ESA: Spending inheritance on disability related needs?

tannedtoast

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone knows what to expect or has been in/knows of a similar situation.

In a nutshell, my Grandfather died. He's split his relatively small estate between his three kids, one of whom is my father, who is registered disabled. He has been in receipt of DLA/PIP for the past thirty five years and also gets ESA. According to the DWP, he's partly contribution based and partly income based, but they classify it as income based for some unexplained reason.

I know any inheritance he gets won't matter to PIP but it will potentially impact on his ESA as it'll be over 16k by a couple of grand.

This leaves me with a couple of questions....

1) Am I correct in saying that ESA may allow the inheritance to be spent on "disability related needs"? And if so, Do the DWP decide what is considered a "disability related need"? If so, is there a list I can find, or is it at their discretion?

2) As my father is aging and his condition is declining, he is desperately in need of downstairs accommodation and bating facilities (which the council won't do as he owns his own home) - Does anyone know if he would he be able to spend some/all of the inheritance on paying to have a small extension put on the rear of his home to improve his quality of life, without losing his ESA?

2) If he can do this without impacting on his ESA payments, would he need to get some kind of permission/confirmation from the DWP before spending this inheritance on it? Or could he just go ahead with it and then justify it later?

3) If the DWP won't allow for any such works, and cut his ESA when getting wind of the inheritance, how does spending the money impact on claiming in the future? For example, if he got, let's say, 20k....ESA stopped, he then spent 18k on an extension, leaving him under the threshold for claiming ESA - what would happen? I assume he'd need to reapply, but is there a waiting period? Would he potentially face rejection for spending the money quickly?

4) Would using any (remaining) inheritance to pay off some small unsecured debts and/or the rest of his mortgage be classified as "deprivation of capital" and thus stop his ESA payments too?

I know I should really ask the DWP directly, but I really would like to avoid getting them on the scent of money possibly coming his way before the will has entered probate. He's completely unaware of any potential issues with spending the money his dad left him, and I haven't got the heart to tell him in the midst of his grief that he might end up worse off for being left something.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Topcat1982

2) Yes, they will likely allow it but write to them first and get the decision in writing to cover your back.

3) You would be treated as still having the money.

4)Yes.

xylophone

As my father is aging and his condition is declining, he is desperately in need of downstairs accommodation and bating facilities (which the council won't do as he owns his own home)

He has never considered selling and buying a more suitable property?

tannedtoast

@Topcat1982 - Thanks for the answers and advice.

@Xylophone - Yes, many times. His house isn't worth enough to buy even a one bedroom bungalow/ground floor flat where we live. He's already had significant adaptations done too, which would have to be done again on any place he moved on to. Rendering the idea completely unaffordable, unfortunately.

TELLIT01

xylophone wrote: »

He has never considered selling and buying a more suitable property?

The cost and disruption of moving house is often greater than the cost and disruption of adapting the existing house. My neighbours looked at selling their 3 bed semi and moving to a 2 bed bungalow. The hope being that it would be easier to manage and would leave them money in the bank. It turned out that the purchase price of a 2 bed bungalow with fees and the cost of bringing it up to date would have swallowed all the money from the sale of the house. Fully modernised bungalows were more expensive than their current house.

xylophone

Bungalows do tend to be expensive - relatives also found that the proceeds of sale of their well located house would not cover the cost of a bungalow in the same locality.

baza52

tell him to book a nice holiday (allowed) and buy a car (also allowed) and also replace things like the TV, carpets, bed, sofa etc.

tannedtoast

baza52 wrote: »

tell him to book a nice holiday (allowed) and buy a car (also allowed) and also replace things like the TV, carpets, bed, sofa etc.

He doesn't want either, he just wants improvements to his living situation. He really needs a new kitchen because there's black mold in the ceiling and mold coming in from a broken seal around the door, but I doubt they'd allow for that? So how would they turn a blind eye to a holiday/new car?

Mojisola

tannedtoast wrote: »

He doesn't want either, he just wants improvements to his living situation. He really needs a new kitchen because there's black mold in the ceiling and mold coming in from a broken seal around the door, but I doubt they'd allow for that? So how would they turn a blind eye to a holiday/new car?

Why not? Maintaining the house and putting in things like downstairs loo and shower would be acceptable uses of the inheritance - as would buying new flooring/general redecoration/more suitable furniture/etc. Just keep the purchases mid-range so it can't be claimed that the money is being spent recklessly in order to reclaim benefits.

You can ask in advance if things will be allowable but, from other people's experiences, the DWP can be very reluctant to give permission.

tannedtoast

Mojisola wrote: »

Why not? Maintaining the house and putting in things like downstairs loo and shower would be acceptable uses of the inheritance - as would buying new flooring/general redecoration/more suitable furniture/etc. Just keep the purchases mid-range so it can't be claimed that the money is being spent recklessly in order to reclaim benefits.

You can ask in advance if things will be allowable but, from other people's experiences, the DWP can be very reluctant to give permission.

Thank you. I really need other people's experiences to go on and a vague idea of what can be "written off" as an acceptable use to make sure he's not shooting himself in the foot long run.. I know he will want to do the right thing, but it sounds like asking for permission is potentially going to backfire.

Am I right in saying it would be best to just go ahead and do whatever needs doing then, and just explain it once the DWP find out?

baza52

just because you are on benefits you are allowed to have a holiday or buy a car. its not a case of turning a blind eye it is allowed.
If he needs an adaptation and pays for it i cannot see it being a problem. £5k on a car or a £1000 holiday for him and a partner or someone to accompany him is also not extravagant.

New TV, washing machine, cooker or an update of the kitchen is also ok.
If the house needs decorating then paying someone to do it is fine.