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?

This, wow.

I have health issues, which means I've had to cover any gaps in my working life with savings/cutting my cloth.

How dare you try to abuse the system in this way, and ask for advice to do so?!

Honestly, if you can work but choose not to and somehow get on benefits, then I sincerely hope you get caught, quite likely now that the government can see your bank accounts. Oh and posting in Money Matters doesn’t give you a free pass about shitty behaviour. But my apologies if you’re too ill to work…though I think you would have been definitive about it if that was the case.

I think some people have forgotten that usually to access an inheritance someone has to die.

60k is not a lot of money. It is a lot to get as a lump sum but it’s what, 4 years if you live very frugally.

I don’t blame the OP for wanting to hold onto it.

She could hold on to it if she got a job to ensure a steady income that she worked for and earned. But wanting to hold on to it by being given benefits that she’s not entitled to so she doesn’t have to spend it? Nah.

I don't think anybody blames her for wanting to keep hold of her inheritance. I want to keep hold of all the money I earn and inherit too and I imagine almost everyone else wants to do the same.

The reality is though, if she wants to ring fence the money then she has to find another source of income to live off. She can't rely on benefits because (quite rightly) this is taxpayers money that is meant to be a safety net for when you can't afford to support yourself. If OP has £60k then she can obviously pay her way for a while, she just doesn't want to. Surely she can see that lots of people with no savings are currently working hard, not earning a lot and paying taxes. Does she really think it's ethical that she should be able to claim the money they have paid in tax by claiming benefits whilst she's sat there with so much money in her account?

I advise you to look into shared ownership. You could, for example, use £50k to buy your share and then pay rent on the rest. By the time you've paid solicitors fees, moving costs etc you'd probably have around £6k left - this would be your "safety net" and it would be ignored for benefits. You could then claim Universal Credit which would include a contribution towards your rent costs.

The benefit system ignores capital in a home you live in because obviously people need somewhere to live.

You haven't said why you are not working and depending on the reasons, you might have had more compassionate replies if you had.

It's a tricky situation, particularly if you are a lone parent (I'm not sure if this is the case but your OP would suggest it might be). A safety net of savings is particularly difficult to relinquish when it's your only back up if things go awry, so I understand why you want to hold on to it whilst you get yourself back on your feet.

If you are not working, you can still pay into a pension up to £2880 each tax year, which will be topped up to £3600 by the government in tax relief. This is not counted as deprivation of assets by DWP.
You can also pay off any outstanding debts.

If you have worked in the last 2-3 years have you checked if you might be eligible for the new style job seekers allowance? It is not dependent on savings.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-if-on-a-low-income/jobseekers-allowance-jsa/before-you-claim-jsa/check-if-you-can-get-jsa/

If you find yourself unable to claim I would focus on the following:

Ensure your savings are receiving the best possible rates of return - move your money regularly to keep up with the best rates available.

Cut down all your short term outgoings and costs as much as possible - look at bank statements to see what can be trimmed.

Look to see if you might be eligible for other benefits that are not affected by savings to see if you might be eligible - such as new style ESA, PIP.

Try to bring in some additional income whilst at home - selling unwanted stuff on ebay; set up an extra dummy bank account so you can pursue bank switching bonuses; matched betting (not gambling) are the most lucrative and most flexible options, particularly as you have some savings to use for this - it will give a regular return greater than interest on your savings.

Depending on the age of your child - if they have a particular interest or skill - look to see what grants are available to support this. They are sometimes available for things such as music, sport, IT but it takes a bit of tracking down.

If you are well enough and looking to apply for work in the future, and your child is of school age or you have childcare available think about the following:-

Try to gain some voluntary work even if only a couple of hours a week. Often if you have been away from the job market for a while it's difficult to obtain references and a voluntary role is an ideal way of solving this as well as building confidence in your own abilities.The see if there are any training opportunities that might be available to you.

Try to gain some additional qualifications online that might stand you in good stead for job hunting. There are many free courses online.

If you have no support network around you, make this a priority to focus on. For instance, if you are a person of faith in some way, connect to a welcoming church (or other place of worship). It can provide a valuable supportive community. If that's not right for you, then look to other neighbourhood groups that might provide similar.

It sounds as if you have had a challenging time, so I hope things improve for you.

It’s not just intent, it’s timing. There’s also diminishing notional capital to consider, incurring overpayments, not coming straight back into benefits. Fraud is hot at the moment.
Local authorities also have access to bank accounts too, not just DWP and there’s increased joint working.

I don’t see how it’s helpful to tell the OP to buy premium bonds, they have to be declared to the benefits agency too. Otherwise that’s fraud. You may not get prosecuted but could face an admin penalty.
The non means tested benefits are things like PIP, the OP has listed a health condition. (and presumably vitriol as the post has been deleted). 🤷🏼‍♀️
Obviously there are people who would love to hold on to inheritance whilst getting rent and council tax covered. £60k would last maybe two /three years if having to pay rent and council tax- unless you buy a property, that would be ok and then you’d just claim council tax support.

Benefits are there to support those who need help.

You don't need help because you have £60k cash.

Your attitude stinks.

Op, for your info

Most private pensions cannot be accessed until the person reaches a certain age, so the money is locked away eg 50, 55, 60, 65
The money is not acceptable unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The benefit system must have a cut off point for people to receive benefits. Otherwise working people would not support the system.

The alternative to this would be a "universal wage for all" where people could choose to work or not work.
Or
Some sort of communal living system.

If you look at the statistics, many working people have less than £200 cash savings per person saved.

So 16k of savings is a generous amount to have & still receive benefits

Why can't you get a job¿?

Were you on benefits before you got the inheritance?
and this stopped due to you receiving the inheritance.

Struggling to work out why you think you should be entitled to benifits?

you could invest the money in a small Buy to Let property then become a self employed landlord, or buy a field and become a farmer. Your income will be low so you could claim working tax credits.

I would focus on using the money to try and get yourself in a better long-term earning position. It's an opportunity to pay for training, therapies, private medical treatment, or to supplement a low wage in an entry level role or apprenticeship with progression opportunities.

Think carefully about a role with progression opportunities, good demand, and which can be adapted to poor health (if this is a reason for you being out of work currently). If you start a new thread asking about this you may get some helpful ideas.

Hopefully you can get into a better position long-term. I agree it would be frustrating to use the money for day to day expenses then need to claim benefits once it is used up.

You can pay £2880 a year into a SIPP (private pension) and invest it for your retirement. However, unless you have zero options for getting into work, I would focus on trying to improve your earning power, rather than trying to hold onto this money.

You could potentially buy something like this outright
There would be costs for solicitors fees, survey, moving costs etc

Then you would only need money for bills, food etc

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149307320#/?channel=RES_BUY

If you live in a property, you can rent out a spare room & earn up to a certain amount tax free

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home

Can you drive ?
If not you could invest in some driving lessons & get a job driving in the future

Working tax credits don't exist for new claims. All working age claims are now universal credit