Nothing to my name bar inheritance help

[AnotherNaCha]

So, I’m late 40s, one child. Through a series of bad choice and bad luck too complicated to go into, I have no job at the moment, no pension, no other assets house etc.

However my mother left me 40k and i have another 20k I am living off (was more).

My question is, it seems I need to whittle this down to less than £16k to be entitled to any gov help? Whereas someone with a pension and a house is able to access them if no savings?!

Can I put the majority of this into a pension and then start claiming help until I can properly work again?

I'm sure that would be seen as deprivation of assets.
Why aren't you working, if you can't due to health is that what you mean re benefits?

So you've got a total of £60k in capital?

Working age limit to access means tested benefits is, as you say, £16k. It's academic in your case but if you owned the home you lived in it would be disregarded.

Pension age benefits are a different ballgame but again as you're 20 or so years from that point again they're academic.

If you put capital into a pension with the intent of qualifying for means tested benefits then you're at risk of being accused of deprivation.

As above it would be useful to understand what's preventing you from working.

Have you worked in the last 2-3 years?

The short answer OP is no you can’t do that. You would be seen as depriving yourself of assets with the purpose of claiming benefits.

You do not need benefits, you have 60k.

Can you get a full time job then go for a mortgage? You've got a substantial deposit there.

You don’t need benefits - you have 60K. It’s useless now comparing yourself to other people who have invested in housing and their pension as your circumstances are not the same.

You say ‘until you can properly work again’ - why are you not currently working? The ideal would be to get yourself a job so that you can use that lump sum as a deposit.

The only way to keep that 60k intact is to find a job that covers your expenses.
If you can find a job, depending on where you live, you have a good deposit for a house/flat. You may even have enough to put a little into a pension, too.

Why do you need benefits if you have 60k to live on? Can you not spend your own money before claiming?

you need to live off the £60k. Could you work part time at the moment?
not Sure why people think they can keep their money and then ask the tax payer to support them…

I’m also curious about why you’re not working. If you can work, please do because that large lump sum should be working hard for you at your age so you can have a stable retirement - it’s probably a once in a lifetime gift so don’t spend it yet!

Is the obvious solution not to get a job, use the 60k as a deposit to buy, and get into a better situation that way?

If you deliberately run it down to be eligible for benefits, you will then be stuck and much harder to get back to where you are now.

I understand the frustration that if your £60k was already in a pension or as housing equity it would be discounted for the purposes of claiming benefits, but they're not so that's something you need to live with (and on!)

Are you able to work and earn sufficient to pay your living costs at the moment or soon and when you are established in a new job, are you likely to be able to buy with the deposit you have?

If so, that's what you need to aim for because the alternative of running down your savings and then claiming benefits in a couple of years time isn't a good long term plan especially if your child is close to school leaving age because once they're no longer a dependent, you'll get far less financial help as a single working age person.

Might it be worth using some of the £60k to buy whatever you need to enable to you to work again, eg private surgery, therapy etc?

Get a job.

So I’m supposed to use that one off payment that would surely same the state £££ later down the line, until I’ve got the bare minimum with no pension or safety net on illness etc?

Because people who own their houses can - so they are in a more secure position with larger assets. Just because it’s cash I don’t see the difference

About as sensitive and toxic as your namesake

Thank you for your helpful reply. Appreciate the maturity of offering useful advice without judgment

You cant put it into a pension in any case as you dont have "relevant earnings". The maximum you could put in is £3600 before tax relief....so effectively £2880.

I'm with you Op - this is really frustrating. With that money the obvious thing to do if you can is is to use it as a deposit for a home . You'll need to find paid work and get a mortgage which i know is easier said than done. Good luck an ignore the 'holier than thous' on this thread

You would need to seek advice to check I am right but you might be able to use your lump of money to buy 25% of a shared ownership property and you may then be able to claim housing benefit to help with the rent portion and benefits to help you live.

I don't think buying somewhere to live would be deprivation of assets - buy you would need to check. You could always keep back enough to keep you going for a year or so just in case such as spend up to 40k on the property and have 20k left. Assuming you can get shared ownership in your area for that.

I do understand why you can't just claim benefits though as you can afford to support yourself. There is no free money only taxpayers money and a lot of them have a lot less than you.

Says someone who wants to take advantage of the system. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Basically sponge, whilst retaining your £60k. So entitled.

That £60k could be used to support yourself, but a small flat, get shared ownership (don’t worry you can claim benefit on the rental element and won’t have to work). The benefit system is there to support people through hard times, but people use it as a means to do fuck all. If we all lived like that, there would be no benefit system as there isn’t one in some countries is there.
I work with a number of disabled and elderly people who struggle with work, some travelling for a few hours.
They’ve been in tears coming in to work, but continue to do so.

Why haven't you answered the question of why don't you want to work, OP?

It's a bit of a short term view.

Yes people who have a mortgage can claim some benefits but it's usually a lot less. The bigger sums go towards the rent element of UC.

Those people are unlikely to qualify for pension credit and the longer term benefits you seem likely to need.

Instead of focusing on the things you can't change, what can you do? Are you able to work part time if you can't manage full time? Even if it doesn't cover all your expenses the money will decrease much more slowly and you could still retain a decent deposit.

Where do you live and how big a percentage is that towards a small flat? I live in a cheap area so with that deposit you'd be at least half way there but if you live in s-e then obviously not.

Where do you live at the moment OP? If you're still paying rent and living on that money, it'll be gone before you know it.
I don't think you can 'invest' it and claim benefits, you should be getting child benefit at least? How old is your kid?
My advice would be get a job ASAP and use the money as a deposit to buy yourself somewhere to live, even somewhere tiny (unless your in council) it'll be so much cheaper long term than renting and more secure. If you're 40 now, realistically, you'll be 70 before you can retire, 30 more years of work, that's still time to retrain in something with better pay.