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 different than businesses having tax breaks etc or incentives

Are you sure your mum won't need it back to pay for care fees if she is very unwell ?

If you read my posts I think I’ve explained as clearly as I can why I qualify for UC based on my income and the fact I can’t use the savings sum as
it will continue to be counted as an asset. Hence my post.

OP could by herself a reasonably priced car though, such as one for about £25K.

Something I was wondering too.

@slowingdown1 you promised your mum you wouldn’t fritter the money away but it seems you want money from the tax payer to fritter away.

If you badly need the money why won’t you spend it? Surely that’s not frittering it away as you need it to survive.

You wouldn't be overpaying it monthly. You pay off 80k from the house value in one go.
Do it a few months before you apply and no one will even ask about it.

No, my brother is a high earner and has already offered to cover her care
home fees if and when that happens, though ideally she’d come
to live with me so I can care for her (used to be a nurse before I had my kids and had to work from home).

You can use it for your bills so you are not in minus. That's what normal people do when they sit on this amount of money. I don't get why you are talking about overpayments on mortgage when you can't apparently even covet basic outgoings

Are you taking the piss OP?
You’ve got incomes from several sources, plus a huge amount in the bank - and you want us taxpayers to give you more? Ffs
And 31k is NOT a particularly low income.

Yes, I see why she did what she did. How bad is her dementia? Would it not be possible to ask her if you can use the money specifically for therapy for the children? (thus freeing up the cash you are currently spending).

I don’t want to fritter away anyone’s money 😵‍💫I just want to make
ends meet. As I’ve explained several times now, I have been advised that spending it will be treated as deliberately giving it away and will still count as me being over
the claim threshold. Hence why I was told it’s a kind catch -22.

Exactly,@slowingdown1 pay off £75k of your mortgage, as a lump sum. This will reduce your mortgage payments and leave you with £6k in savings. See if you can live more comfortably on your existing income once your mortgage payments are lower, and if you can’t, apply for UC.

I could, but worry as she is increasingly not of sound mind that this would look like I was taking advantage of her vulnerable state. Perhaps am over thinking this.

I didn’t know this was allowed, i thought it came under the assets rule. Thank you so much.

It's morally wrong to not spend your £80000 & expect the state (ergo other taxpayers) to subsidise you!

On £31k how much would you actually get in UC? If you invest the £80k properly then you should be able to generate about £300 a month in interest from it using a low risk Fixed-rate savings bond. would you be likely to get more than that in UC?

You make ends meet by using the 80k

Hopefully you have it invested somewhere sensible - even a high paying instant access account, after you put some in an ISA.

How big is your monthly shortfall?

No, you cannot have universal credit for this.

But I can’t spend it as it’s still counted as an asset!

it is deprivation of assets, you have assets so need to use them. universal credit is not just based on monthly income and rightly so. your life style doesn’t need support from universal credit. You could use the 80k it to invest to provide more money.

Exactly this and then you haven't spent it

It's growing for you

CAB ran a benefits app called turn2us and said on 31k sole income with 2 severely disabled children I’d be entitled to £1756 monthly.

You don't really need any of my money. (tax) I haven't got 80k.

@OP read the posts about investing to have more income. This seems sensible to me.

ETA typed too slowly. OK your UC is a lot of money . You have a lot of money in the bank. I'm not sure how you are expecting to square the circle you seem to be trying to.

OP, you CAN use the money to make ends meet! And apply and get partial UC when your savings are under 16k. But you have to spend slowly within your normal lifestyle.
You can invest it all into a pension.
You can invest it all to pay off your house.

These are your options as clear as can be.