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 don’t think you are entitled to benefits if you have that in your bank account?

What do you mean cant own a property ?

I own my house and get a small uc top up as a single parent

obv I don’t get a rent element but means my working allowance is higher

are you saying she won’t get her rent element paid so will then have to pay the mortgage by herself/out of her wages/uc

if so then welcome to the real world

she needs to look at part rent part buy then

to win £125k is amazing and obv area depending can start to buy a house and have forever roof over her and kids

No, because her benefits will be stopped when she receives this money. She will be required to use her winnings to live off until they are below the savings limit.

Wasting the money won't help as the benefits will still be stopped for the period she should be able to live on savings.

She needs to speak to a mortgage adviser as being on benefits may not necessarily prevent her getting a mortgage especially with such a large deposit. I got a mortgage whilst on tax credits via Santander as they were (at the time) counting benefits as income.

Absolute bollocks. She is choosing not to buy a property and to waste that money. There are hundreds of other choices she could make.

I’m doing a four year degree that will enable me to earn £40-80k afterwards in the NHS. It will cost £38,000 in tuition. She could do that, pay for the degree upfront, and have £22,000 a year from the money for living expenses while she does it.

Then at the end she would be earning comfortably for her family.

@Sogfreei was worried about money for children as I’m on UC too but I went to the bank, discussed my concerns and now my children’s accounts are called “in trust for xxx” so UC can’t do anything about that.. that’s my advice for her to do, speak to the bank

You should advise her not to do that.
The benefits office will expect it to last a certain time and may take action if it does not
Although, this feels like a benefit claimants are <insert insults here> thread tbh.
Get people frothing about the idea people on benefits do this and it's yet another little piece laid on the path to demonising people on benefits. Got to demonise a group of people before you can destroy them without backlash.

What a silly woman she is. Why can't she use the money as a deposit and have a small mortgage?

Absolutely zero sympathy. Benefits are supposed to be a safety net not a lifestyle choice. She's now got more money than most people could dream about for nothing sitting in her bank account is going to "spaff the lot" (gross terminology btw) so she can continue to take what she can from the state. No wonder the benefits bill is astronomical

Why should she be able to keep claiming benefits if she has all that money in the bank? Benefits are not an entitlement - they are there as a safety net for people.

God yeah how sad, imagine winning 125k and needing to ‘spaff it all away’ just to keep receiving free money from taxpayers. Poor, poor woman.

🍪

Universal credit won't prevent her from buying a house. She works and has benefits top ups. She will just have a higher work allowance applied to her claim where her income disregard is concerned due to paying a mortgage rather than rent

She could buy a flat and rent it out to top up her part time income, then no need for benefits anymore?

Or invest into her children's futures, or retrain, or do any number of things. She needs to take a beat and think things through properly not "spaff it", Jesus Christ.

so she also works as a TA, so assuming she gets £1k absolute minimum a month from her work.. plus maybe 2k a month from the 125k.. that will last her 60+ years. I think she’s fine..!

why was your friend wasting money on lottery tickets when she didn’t actually want to win

Couldn’t she move somewhere where she could buy outright, get a job eventually and start actually living her life

Sometimes, whilst support we get in this country is good as it can help if anyone becomes unemployed it can lead to people being restricted with what they do as the idea of leading an independent life away from state support is almost like an addiction with the same fear of the crutch being taken away.

why can’t she open Ernie bonds in the children’s names that way the money is there if age ever finds she needs it but it isn’t in her name

Where I live £125k will easily buy a 3 bed or small 4 bed house, probably ex council house, if she doesn't declare money she won she'll end up sanctioned for a min of 13 wks and dwp will find out eventually and they might even make her pay some of her benefits back so she won't win in life when she is begging for food bank vouchers and help with bills with no benefits coming in

She urgently needs to speak to Citizens Advice. If she wastes the money the DWP will treat her as still having it anyway as she would have deprived herself. She could buy a home and live in it, that way she can still claim benefits. Money can be put aside for 6 months if for the purchase of a home. She could do shared ownership with the winnings and rent the remainder of the property using benefits to pay.

Trying to hide money she can use under the guise of money for her children won't sit well with dwp

She could get a job

My friend has kids and her hubby works full time and she works part time and they get UC top up, she recently inherited 30k which she was so happy about but then obviously her UC stopped.

There are strict rules on what you can buy as for it not to be classed as a deprivation of capital, so her excitement soon stopped.

No nice holidays to treat the kids, she couldn't gift the kids any, basically most of it was used to live on and replace the missing UC till it ran out.

Sometimes a windfall isn't as great as you first think it could be.

Oh to live in a world where your wages cover your living expenses well enough to not need to claim any top ups from the government.

I do understand the mentality a little. I am due a £30k inheritance next year, and I claim UC top up. My first thought is ‘well it’s not that exciting as it will stop my benefit entitlement, and I’ll have to top up myself up from my savings each month until I’m eligible for benefits again’ But then I thought ‘here’s a chance to get off UC for good and use the money as a bit of breathing space to try and increase my earnings!’ And I felt ecstatic about that idea!

She could retrain and work a job that would pay her enough to take care of herself and kids. What an idiot.

If she in cheap part of uk she can buy of course she can. She has income as TA so xan get mortgage for 3 x that income plus the 125 as deposit
She can look at shared ownership.
You are daft to be sad
She can change her life with this
She is daft to not look into options properly

Perhaps you should explain why you think the hardworking taxpayer should continue to heavily subsidise her existence now that she has the means to support herself?