortgage (which might be a thing on UC... she would need to get advice).

They are legally obligated to. If your council knocks your flat down whether you rent or you own you must be rehoused. It's the law

I don't disagree with that, but where I live there are literally no properties for them to move into.
The criteria to even be on the housing list is very tight here due to demand.

Housing Benefit does still exist for some claimants and it did and does cover all the rent for some.

Yes, usually for people in council housing.

OP would have to declare the money to UC immediately or it’s considered benefit fraud. Her UC claim would stop as she would be over the savings threshold. But spending a windfall on housing yourself isn’t seen as deprivation of capital for UC, so as soon as OP uses it for a deposit and gets under the savings threshold she would be eligible again. She would lose the housing element of UC as nothing is payable for mortgage payments. She could apply to DWP for support with mortgage interest on loans up to £200,000, but this is a loan that has to be repaid at some point.

Housing benefit is being phased out and you cannot make a new claim unless you and any partner have reached state pension age, or live in council supplied temporary accommodation/supported or sheltered housing. Current HB claimants are being moved to UC as their circumstances change, alongside managed migration which will eventually see all HB claims moved to UC.

UC will generally not pay all of the rent. There are thresholds based on individual LA housing benefit rates.

HB also had thresholds on LHA rates, its not really any different, its just a different name.

Back to the OP's original post. My problem is with the phrase 'spaff the lot' so she can stay on benefits. Surely, if she can't afford to buy a property, she could divide the £125k by what she gets on benefits monthly, add a bit on to make life more fun for a while, and then come off benefits for that period (or use some of it to retrain)? Explain exactly what she's doing to whoever needs to know so it's all up front and then there's no 'spaffing' or deprivation of assets.

It wouldn't stop if she's buying a property. I believe there's a disregard for 6 months if that's what she's planning to do

That is exactly it - it’s tough shit she has to use it to top up wages but that’s life and would be the same for a couple or family that find things tight but aren’t on benefits - if she can’t buy or doesn’t want to do shared ownership and use most of it, the best thing she can do is clear any debt, learn to drive if she doesn’t , buy a slightly newer car if she does, really stock up on domestic stuff , make sure you replace any worn out home stuff/furniture, maybe put a little bit into pension, set up and pay into a life insurance policy if she doesn’t have one, and then use a top up from it for a few years- UC aren’t going to have an issue if you’ve been off it for a few years and using it to live on - what they will have an issue with is a brand new £40k car, 3 £8k holidays in a year etc , £5k rings etc - getting the state paying your rent and topping up wages isn’t an entitlement , it should be needs based and at the moment she doesn’t need it

Someone who isn't on benefits would probably put it into there mortgage or use it as a deposit.
Or invest it into their pension fund. Knock a few years off retirement age.

Alternatively invest it for their kids.

Much more options for someone hovering above the benefits threshold

Can't she use the money to upskill, improve her situation? Maybe become an actual teacher?

Maybe see with that £125k what assets to invest in to get passive income. Think about if property is possible? Maybe sit down, come up with a plan?

She doesn't have basic qualifications so teaching probably isn't the best route. Small business or something practical is likely a more feasible approach.

Agreed. It’s just not the case that Housing Benefit no longer exists when there are still plenty of active claims.

Passively invested or under the mattress, she needs to declare it and, if necessary, live on it instead of benefits.