Keeping sons money

[Piggybankme]

I am a mother to a DS with disabilities. He's turned 18 and gets pip. I've been giving him an allowance from his pip money and saving the rest for him in an account of mine that I don't use. It's accrued a nice amount for his future but here is where I wonder if IABU.
I wanted to open him an ISA in his own name but I know he's probably going to need to claim UC in the near future and it would disqualify him as its over 16k
That PIP money is given because of the difficulty he has in life. I've saved it up for him so that he will have a bit of a buffer because he is more likely to need it than someone who can easily get work etc.
I don't like having his money in my name but I don't see another option. AIBU for keeping this money but earmarked for him. Obviously it would be complicated if I die as my other DC would technically be entitled to half. Arrggh my mind is all over the place. I just want to do everything possible to help my DS. Please be kind. He is entitled to the PIP and could have spent it all every month. Perhaps that's my mistake.

My son wouldn’t be able to do that. He’s acutely anxious whenever he is outside of the home. Even in the home if there are other people besides me and him here. He gets ESA now but we had a horrible time trying to get him a job. He ended up having a breakdown and confessing that he had tried to pretend to be normal all through school and college and couldn’t take it anymore. He said he wanted to die. So I was advised to apply for ESA for him.

have you got deputyship?

@MrsSlocombesCat

Fair enough… I was making the point that somebody can do fairly menial work be that outside the home or wfh on a laptop…. But be incapable of managing their finances.

Equally, people can do some work part time and still receive means tested/sickness benefits - see permitted work…

So all work is not equal and an indicator of intellectual ability or personal capacity.

@Kitesinthesky

Right, you realise that lots of disabled people do work outwith that scenario though?

If OP son is able to work an ordinary job (sorry should have specified) then it is absolutely worth OP giving him a go at managing to learn finances

Put the money in a pension pot for him. He’s allowed a pension on UC it doesn’t count

Just put it into your will that upon the event of your death you wish for the funds from that account to go solely to your son before your assets are split.

Why are you trying to cheat the system?
Your OP is written in a very gentle, sympathetic, cheery manner but what you're ultimately doing is fraudulently keeping your son's benefits, which are designed to help him with his disability, in an account in your own name. Whatever your positive intentions, for all intents and purposes you have stolen his money. And you are doing this so your family can defraud the benefits system further, by pretending you don't have 16k+ stashed away so he can claim UC as well. The benefits agency do have the authority to check bank accounts of benefits claimants now and if this is found out you can expect to be taken to court. This is pretty serious stuff and your claiming to be a nice lady won't make any difference to the actual facts which will absolutely be used against you.

@colouredball

You can have a first class degree and professional job as a disabled person and still need help with finances… especially if adhd/autistic or with specific difficulties such as dyslexia or dyscalculia.

It’s fine if it’s appropriate to give it a go. OP has stated that it isn’t for her son, I would take her word on that.

Work does not always equal competence in handling finances for a disabled person. It’s taken on an individual basis.

@Kitesinthesky

I know this. I worded it badly ok

If you believe this is your son’s money, it needs to be in his name or you are at risk of committing benefit fraud. Yes it may affect means tested benefits, but that’s exactly what they are. MEANS tested- if you don’t ‘need’ it you shouldn’t get it.

Exactly. The threshold is set there for a reason and if he has more funds than that, he can live off them until his savings come down to that threshold. You wanting more money for him as a buffer is an understandable protective thing for a parent to feel for their child, but you can't fiddle things so he gets a big savings buffer plus all the benefits coming in when he's not entitled to both. Saying you've not claimed carers like it's some justification that the system owes you is a red herring. The rules are clear and it's best to be clear about where his money is used and saved and then you/he can't get in any pickles.

@Theredfoxfliesatmidnight

She has accounts showing that money equivalent to the DLA has been spent on her son.

What has happened is that the DLA money has gone into one account and they have largely used their own funds to pay for what they can, keeping back the DLA for future eventualities, which is quite sensible as large costs can come out of nowhere.

If they have bank statements and receipts for what they’ve purchased there should be no issue if it is ever queried. The money saved is really their own money.

@colouredball

No worries.

Just wanted to make it clear for anyone reading what the position is.

Take away what’s happened in the past. He’s now an adult so she can legitimately charge him housekeeping. If he were renting somewhere, it would be minimum £500 rent plus food, so she can charge (transfer to her account) the same amount. It won’t take long to use up those funds.

For those saying it’s technically fraud - she hasn’t committed fraud yet. She has financially supported her son herself. As she’s already said, she could have spent his money many times over but chose to pay herself and save his money. She didn’t do herself any favours.

OP really needs to consider her own position with savings, as having large amounts of savings would impact her if she needed to apply for benefits in future.

OP really needs to consider her own position with savings, as having large amounts of savings would impact her if she needed to apply for benefits in future.

Does she really? Not everyone has to manage their wealth so they can get benefits. She's obviously doing fine if they've never had to spend the PIP, covered everything from family money and not even 'had' to claim carers for her, plus all this concern about having too much in savings, leaving ££ for DC etc. If having large amounts of savings would impact her applying for benefits, then so it should. Such a warped way of looking at the system. Eesh.

Pip isn't means tested and Ive just looked...it doesn't affect claiming UC either so you should be ok.

Sorry, just had another look. You'd be better off using his pip for him and not using your own funds. That's what it's there for. You can always use your own funds to save for him. Hth

As a lone parent of a disabled 20yo who's not long since moved into supported accommodation I'd say definitely keep it in your name. Mine got £700 recently from a small policy & there was no option but for it to be paid to him. The headache this has caused is ridiculous. Everyone wants a cut & if not a cut, they want endless documents completing about it. I'm so glad the rest of his funds are still in my name & they'll certainly be remaining that way.

So you spend the equivalent of pip from family money on ds and then save the pip money in an account in your name , for ds. Where does other dc factor in to this in terms of financial planning, surely he/ she should get half of the savings anyway? Yes, other dc may be in a better position in terms of future employment etc but I suspect this could create problems between siblings in the future.

Use his PIP for his additional care costs as that is what is is meant for.

Any savings you have then are just that, your savings not his PIP. Write a will leaving more of your estate to one dc if you wish.

If his actual costs are less than his PIP and he can afford to save above the allowed limits, then morally it is benefit fraud. Whether they would be able to prove it if your finances are intertwined is another question.

Just to re-iterate it is not OP's money it is her adult child's money to be managed and spent in his best interest.

Being able to work (whatever that means for OP’s DS specifically) is not necessarily the same as being able to manage his own finances.

Research vulnerable persons trust. Quite often there are circumstances that mean that a young person who is vulnerable might inherit funds that would make them ineligible for benefit. Such a trust is designed to make sure that the vulnerable are not disadvantaged by this rule that clearly is designed to apply to people temporarily out of work rather than facing lifelong disability and inability to work.

I have a disabled son and we have POA. I manage all his money. He lives on his own and we pay all his bills from his UC and PIP. He has money when he asked for it. Otherwise he would be homeless and destitute.

I am an appointee for my disabled son who gets PIP and UC. His benefits get paid into his own account and pay for his general living costs and bills like his phone. He lives at home with me (and is unlikely to move out for the foreseeable) so he pays a standing order to my bank account towards the house bills and food costs, and a payment towards housing costs. I have also set up a private pension for him so he can pay into that, £2880 a year, and it doesn't count as savings towards UC. I don't save for him but I have my own savings in my own name which I would be willing to support him with if he had any major unexpected expenses.

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/managing-money-for-someone-else/#:~:text=You%20could%20get%20the%20legal,cannot%20make%20their%20own%20decisions.&text=The%20Court%20will%20decide%20if,to%20manage%20the%20person%27s%20finances.

Might be worth applying court of protection to be able to manage his money for him if he cannot