Benefits and savings

alan_p_4

Hi
I am a newby to this site so please be patient with me.
I am on I Support, housing benefit and council tax help, due to being a carer for my wife, I have just had a windfall of £25000, and was wondering how this will affect my benefits when i declare it. Also do i have to use this money to live on, can i pay of debts with it, and spend it it decorating my house etc, will i need to keep reciepts to prove what the money has been spent on.
Thanks in advance for any help

nannytone_2

all means tested benefits will stop ( IS, HB and council tax support) but carers allowance and your wife's DLA/PIP will continue to be paid.

you can buy necessary items ( though reasonably).
you can pay off debts that are due, but can't pay off a loan for instance, that still has a year to run.

once your savings fall below 16k, you will be entitled to some means tested benefit, but at a reduced rate.
full entitlement will resume once capital falls below 6k

TELLIT01

Before long you will almost certainly get people saying that they paid off all their debts and there wasn't a problem. They may be correct in their own case as not all instances of Deprivation of Capital, as it's called, are spotted.
It certainly isn't a course of action I would advise because if you are caught, not only will your benefits be stopped, but a calculation will be made do decide how long that money should have lasted and you won't get benefit for that period either.