Reducing my savings to below threshold prior to applying for unemployment benefits

ZR

I don't feel great making this post, quite ashamed actually.

A little background info. Last year my wife and I separated and I was made redundant from my job, I have been suffering from serious depression since then. Fortunately I had a decent amount of savings however I am now down to £40K, not seen sight of a job opportunity in eight months and I think it could be a while still and am considering applying for unemployment, something I have never done before.

I support my mother back in South Africa and provide my ex-wife with maintenance payments despite being unemployed (I know I could get out of this, but I couldn't live with myself). If I burn through this final £40K and still not have a job (likely scenario) I will not able to support them, my mother will end up homeless.

I am thinking about sending £12K each to my mother and ex-wife (and telling them that is all they will see from me until I find a job) to bring me down to the £16K threshold. It feels dishonest but this is not money I am going to benefit from, I will never see it again.

What view will the DWP take of this?

Thanks for reading.

calcotti

If DWP look at your financial history they are they would likely to treat this is as deprivation of capital and would treat you as if you still had the £24,000 you gave away and would therefore disallow your claim.

If you have health conditions which limit your ability to work you could apply for new style ESA which is not means tested. A claim can be backdated by three months provided you can get a Fit Note from your GP to cover the period. In order to qualify you will need a full NI record for.the tax years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

marcia_

ZR said:

I don't feel great making this post, quite ashamed actually.

A little background info. Last year my wife and I separated and I was made redundant from my job, I have been suffering from serious depression since then. Fortunately I had a decent amount of savings however I am now down to £40K, not seen sight of a job opportunity in eight months and I think it could be a while still and am considering applying for unemployment, something I have never done before.

I support my mother back in South Africa and provide my ex-wife with maintenance payments despite being unemployed (I know I could get out of this, but I couldn't live with myself). If I burn through this final £40K and still not have a job (likely scenario) I will not able to support them, my mother will end up homeless.

I am thinking about sending £12K each to my mother and ex-wife (and telling them that is all they will see from me until I find a job) to bring me down to the £16K threshold. It feels dishonest but this is not money I am going to benefit from, I will never see it again.

What view will the DWP take of this?

Thanks for reading.

 Thats because it is 

ZR

marcia_ said:

ZR said:

I don't feel great making this post, quite ashamed actually.

A little background info. Last year my wife and I separated and I was made redundant from my job, I have been suffering from serious depression since then. Fortunately I had a decent amount of savings however I am now down to £40K, not seen sight of a job opportunity in eight months and I think it could be a while still and am considering applying for unemployment, something I have never done before.

I support my mother back in South Africa and provide my ex-wife with maintenance payments despite being unemployed (I know I could get out of this, but I couldn't live with myself). If I burn through this final £40K and still not have a job (likely scenario) I will not able to support them, my mother will end up homeless.

I am thinking about sending £12K each to my mother and ex-wife (and telling them that is all they will see from me until I find a job) to bring me down to the £16K threshold. It feels dishonest but this is not money I am going to benefit from, I will never see it again.

What view will the DWP take of this?

Thanks for reading.

 Thats because it is 

Fair enough.

ZR

The other option is I buy a nice sleeping bag, give away the rest of money and go live in the streets myself. Probably outside of the scope of this forum.

poppy12345

ZR said:

The other option is I buy a nice sleeping bag, give away the rest of money and go live in the streets myself. Probably outside of the scope of this forum.

You have £40k in savings, i don't understand why you would want to do that. Take a look at calcotti's option.

huckster

Best not to do anything, where your current mental health leads to you make decisions, you would not have made, if you had a clearer view of the way forward.

If you have paid enough national insurance in last 2 tax years, if you don't have a Doctors fit note, then claim New Style Jobseekers Allowance. If you have a Doctors fit note or can get one quickly, then claim New Style Employment and support allowance.

Don't take actions to reduce savings just to claim Universal Credit. Bad decision you would come to regret.

If you have money available, as NHS mental health can take awhile to arrange sessions, then see if you can find private therapy at reasonable cost. Find ANY job to spend time keeping active and mind on something other than negative issues.  The more time you spend just thinking negative sh*t, then the longer it will take you to get back on a more positive pathway.

elsien

Are you able to work at all? There’s enough service jobs out there at the moment and if you’re not well enough for  full time work but could cope with part time that would help your money to go further. 

Is your wife not working to support herself? 

There’s a thought that occurs to me is that If you divorce then you need to look at how the marital assets would be shared which would include savings etc. on both sides. Do you own a property between you?
And as per the above post what help are you getting for your mental health, Because it has to be a priority.

ZR

poppy12345 said:

ZR said:

The other option is I buy a nice sleeping bag, give away the rest of money and go live in the streets myself. Probably outside of the scope of this forum.

You have £40k in savings, i don't understand why you would want to do that. Take a look at calcotti's option.

Because if I spend that money mother will be sleeping rough instead me.

I am going to look at Calcotti's option but I expect I don't qualify as I was out of work for much of the last two years. It's been a tough time recently. 

ZR

elsien said:

Are you able to work at all? There’s enough service jobs out there at the moment and if you’re not well enough for  full time work but could cope with part time that would help your money to go further. 

Is your wife not working to support herself? 

There’s a thought that occurs to me is that If you divorce then you need to look at how the marital assets would be shared which would include savings etc. on both sides. Do you own a property between you?
And as per the above post what help are you getting for your mental health, Because it has to be a priority.

I am looking for work, applying for multiple jobs every day. I used to be able to find work quite easily, I don't know if it's me or the job market that is the problem. Probably me.

ZR

Thanks for comments everyone, I feel pretty pathetic for having started this thread. I need to keep looking for work and see what happens.