Mum received inheritance but is on ESA & PIP

[FullofSurprises]

I need some help regarding inheritance and wondering if someone can point me in the right direction.
My mum has come into inheritance after her lifelong partner passed away and left her in his will.
She has long term illnesses and has been on ESA and PIP for quite some time.

Originally she wanted to just gift me the money as she did not want to lose her benefits but we've found out today it's not as simple as that, and that even she were to give the money away she would still be classed as having the money.

How can this be right? She never asked to be on his will and I know she would never have accepted this had she of known this would be the outcome.
She is worried now and really doesn't know what to do.
Does anybody know a way around this?

A deed of variation will not avoid the problem.

I also don't really understand the issue. She shouldn't be claiming ESA if she has high levels of savings. She should support herself using the savings.

She has a lump sum, say its 50k. She simply put this in bank account and each month transfers the same or slightly more to her current account than she would have had through the ESA. She doesn't touch the rest. She does this every month. Then if/when it runs out she can start claiming anything she is entitled to again since she will no longer have savings.

Its only a problem if she wants both the ESA or the savings (or the ability to pass the savings to you)

@Joeblack066 because she wouldn't just simply be able to go back on to the old style ESA. It's all changed now. Which means she will be worse off in the future because of this.

@MoreSchnitzelPlease if she gets to zero surely they just take her off altogether or does she remain on the benefit?

There is no need for panic here. As many others have said, PIP continues, it is not means tested. The ESA will stop apart from the NI contributions due to her capital but there won't be some punisher going over her spending with a fine tooth comb. It's only deprivation if she gets rid of the money quick with assets that then she might sell to get the money back or goes on a crazy spending spree so it's all gone very fast, although if she had a mental health episode which caused it she would not be punished for that.

It sounds though as if managing money will not be easy for her and that perhaps you might need to take power of attorney.

You need to speak to a mental health charity perhaps to help you understand this situation without panic.

@HasaDigaEebowai please read the other posts. The issue is that when the money runs out she won't be able to simply go back onto the ESA she is on now. I hope this clarifies things a bit.
She will be much worse off.

£194 would mean that your mum is getting ESA & the severe disability premium which is about £60 a week which she can get if she lives alone and no one cares for her
She would also be in the support group for ESA on that amount .
The inheritance amount would also affect any housing benefit and council tax that she gets so you would need to factor in that as well to be paid out of the inheritance

Forgot to add
when she has to reclaim, the ESA amount isn’t as generous under UC as you lose the SDP payment that she presently gets

OP, it is possible that things would work smoothly, and also that she would go back on a different benefit that isn't much lower, or could even be higher.

So despite my doom-and-glooming, it's not set in stone.

But I do absolutely understand her fear of the trauma of going through the re-claiming process, and also her fear of it not delivering enough to live on at that point.

Unfortunately the law is the law the benefits system is there to help people who need it. It would seem that you mother doesn’t currently need it.
People seem to forget that this is not free money but has to be paid for by tax payers.

I would look into buying a flat for her, OP. Saves the State from paying the housing benefit element, so win-win, and would be better for her mental health and long-term security & safety. The PIP is safe anyway until her next review.

If you get Adult Social Care involved (e.g. to update her Care Act Assesment) it would then be very difficult for DWP to claim deprivation of assets.

Be careful though about getting ripped off on leasehold service charges if you do buy a flat.

And as pp says, keep the ESA claim open whatever happens.

@Pixxie7

Unfortunately the law is the law the benefits system is there to help people who need it. It would seem that you mother doesn’t currently need it. People seem to forget that this is not free money but has to be paid for by tax payers.

Not for older women with schizophrenia it's not.

Unfortunately the law is the law the benefits system is there to help people who need it. It would seem that you mother doesn’t currently need it.

This ^

It's harsh but true. There are others who really need the ESA payments and your DM no longer does.

How much is the inheritance? Is it a sum that could be invested so that it lasts longer?

So your mother would rather forego an inheritance and continue claiming a benefit/allowance?

The benefit system is in place to
Benefit those without money.

Your mother should accept the inheritance and become self funding.

If she gets contribution-based ESA in the support group, then it isn't a loophole.

My point is that there's nothing that OP can do now that will influence her DM's entitlement one way or the other. There's no "way around this".

I do wish the benefit purists would bore off and have a go at Amazon or something.

She has schizophrenia and change like this triggers her she's already started panicking

This is why it's a problem.

A pp mentioned the possibility of staying on it, even if the payment goes down to 0 for a while. Ive stayed on tax credits even though I don't get anything, so maybe that could work.

Plus this is in Legal Matters not AIBU.

The OP is asking what her legal position might be. Her very unwell mother's partner has died for goodness sake.

That's what I thought @im5050 thank you. She does get the severe disability element so from what you're saying she is screwed when it comes to reclaiming. Lovely.

@Pixxie7 what makes you think she doesn't "need" it? She does need it. She's severely disabled in many ways. She cannot work, she has been told this and it's even written on her letters telling her she cannot ever work again. Please go away.

Its not a question of being a benefits purist, just making the point that you can't avoid the issue - if you don't need ESA because you have cash then you don't need ESA (and others do!). So the logical thing to do it to try to help the DM to see this as a good thing and not a bad thing and think about how to make the money last for as long as possible to minimise the impact of a potential drop when it runs out.

@NeedToKnow101

A pp mentioned the possibility of staying on it, even if the payment goes down to 0 for a while. Ive stayed on tax credits even though I don't get anything, so maybe that could work.

I was wondering about that. So it wasn't regarded as change of circumstances requiring a move to Universal Credit? Was that fairly recent, do you mind me asking?

I think Pixxie meant your mum doesn’t need it in the sense that ESA benefits are there for people who have no money and can’t earn it. Your mum has a lot of money now, so in financial terms she doesn’t need it even though she does meet the disability eligibility.

Plus this is in Legal Matters not AIBU.

To be fair, she is being told the legal position by lawyers. It isn't what she wants to hear but it is the legal position.

@JamieLeeCurtains there's no way I can buy one for her, I haven't even bought a house myself yet. Is it not possible for her to use the money to purchase her own flat? Or would that be seen as spending it too quickly?

Just to quickly clarify so she can stay on ESA even if it goes down to zero? That will just stay like that until she is reassessed?

I don't understand why she doesn't just take the inheritance and live off of that until it runs out and then claim benefits. She can continue to claim any non means tested disability benefits. Why should the tax payer be paying for her when she has money to live on? Any other disabled person with savings would be in the same position. They would be expected to use the savings until they were below the threshold, leaving the state money available for someone who really has nothing.
I appreciate that this is extremely difficult for her and I truly wish her the best but unfortunately, there simply isn't enough state money available to fund people who have their own funds.

Claimants who receive the Severe Disability Premium aren't able to claim Universal Credit, so she would be allowed to re-claim ESA.