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.

Sorry what?
You have disability payments, child benefit I assume, maintenance and make 31k a year, all whilst sitting on a tidy 80k.. And your asking MN how you can effectively hide your money so you can claim UC (fraudulently) because you don't want to "fritter it away" on living expenses?

It's benefit fraud. It's not a catch-22. Or however you've dressed it up to feel better about what your trying to do.

When you've "frittered away" your £80k. You will be entitled to claim UC. Like everybody else?

But you don't have a choice anyway...you won't get any U.C. and you are not eligible for U.C. if you have £80K in the bank. They just won't give you the U.C. so I don't really understand what the issue is. You will be forced to use the 80K before you can claim anything from U.C. and you can use the 80K on absolutely anything you like as you won't be signed up to U.C. anyway?

When you are able to claim (in about 3ish years), it would no longer be an asset.

Sadly despite best efforts from amazing staff, the NHS is massively over stretched and cannot cover the therapies and care that keep both kids out of hospital alllllll the time. They are still in and out but their private twice weekly physio for example is expensive but reduces the chance of a nasty chest infection that lands us back in hospital for 6 weeks. It all adds up. CAB seemed to think any private medicine is considered unnecessary (not his own view but in terms of this) so wouldn’t be allowed.

80k that came with a very emotional request from her mother!

Doing what is required and doing what feels right can often be poles apart in this sort of situation.

Your understanding is wrong!

I bought a whole fecking house whilst on UC and living in a rental.
It was considered a reasonable use of money and the tax payers were able to stop subsidising my accommodation.

If your household needs a disability adaptation -not deprivation of capital
Paying off mortgage -not deprivation of capital
Paying off debt - not deprivation of capital though I imagine if you ran up some gambling debts or spanked credit cards on Versace then it would be viewed differently.

https://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/the-work-we-do/support-available/financial-support/benefits

Working on a hunch, is this any help?

Really? Thank you.
definitely not spending on Versace 😂Asda, yes. Medical equipment, yes.

Social services can give you a direct payment for care which you then use to pay the carers instead of paying them out of your own pocket. The NHS being stretched does not make any difference to who pays for the care.

Surely this is common sense. You spend the money in the bank to 'make ends meet' before applying for benefits. How is this even a question?

need to jump off to do the night care before I grab some
sleep- thank you for the help and kindness. I really appreciate it, and apologise if I’ve come across as goady, greedy or offensive. Absolutely not my intention. For those of you also struggling with caring for loved ones, I hope life gets a bit easier.

Not RTFT but could you use some of your savings to add qualifications so your earning potential would increase? That would be an investment rather than an expense and you might not struggle anymore.

I have. Some of us are caring for family, not getting benefits and don’t have £80k stashed away.

Why should my tax be used to finance OPs life above my struggles?

Use the money, let your mum know you will be, or she can take it back. That's your option.

She's asking for ways to hide her money legally because she doesn't want to spend her assets, she wants to spend everyone else's

Yes indeed WE are. And I am not so pissed off at the OP and am trying to help, precisely because I am able to understand her moral dilemma.

Her mother made her promise not to spend it until she was dead, but OP as a single mother of two disabled kids cant afford all her and the kids costs without extra help. Thats why so many of us are advising her that using it is the best way moving forward. At no point has she suggested hiding it.

@slowingdown1 How much is your current mortgage pm? What do you see as a reasonable monthly income to manage to live off?

I don't understand why you think you're not allowed to spend the money on making up the shortfall every month OP. It seems that CAB have got you thinking you can't use it at all, which is not true.

It seems to me that you have a problem with making ends meet and an obvious solution available to you in the form of £80k savings.
I am sorry your mum is unwell, but I am sure she wouldn't want you struggling to get by while hanging onto the money for 'the kids future' (meaning what, exactly?)
The future is now. Use it to support your family. If/when the money runs out, you can then make a UC claim. I cannot see how you would be penalised for paying bills and buying food.
In the meantime consider options to boost your income and lower your bills.

Your other option is to continue to struggle to get by while sitting on a pile of cash, which is madness.

Nobody is asking you to “fritter” the £80k away . Though since it is actually your money, not your mothers, not your children's, but yours, you would be perfectly entitled to do so.

What would be a better idea is to use it and spend it to benefit your family as you would have used the UC you seem to think you are entitled to but which sitting on the best part of a hundred grand quite rightly means you are disqualified from receiving.

At no point has the OP suggested anything like this.

All she said was that CAB said that paying something off her mortgage might be seen as deprivation of assets (which it wouldnt BTW). She doesnt want to use it on day to day costs because of guilt due to what her mother said, but has no choice and struggling with that.

I was going to su exact same thing.

You’re entitled to feel how you want. I’m entitled to think it’s beyond belief anyone would consider trying to claim UC in these circumstances.

Whats done is done. OP needs to take it on the chin and use the savings like everyone else has to. Lockdown wiped out many people’s savings. Life isn’t fair sometimes.

i think CAB might be wrong and you can use it on private medical therapies without it being a deprivation of assets. would be different if you had a boob job. worth asking a lawyer just to double check.

You’re allowed to pay off your mortgage with it?

It's an entire post for "financially savvy people" on how she can move/gift the money in order to be under the threshold and claim UC? What else is she asking? I must be missing something