How and where to save around £18k (on income support)?! Please help!

Oldernotwiser

wiiinning wrote: »

Tagq2 - thank you very much for all of your help, that is a great help. I will pass on the helpful information. She is the most deserving person and the money will help her to be able to do things she hasn't been able to do because of what happened. Hopefully with the kind advice on here and the advice from the CAB she will be able to make some informed decisions.

You can't just pick out the one person who's said what you want to hear and accept their viewpoint - most of us are saying that she cannot do this!

Oldernotwiser

wiiinning wrote: »

, without the benefits she would not be able to afford to study her degree.

)

That's not true. Her benefits do not pay her OU fees, there are grants that pay the fees for anyone on a low income; a windfall doesn't alter that.

Jai_M

IS

"Capital of more than £6,000 will affect how much Income Support you get. You will be treated as getting £1 a week in income for every £250 of capital (or part of £250) above the £6,000 limit. This is regardless of how much money you actually receive from your capital, if any." ....(upto £16k of course).

£16,000 - £6,000 = £10,000 over
£10,000/£250 = £40

She'll loose £40 a week while being on IS

LL30

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

A single mother on welfare receives a hell of a lot more that £65 a week. There are many various types of welfare payments they can claim for being unable to support their child.

Where? I'm entitled to £67 IS, £53 CTC and £3.10 milk/veg tokens. HB and CTB and that's my lot. Very grateful for the temporary support, but I don't know of any other payments I could claim for.

Jai_M

I think the point was £67 + £53 + £3.10 + HB + CTB = over £67.

The question is, in a similar position, if you were getting £18k, would you blow £5k just to avoid loosing some of it [benefits] to the state?

LL30

Jai_M wrote: »

I think the point was £67 + £53 + £3.10 + HB + CTB = over £67.

The question is, in a similar position, if you were getting £18k, would you blow £5k just to avoid loosing some of it to the state?

Damn, and here's me thinking I'm missing something 18K - I'd tell my Dad and he'd do something clever with it but you'd be damned if I'd be claiming benefits if I had that much money. And yes, I've had a truly horrific time also, but I don't expect the state to keep me and absolutely hate the fact I'm on IS now. Roll on Thurs and pray I get this job...and roll on my little plan to be self employed also

Jai_M

LL30 wrote: »

I get this job...and roll on my little plan to be self employed also

Good Luck

tagq2

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

A single mother on welfare receives a hell of a lot more that £65 a week. There are many various types of welfare payments they can claim for being unable to support their child.

The last time I looked, which was a while back, the average single mother was entitled to ~£65 in CB and CTC - it seems a good tenner more now. Unless your children are young, further entitlement today is based on a modified JSA dance, not on "ability to support". So those with no other resources may get more, while those enjoying unfettered £40k/year personal salaries will still enjoy support despite being easily "able" to support their child without it.

Similarly, not every collection of financial institutions which needed financial support received it (anyone remember Southsea Mortgages?) while the collection of banks which received financial support could have raised a proportion of the funds by other means.

The point was that the determination is a legal one, not a moral one. All a claimant has to worry about is whether, to the best of her knowledge, she is operating within the law.

Oldernotwiser wrote:

You can't just pick out the one person who's said what you want to hear and accept their viewpoint - most of us are saying that she cannot do this!

What he/she said. The DMG suggests that an amount of CICA-derived capital genuinely gifted to a child purely to benefit them almost certainly won't be regarded as capital but it only might not be regarded as deprivation of capital. The factors appear to be whether the money was given away with the intention to increase benefit and whether the money counts as capital from a personal injury claim.

LL30

Jai_M wrote: »

Good Luck

Cheers, 3 weeks of being redundant (AKA unemployed) has done my nut in I don't know how people manage long term, it's harder than working!

wiiinning

Wow, thanks for all the replies... So, not sure where to start... I understand what you are all saying and there are plenty of benefit thieves out there, not declaring they are in relationships, getting 2 peoples earnings etc etc and then there are those that claim to be disabled when they aren't etc. And I'm also aware that people lose benefits when they shouldn't or when they desperately need them etc.

I am not saying what she is doing is the right thing or the wrong thing, but I think some of the replies on here have become borderline ridiculous. I can't see myself posting here again as a number of the replies are unhelpful and with a 'not very nice' tone.

I would like to comment that learning to drive and buying a car does not, in my mind, mean that she is 'blowing' 5k, and she has been assessed as being safer by doing so by police and local authorities. Some people are quick to judge...