Share investments & benefits

shazzbat1

Hi all,

Seeking some advice I've been suffering from a chronic illness of which there is no cure. As a result of this I accepted a redundancy package in March this year. The settlement was of a sum over the government threshold of £16k savings etc. So as the money is now getting burned up, I'm well below the threshold level and contacted benefits who advised that I was entitled to NI based contribution benefits which are not means tested. As a routine they asked me all sorts like mortgage, council tax etc of which are means tested.

My issue is that I'm on an interest only mortgage, my repayment mechanism was a mortgage ISA but felt that it was not performing but yet the company was happy to take a management fee. I decided as the stock market was on its !!!! it would be good to invest in aims (risky I know, but rewards can be good) so I have now a portfolio that covers just about 50% of my current mortgage. Problem now is that the department of work and pensions will now see this as savings in which I don't use it as that and may not be entitled to any benefits. Which sucks as I've been on higher end tax for 20 years, worked all my life and never made a claim for benefits. I'm also now concerned that as I can not work cause of my Illness, I will start having to use up this fund as I still have to live and thus putting my house at risk as I'll have no means to pay the initial mortgage and also I have breached the contract between my lender an I as I should have a repayment scheme. I have asked my share dealer provider who can not advise on this matter so don't know what to do for the best.
Ps. I'm 45 years old and can't tap into any early retirement funds...........

Any advise out there??