SIPP for disabled sibling?

[waywardways]

My youngest brother is 24 and has a genetic condition with moderate learning disabilities. He has never worked and gets UC LCRWA (I think that's what it's called, he has no work comittments). He is never going to work other than something that is designed for those with LDs and very part time. DM is thinking to start a SIPP for him, even just £100 pcm as she's concerned that there may not be any welfare benefits by then. Are there any possible downsides to this from a financial perspective?

Hi OP
i have a severely disabled DD and honestly I’ve still done nothing to secure her future (difficult without money) so apologies I can’t actually answer your question but hopefully this bumps it for you.

Also, despite a lot of posts on MN and other places, welfare benefits won’t disappear and all disabled people be thrown on the dump… much and all as some might want it.

Things I remind myself about- a lot of social care and heath care is enshrined in law and whimpering that the pot is empty and well when Reform x,y,z.. doesn’t mean disabled people will be targeted rather than say education cuts (something people never imagine would happen but I think there is a lot of naivety about the reasons welfare benefits exist (and how many politicians themselves have relied on the NhS and social care for themselves and their loved ones). Statutory law can’t just be ridden roughshod over (we aren’t the USA thankfully).

Will social care be adequate for people like your brother and my DD.. who knows. I doubt it but it never has been so any plans you can make now are well advised I guess.

As we cannot predict the future it’s always going to be a tricky decision to make. Our take is that benefits are likely to remain but very restricted by means testing so a small pension could be a problem rather than a help. Dsd’s money is lodged in someone else’s name - her care package is over £150k a year (severe disability 24/7 care) so the £20k wouldn’t fund much yet causes issues because uc benefits plus the means test care would be stopped then need to reapplied for. Instead it’s used so she can have new tech (iPad) and is paying for her carer to come on holiday in the summer with us so she can get away, she likes sand

Thanks for both replies. It's a hard one to know what to do. He has extra money every month and I thought putting it into a SIPP would be a good way to build some savings. As it stands, he does not meet the threshold for any care packages, he lives at home with family who meet his needs. It's just very hard to know what yo do.

I think SIPP in the future will be counted against any benefits.

I have an ill health pension, it is taken £ for £ from my Universal Credit. Currently the state pension doesn't do that, but I'm not optimistic.

My disabled adult DS is on UC and PIP.. i save into a SIPP for him, and for us it makes sense as he's likely to receive an inheritance in future which would make him ineligible for UC. The SIPP won't be counted as savings until he's able to access it, but it would be once it becomes payable. So that could be a downside, as it might end up being just enough to rule him out of claiming, but stop him from getting passported help. But it's hard to predict what welfare benefits will look like so far in the future. I believe there would always be some kind of means-tested support though, but that's just my opinion.