To ask how I can successfully ringfence this money? (Please don’t post for moral judgement)

[Jaalp]

I am a single parent to a 3 year old who will start school in the next two years. I have saved up a significant amount of money for schools fees. As a single parent I am constantly worried about job loss or anything else that could affect things. I am aware that if for some reason I was made redundant, for example, if I have more than a certain amount in savings then I would be expected to use this before claiming universal credit etc.

I have no intention of claiming universal credit but life happens and I have to be conscious of the potential things that could happen.

My question is, is there any way to put this money in an account for my child that would be protected as theirs and not counted in an assessment for universal credit etc should that ever happen?

Please don’t make this is a private school bashing thread or about playing the system etc. I’ve worked hard all my life and intend to continue to do so. Thanks.

Probably should start a new thread... but If anyone can tell me how as a single parent I could get on the property ladder with 17k (all in, including emergency fund), while earning 50k in London, keep in mind I would have to take a pay cut if we moved out of London, oh and also need to factor in childcare, I would be forever grateful. If this is a real thing, please I need to know!

You are not doing the best for your child. Doing the best for your child includes setting a good example for them but this is as low and entitled as it gets. Benefits are there to catch people when they fall or to provide help for those who need it through, for example, illness or disability. Squirreling away cash so that you can potentially claim benefits is incredibly immoral. Every penny that people like you take from the benefits system is a penny less spent on those who truly need it. Please take a long hard look at yourself and stop looking for ways to get around the system. You should be ashamed of yourself and I hope your child never becomes aware of this as they will be ashamed of you too.

It's a big enough moral issue for me that people like you expect to be able to hide money and potentially expect your choice of luxury educational provision to be funded by the taxpayer.

I think @Jaalp is a bit of a lightweight, why doesn't she go full on breaking bad?

You seem not to grasp that you don't get special dispensation from the law.

The law says you need to use personal savings to support yourself in the event of job loss before claiming taxpayer-funded benefits.

It doesn't matter whether you have, in your mind, earmarked those savings for your child's education, a deposit on an investment property, a grand tour of Asia, fake boobs, establishing a home for abandoned cats or to build a house extension.

If you have funds that could be used to support yourself before you start claiming benefits, you should use them.

If that means little Penny needs to attend the local public school rather than Eton, well, that is just the way the cookie crumbles.

@CheekyHobson trust fund. Legal.

so does your moral code

Incidentally, I'm intrigued by the phrase "worked to the bone". Do you think you have worked so much immensely harder than everyone else on this thread that somehow you've become entitled to game the system?

Everyone who behaves in a morally questionable way makes it palatable by creating a justification in their own mind; it’s OK to carry on claiming for two houses when we live together because it allows us to provide more stability for our kids’, ‘it’s ok to have an affair because my wife doesn’t want to have sex as much as I want her to’, ‘it’s ok to have a work party while the rest of the country is in lock down because we’ve been working so hard’, ‘it’s ok to only declare a small amount of my income to the tax office because I’m self employed and everyone does it’. It’s out of order, there’s no two ways about it, you’re trying to separate yourself from (imaginary) people on UC with big TVs because you think you’re morally superior. You’re not, you’re just richer.

We've all come to expect rich people to move their money around to become 'tax efficient', but this is the first time I've ever heard of a rich person moving their money around to ensure they are entitled to benefits

This is what's bothering me. I mean, if you've got loads of
Money you can afford to get proper advice instead of insinuating the thing that's stopping others from achieving a luxury lifestyle is just their aversion to hard work.

It's not about the legalities of the situation, it's about being able to relate to others and read a room.

OP you are trying to put your child in a situation where should you lose your job, your child will be relying on hand outs from others to feed and house them, even though you have access to money. How is that trying to do the best for your child?

@Bachboo for wanting to know if there’s a legal way to protect my child’s school fees? (Which there is)

@ratherbesurfing that’s all true except you’ve missed the part where I was asking if there’s a legal way to protect fees for my child… and there is.

Yes and stealing from the taxpayer whilst doing it. It’s shameful

If this is a comment about this thread then all I will say is that not everyone lives in London!

"If this is a real thing, please I need to know!"

See below

I live in a city about an hour north of London on the train and the median price (that is, the price that is exactly in the middle) for a two bed house or bungalow is £200k. A median priced two bed flat will cost £140-£150k

With a £17k deposit that would mean a 92% mortgage to buy a typical priced house or an 88% mortgage to buy a typically priced flat. Both of these are readily available.

Or somewhere like Derby? Median priced two bed house is £195k and two bed flat is £130k

Or maybe Lincoln? Average two bed house is £180k and average two bed flat is £130k.

Or Stoke on Trent, the average two bed house is around £160k and the average two bed flat is around £110k

Morally and legally this is wrong but then you already know that. In your shoes I’d give it to a trusted friend who would then “gift” your child their school fees each year directly to the school.

She’s not ‘stealing from the taxpayer’ by doing something perfectly legal.

No, for wanting to know if there's a legal way that you, a wealthy woman, can get taxpayers to give you money that you don't need

@CheekyHobson wanting to know if there’s a legal way to protect money for fees for my child is not trying to ‘game’ the system. As it turns out a trust fund is an option, which is perfectly legal.

I don’t think I’ve worked harder but I would bet my home on the fact I’ve made more sacrifices than most on the thread. Mot many people would have saved so much in the way I have and now moving forward I hope to be able to spend on myself after putting my child first already on a financial level.

of course she is. And whilst it may be legal
now doesn’t mean it it continue to be.

If there is, there shouldn't be.

@Emptyandsad but it IS legal to set up a trust fund. I have been looking into it since it was suggested many pages ago on the thread. Why shouldn’t I do something legal with my money for the benefit of my child?

Again, legal doesn’t make it ethical

@Jaalp but it is not your child's school fees- it is 'your' money which you have mentally allocated towards child future school fees-

It's no better than someone getting an inheritance and not declaring it because they've mentally allocated it towards a future house deposit or daughter's wedding or whatever.

Would you think they were not 'trying to pull a fast one' if they then claimed UC on the basis they hadn't got any money at all ( or less than 16k or 6k ??