Savings in my name stopping Universal Credit despite low income

[slowingdown1]

can anyone more financially savvy than me help?
Recently divorced, ex DH pays minimum child maintenance. Have a low
income due to home working in low demand role so I can care
for 2 x disabled children. Yearly
salary is £31k before tax, I save £100 monthly into pension. I claim Scottish disability payments for both kids which go on private treatment / therapies. Each month I scrap by and have a constant low credit card debt despite my best efforts. I have savings that were gifted to me by my mum as long-term financial security of £80k. Although the money is legally in my name, I have made a firm promise to her that I will not use it, so morally I do not feel able to touch it until she is no longer with us.
My current income is low, but because these savings are in my name, they are preventing me from applying for Universal Credit as above
the threshold.
I understand I can’t eg transfer the savings into trusts for my kids as this would constitute deprivation of capital. I can’t ask my mum to eg take it back for the same reason.

No one at CAB told you what you are claiming they did. And since it took you several pages to understand what people here were telling you, I’d bet my house that you just didn’t understand what they said.

Do you understand now?

I think I'm as confused as everyone else.

The benefits calculation estimated that should you NOT have £80k in savings you would be entitled to roughly £20k a year in benefits. So that is saying what they think you need in benefits to survive. Surely, you simply spend £20k of the £80k for the next four years on living expenses and do NOT claim any benefits. Then when the four years are up you can claim away. They can hardly call that deprivation of assets.

You need to put aside the whole moral obligation thing to your mother, it's your money now and as a tax-payer I expect you to use it for your living expenses and only lean on government support when it runs out.

*As an aside are you sure the disability benefit is even means tested, do you need to breakdown that £1700 a month to work how much is UC and that's what you won't be able to claim for?

It is, this thread has 20+ pages detailing how complex it is as it’s an unusual situation. CAB said much more than your simple and innacurate summary of a meeting you weren’t in, hence why I asked on here.

my understanding from CAB is it’s made up from UC and the severe disability component within it.

In what way is mine inaccurate?

I’ve explained quite simply that you can indeed spend the money to live on. No one at CAB told you that you cannot spend that money on living costs. No one told you that.

It is exactly what you are expected to do. UC would have told you that too.

You don’t qualify for UC because you have savings to live on. So go live on them.

The poster isnt inaccurate and its not complex

The part where you say “No one at CAB told you what you are claiming they did” and now again, “No one told you that”
You weren’t there and you sound like a petulant child.

They are and it is 🤷‍♀️

Ok just. Stay in debt and don’t spend your money then, but you can use it for living expenses, you can pay your mortgage and you can pay debt.

you can’t go and buy a 80k car or give it to your mate. Have some sense

If they fold you thay you need to write and complain.

No, I won’t complain about an advisor trying his best. I don’t like pulling people down. he tried his best with an unusual complex case, it was a free consultation and I am nothing but grateful to them.

It’s not complex it’s as standards a it gets, savings above limit that’s all.

Some people here are saying LA may still query the spending down of it when it comes to claiming UC but I think (I’ll need to reread it all) a majority are saying this is legal and would cause no problems. Hopefully.

Not according to this thread. Or CAB. but we can respectfully agree to disagree 😊

Honestly? Do you have to be so rude and condescending to OP? Your disdain is palpable and very unpleasant.

OP's life is extremely difficult and it took a massive turn for the worst when her husband abused one of his disabled children. She lost the only person who could help care for their children and his income. She gets a mere pittance in court-ordered child maintenance and has to juggle work and child care for two children with significant disabilities.

She may have misunderstood what the CAB adviser told her or he may have got it wrong.

This is not at all complex. It’s what happens to people every day. I bloody worked the phones for it! Hundreds of calls a day for the same thing - savings in the bank and denied UC. This is as standard as it gets

You muddied the waters by pretending it’s your children’s money. It isn’t. It’s yours. Whatever your mum’s intentions - that money is yours. You need to live on.

You’re stil posting comments like, “I’ll need to be careful as I still think it will be investigated as deprivation of assets if I live on it.”

It will not be. Not normal living expenses over several years.

It’s only complicated if you’re trying to do something sneaky, or are hoping to transfer the money or hide the money. That’s the only thing that would get this into trouble territory.

You are literally in the same boat as thousands of people. You have a low income and savings in the bank so no UC. You need to use your savings for your normal, everyday living costs (including paying off debt) and get on with your life. When you have less than £16k left, you can apply for UC. It really is that simple.

I think you’re actually just hoping for someone to come along and tell you how to keep your £80k and also claim UC - you’re what’s making it complicated because that isn’t possible.

This is mumsnet - an internet forum - people will post nonsense. Ignore the people throng to scare you over deprivation of assets, and follow the very simple advice I am giving you.

Agree. Think how worried you’ve been (still are).
The correct advice would have minimised this.

None of that is relevant. She is in the same situation as hundreds of people every day.

Low income plus savings over £16k = no UC, because you need to use your savings to live on. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. It is no more complicated than that.

I’d imagine OP filled that CAB conversation with comments of wanting to keep the money, it was a gift from her mum to the kids, her kids have future needs etc etc. None of that changes anything, but would have caused her phone call to go on and on and on, and round and round and round. So by the end of it, she probably really didn’t understand what was being said.

It really is very simple - she has savings, needs to live on those savings. Within her normal living expenses. She is even allowed to pay to install a wet room if she wants, because it is necessary work for her disabled child. Her doctor can back that up.

This isn’t a complicated case. At all.

OP I think you are basically trying to game the system, and people are pretty fed up with this kind of attitude to public money. You have been gifted £80k. Its yours to do as you please. Your mother cannot put any strings on it, and certainly she cannot expect you to claim UC when you have that amount of savings. You would be defrauding the state. So spend it, until its all gone, on whatever you want, but only when it is gone, can you then claim UC. You will still get your maintenance, you will still get your disability payments.

I didn’t pretend it was my children’s; I explained I think clearly that morally it is as it was set aside for their care needs by my mum to be used when she’s not here anymore.
really glad to hear from your experience working in this that spending it now won’t impact my ability to claim UC without being accused of asset distribution. Thank you.

You can even do the wet room if you want, if your disabled child needs it. They’re probably getting too big for you to lift in and out of a tub safely, or get in to wash them safely in a small shower cubicle or bath. You can use your savings for a wet room - just get something in writing from your child’s healthcare provider saying it is necessary.

*After 40 months yes. When it is below 16k .
Take out 1700 a month for however long it lasts
Put in relecant saving gs acc ounts allowing withdrawal

and Just spend 20k on a wet room now. !!

And your credit cards.
When it s below 16k in a few years go back and claim...

80k will not make much of a dent in full time care for 2x disabled young peopleso no point saving it for that anyway .maybe 10 months max or five more likely

And you will not be able to care full time for your mum and two severely disabled dc. That is madness.

So let me get this straight, you have £80,000 in the bank and you work and claim some benefits and you think you’re entitled to more benefits?! Sorry but that’s just greedy and entitled. Benefits are for people who don’t have anything, not for people who don’t want to spend their money.

In no way am I playing a system. Merely asking a question about an emotive and difficult and potentially legal issue. The spending clearly has to be done carefully so i don’t run into difficulty when I need to claim UC, thanks to the help from people on here.
in case you missed it- what you call “my” maintenance is a pittance of child payments that don’t even cover the monthly petrol driving to and from their appointments. The DLA all goes towards their therapies.

I didn’t pretend it was my children’s; I explained I think clearly that morally it is as it was set aside for their care needs by my mum to be used when she’s not here anymore

But it wasn't gifted like that, under a trust for example, or left in a will. You cannot give a big wodge of money away with strings attached. As it is, if she dies within 7 years, and breaches her IHT allowance, it will count towards her estate. I am not suggesting it will in your case, but it is a tax planning concern as well as a UC concern.