To ask how you manage your young persons PIP?

[RudolphTheGreat]

My 16 year old has just moved from DLA to PIP. I'm down as their advocate and the money comes to me. This is mainly due to their communication difficulties, there are no learning disabilities.

Previously we kept their DLA and fully managed it. However I don't feel it's right for me to do this now they are older. We still need some of the PIP for our extra costs due to their needs. We still pay for everything (they are in full time education) so I'm thinking maybe split it and keep some and put the rest in their account each month?

How do others work their child's/young persons PIP?

Surely it depends on the individual and their needs and the needs of the famiky?My son is only 12_ and gets HRC,And HRM, DLA,he has severe autism and learning disabilities and has no concept of money, the Mobility component page for his mobility car and the rest goes in the family pot,this won't change when he transfers to PIP,as he will never have the cognitive ability to understand the concept of money.

I think it sounds fair to split the money. I assume from your post that your son has some understanding of managing his own finances so perhaps you could talk to him about it. Why not do a sort of monthly plan to see how much you’d need on expenses etc and give the rest to him. Or you could give it all to him and agree he pays you a monthly sum. Swings and roundabouts really but it’s a good idea to teach him some financial independence,

I have an adult autistic son who is also learning disabled and has no clue about managing finance. I put all of his PIP money aside for his own personal use. I don’t really believe it’s a family fund.

In case it helps I had a conversation with a social worker about this when I was working in learning disabilities. She said it was fine for some PIP to be used for family expenses provided the young person had enough money for their hobbies and independence.

Well.good for you my son will never be able to work he's non verbal ,and has very limited understanding of the world around him he will still need to c c d ,clothed ,needs roof over his head when he's an adult ,if you can afford to put all your so s PIP too one side that's great of everyone fan afford that.

Fed ,clothed.

After everything my son needs has been bought or paid for, the rest of his payments go to the family pot too. We have to live where we do because of his needs, we have much higher than average fuel bills due to his needs, higher transport costs due to the vehicle we have to drive to accommodate his wheelchair etc etc. I will always buy things I see that he may enjoy or benefit from so he doesn't miss out.
He is profoundly disabled and will always need 24/7 care. He doesn't have capacity to deal with his finances.

One thing to consider (those with younger children) is that if you save all of your child's benefits, it will affect their entitlement when they are older. I know someone who saved every penny of their Dc's DLA, child benefit etc and has to pay for their own care now they are an adult as their savings are too great.