My aunt and her daughters PIP/ benefits

[Whatyearisit20]

my cousin has been on dla most of her life, not diagnosed with much but symptomatic of a lot. She does have an autism diagnosis however this is not the main cause of why she was on dla.
she is now moving over to pip and will be able to claim her own UC.
she went to through main stream education and did not require an ehcp of any kind and is a very capable person.
she spend quite a lot of time at our house with my kids because I think she just enjoys the hustle and bustle of it so I know her very well !
i receive Dla for my eldest and aunt rang me to see if I knew any information about how she could be the one to still receive cousins pip ( was dla ) and her universal credit due to her being incapable.
I was slightly taken back by this rightly or wrongly they got my cousin a cash in hand job that she works at Saturday and Sunday perfectly able and take 20 percent of her wages for rent.
she is fairly independent and travels her self, shops her self etc
so I highlighted that I didn’t think this was reasonable and if cousin is entitled to it then she should now receive her money.
I spoke to cousin about what she wanted and she said she wanted it to come to her.
she is very capable I just don’t understand it.
aunt is now annoyed at me and said that daughter was fine with it until I spoke to her and is furious but I just feel like cousin needed to know all
options and is capable of making her own decisions.

They will interview both of them

https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits

It’s tricky. I presume that at 16, your aunt still has most of the additional expenses associated with your cousin’s disabilities. Plenty of people are appointee for their dc at that age.

The appointee visit would have informed your cousin about the implications. Is your cousin able to make her own claim, deal with the DWP and budget the money for her own benefit rather than blowing it?

Being appointee is a responsibility. The money still belongs to the claimant. And i don’t think it was really necessary for you to interfere, especially as it sounds as though you framed it in a very negative way to your cousin.

Doesnt sound like you’re BU!

sounds like cousin is an adult and is capable of making her own decisions

If she’s as independent as you believe, she may not be awarded PIP so it may be academic. Eligibility is very different from DLA.

On the other hand, if she does require support that you’re not aware of, and they have evidence of that, she may be.

As above she may not even be eligible for PIP. the criteria are very different to DLA. Can she was and dress herself, engage with others, get herself out and about in public, on public transport , cook a simple meal ? And to claim UC she will either need to pass a work capability assessment to show she isn't capable of work or is limited in type of work or hours she can do, or she will be expected to look for full time work. PIP assessor may well ask about her part time job, does she need extra support etc.

I’m guessing the cash in hand part time work isn’t going to be disclosed………

Sorry I missed the bit about it being cash in hand. No wonder it sounds like the mum will want to control the PIP assessment !

Yes the work in hand isn’t being disclosed

so the reason she for dla which was before the autism diagnosis is because she had things like non epileptic seizures, and array of other symptoms never been diagnosed as such with anything though.

she was diagnosed with autism at about 14 but is very much like my autistic daughter - who is very capable of making her own decisions.

The mum is the one who got her the job 🤣

When I claimed for my DD (now 19yo) and had my appointee vetting meeting I expressly asked for the money to be paid into DD’s account and was told that they prefer to pay to the appointee. So I get it in my account and transfer it into a savings/holding account and spend it on her expenses or pass her tranches of it as needed. Am utterly neurotic about accounting for it by labelling what each transfer is for in case anyone ever accused me of embezzling it or something, even though I know that’s a bit silly!

Do you think your aunt is financially abusing your cousin? Is the aunt insisting that your cousin has a disability (obviously this comes with disability benefits) and is she making your cousin believe that she is dependent on your aunt?

I know a family who did this to one of their daughters who had very minor learning differences. It's exploitation and financial abuse.

So at the moment what the current situation is

she earns around 360 a month - gives her mum 70 for board, although spends 3 nights minimum at mine a week.
paid for her phone bill and her travel.

aunt is on UC with 2 kids ( cousin we are talking about and her DS who is 12 also on dla ) I know this because I have helped in the past when there has been money issues.
my daughter is on dla and when on UC ( not anymore ) you do get more UC for child disability element.

so aunt wants the work capabilities part to be on her daughters UC claim and her be appointed because that will cover the shortfall of when she looses the child disability element.

I can get it’s stressful when your money will drop but at the same time it happens when your children are not disabled to.

I do wonder if she would qualify for pip, things do seemed to have settled as she got older.

How old is your cousin? I think you're being a little bit blind here. You think your cousin is capable, but she only works very part-time at a job that her mother had to arrange for her. She doesn't sound very independent at all and possibly quite easily led if she changes her mind about things so easily. In my opinion, unless you are willing to take over responsibility for her, you should keep your nose out of it.

In all honesty her mum remaining as appointee but her having her own account too will be for the best.....my dd comes across as very capable too but we went through absolute hell when she got access to her money. Mainly from people taking advantage of her, sadly vulnerable people do stand out and are often desperate for ' friends ' .

Eventually I contacted dwp and had her benefits paid into my account and I pay her expenses that way.

She is very capable she is here 3 nights and 4 days a week for the last year at least. I don’t supervise her, she cooks her own dinner, she travels by herself, she is most defo capable of looking after a 5 year old for a few hours
I don’t see why she is any less capable of having her own money like she does her wages or any other girl her age who has left school and is now working. Their wages don’t get paid to mum.

There is no way she will qualify for PIP unless they pretend she is worse than she is.

I am also appointee for my younger sisters pip and uc since I took on her care and I’m exactly the same as you! If I transfer to mine for her part of food shopping I even put for example ‘Tesco 16th December’ so that anyone vetting in the future could relate payments I’ve used 🙈

To answer your question op, your cousin would need to consent and it sounds like she wants to handle her own money. When I became my sisters appointee after my mums death, the DWP home visit involved asking my sisters thoughts, her consenting to me handling her finances and asking why she wanted me to handle her finances. If there was any doubt, I don’t think they’d allow it

Where does she say cousin is 16?

Where does she say cousin is 16?

16 is the age that people who've been on DLA as children have to apply for PiP instead

Then why is this capable person only working 2 days a week in a job she didn't get herself? If she gets her PIP money herself is she going to give her mother more than just £70 a month board? Because that is a ridiculous amount for a fully capable adult to contribute to living in someone else's house.

Because she’s 16 in education but not very much longer.

the main reason she was dla was health
my daughter is on dla for health reasons but is fully capable in every day life in terms of managing her self but has a life limiting disease.

At the moment her mum is receiving benefits for her and contribution to the rent so why would she be taking more than 70.00 off her !

If she's not in education she should be working because when she leaves education her mother will lose money. Do you actually think she should be able to keep all her money herself and only give her mum £70 a month? That's ridiculous.

I think we need to suspend judgement on that. We have no idea about this young person’s conditions other than what the op believes. I have relatives who would say the same about my child who claims PIP, and genuinely believe it too. Except he absolutely qualifies and is eligible.

PIP won’t get awarded without supporting medical evidence, so ‘pretending she’s worse than she is’ won’t be an option.

As another poster said, she is transitioning from DLA to PIP, which means she’s 16.