Inheritance while on Universal Credit: what are my options?

[Stressedmum6761]

Hi everyone! 👋 I'm currently losing my marbles and need to speak to anyone who's been in the same boat.

My nanny passed away nearly 2 years ago now and it's taken a while for her things to be settled and sold etc. My family passed me a letter today addressed to me from my sweet, beautiful nan and a cheque for nearly £12K. I've been in absolute bits all day I keep bursting into tears. I've never had this much in my life and never ever expected anything from my nan at all and it's absolutely thrown me.

The thing is I know I should be absolutely THRILLED with this money, I'm on my own with DD who's 6 now. We've just moved into a council house 2 months ago and I'm on UC top up which also covers my rent, my job doesn't pay well but it's a school job and I get my holidays off with DD. I'm panicking more than anything because I know that as soon as I cash this cheque UC are going to deduct money each month (about £120 if my maths is correct).

My family said they know nan wanted me to put a deposit down on a house, which again I know if I get a mortgage my UC stops and I'm financially liable for the payments and any repairs etc if anything goes Pete Tong.

I'm thinking about just putting most of it in a LISA for now and potentially in the future buying a house...maybe a once in a lifetime holiday with the rest. I'm just torn because if I buy a house, I'll be so much worse off than I am now getting help from UC with rent payments etc. I've just moved into this house and started decorating and making it my own. I'm worried about the money sitting there and me being so scared to spend anything while also having money deducted from my monthly payments. Again, I'm absolutely ecstatic I've got this chunk of money for security but the fact that it's going to effect me whether I spend it or not is flapping me to the core.

What do I do? Has anyone had experience with coming into money while also being on benefits? Thank youuu from a very emotional and stressed mum.

I’m not suggesting they should be kept without a penny in the bank. I’m noting that with pennies in the bank, they don’t need to be UC claimants!

although have to admit that given benefits meant to be short time safety, it seems peculiar they allow windfalls to be spent on car upgrades, house decorations, holidays etc. surely those costs (which by anyone’s definitions aren’t essentials) can wait till when short term safety need period us over and things are back on track.

Have you any concept about how often jobs are put off because someone doesn’t have money? So yes windfalls might well be spent on car upgrades, believe me when I say having an unreliable car when you have children is bloody miserable, especially if you cannot use public transport. Houses quite reasonably need decorating, another job often put off. Personally if I was the OP I’d be doing all those things which need doing first then see what’s left. Nobody scrutinises those cash in hand people, MP expenses etc like this.

Who said benefits are meant to be short term? There are so many working people who will be on UC top ups (benefits in the eyes of a lot of people) indefinitely. How do you think a single mum nurse, teacher, social worker can survive in a large city with the astronomical cost of rent in relation to salary? These are people who work full time too.

@Zippedydoobaah honestly. This thread has seemed to have taken a turn and reached the misinformed crowd. Its clear some have no consideration and perhaps the thread needs moving over to the single parent forum @Stressedmum6761 shame as OP has done no wrong here.

You do not declare your earnings on your journal at the end of UC at the end of each assessment.

Are you on UC?

Your wage is automatically calculated and it shows on your payment statement each month.

Such ignorance.
Long-term illness/disabilty
Carers
The millions of low income workers. The government recognise that many wages do not cover living costs.

You are thinking of poeple who use it during a short spell of unemployment.

YANBU 12k, while a lovely gift, is not a life-changing sum of money. You can no more afford to buy a house now than you could 2 months ago.

You can have 6k without it impacting your benefits so just go on holiday and buy something that makes your life easier. Or book this year's holiday and next year's holiday.

Drop the pressure that this should be changing your life, it's a little gift from your nan to make you smile.

Surely it’s self evident that benefits shouldn’t be a permanent solution? Isn’t is obvious that a setup requiring a permanent redistribution of money from some citizens to others clearly isn’t sustainable.

Apologies, I’m referring to (un)employment related benefits, not those associated with disability who clearly will be permanent (and we should be looking ti do better than what we currently offer).

This has happened through the dismantling of society through a mixture of historical government policies and primarily feminism - ie women would no longer tolerate being smacked around and raped on a Friday night and being able to get a job and take contraception helped then walk away from a terrible marriage.

When the family unit was a husband, wife and children and the husbands wage could afford to pay all bills, the government was not required to step in. Now the man is often no longer present, housing is extortionate and the community that would have provided childcare is gone. What miracle anyone expects a lone women in a part time minimum wage job to perform is beyond me. This is literally why people are now choosing not to have kids.

Yes! MP expenses - they are the real spongers imo. 100k+ per year but they’ve got to claim for their cheese sandwiches and the plug for their bathroom sink, because they couldn’t possibly just pay for it themselves. Then there are the other extremes who claim for their moat cleaning. And there are people moaning that a single mother has dared to ask how this money will affect her as if that means she’s going to try and “hide” it. If only they all knew David Cameron claimed benefits for his disabled son, despite surely being able to afford to provide him. He certainly tried to hide that!

What's the scope of working full time and putting aside £200 a month? By year 5 that's your £12k and you have a better paying job to cover mortgage and maintenance

Whether your opinion is that they "don't need to be UC claimants" is irrelevant. Those are the regulations. Tariff deduction over £6k, no entitlement to UC over £16k except where the regulations state a disregard. I'd also like to add, as this isn't the first post stating there should be no entitlement if there are any savings at all: a lot of people may suddenly find themselves on UC after a life altering event such as terminal illness, health crisis (stroke/heart attack/other) or divorce, domestic abuse, loss of partner through death. Take a moment to consider. I've worked in this field for well over a decade and I am so tired of the view that benefit claimants should have no savings whatsoever or that we taxpayers are all immortal beings who will never face such a challenge. Ultimately, the SOS for the DWP makes and upholds the savings and capital regulations, you do not.

Funny isn't it. I agree it's not a life changing sum of money but at the same time 40% of Britain has less than £1k saved.

Having £12k saved puts you way better off than most of the country

Then lobby your MP if you feel this way.

Do you really think she could afford to save that per month?

She hasn’t got 12k saved. She’s got a cheque for 12k that her nan gave her. She’s got a car on finance she wants to pay off so she no longer has those payments going out and there would be no reason she wouldn’t be allowed to do that on UC. On top of that there are other things she hasn’t been able to afford to do that she now can consider. It’s not like UC is so generous she’s been living a life of luxury AND managed to save 12k.

Well OP isn’t unemployed - UC tops up her low pay, as it does for millions of others.

And what are these teachers, social workers and nurses supposed to do? They are entitled to these top ups. The government has decided on what the minimum amount is to live on and some people, often through no fault of their own, will never be able to afford life independently. These aren't drunks on the street, they are teaching our DC and nursing out relatives. They are an essential part not only if our workforce, but of the development of our society. The real tragedy is that their salaries do not reflect their contribution. The same with cleaners, TAs and so on. An above poster said her and her husband can receive UC until their combined income is £100k. We should not have a cost of living that means such a couple are considered on the poverty line.

Oh yeah, same, and I'm sure until this moment OP was also the same. She doesn't have "savings" savings is having more money coming in every month than going out. It's being so comfortable you have EXTRA money that you don't need to use. OP has had a small lump sum drop in her lap. Like winning on a scratch card, she hasn't had a 12k wage increase. Personally, I'd pay off my credit cards, get my car repaired and be back to square 1.

12k is just not alot of money, especially when you're on a low income because you always have a deficit and things you're going without or putting off because you can't afford it.

I agree that a large part of the issue is caused by the dismantling of the principles of a stable family unit coupled with learned helpnessness and a lack of self responsibility

Well we don't know what her full time role would yield but you would hope it would be more than £200 a month more than now.

Issue is, there is no motivation to work more hours if it means you lose the housing element and thus end up poorer

I trust you understand the concept of a democracy and the government of the day enacting policies in alignment with the mandate the electorate have voted them in on. That’s were opinions matter.

if you believe there’s some amorphous mass of others that decide on policy independent of the views of society then you keep doing you…

note: I’ll remind you I didn’t say they should be penniless and I’ll also point out that many of the events you list are insurable

I do. Hopefully the next election will see a change in government and a focus on fiscal sensibility rather than buying of votes by promising more handouts to the feckless and lazy

We should not have a definition of a poverty line (your term, I understand the real definition) that is at a joint income of £100k. That should be in no one’s books poverty