Build up when not spending

lostrich

Hi,
my s18 is on universal credit, applying for lwrca. He also gets £110 allowance a week from his dad. As my s18 is ill with an ME type condition, he does not get out and about to spend his money. He doesn’t pay rent or money towards household bills.
he is starting to build up savings, nearly £4k. 

How much does it complicate things if I ask for contribution to household expenses?
Can he pay into a pension fund at all?
Is there a list of what he can/can’t spend money on?
what happens if his savings go above £6k? He will then be near that limit so will likely be going under it/over it for a while? Does he then run that amount down and reclaim at a later date when he has run out of funds?

poppy12345

At the age of 18 he’s now an adult so he should be paying his way and giving a contribution towards the house hold bills. It’s never too early to start to learn that you need to pay your way in life. How much he contributes is entirely up to you.

As he’s not working then the most he can pay into a pension is £2,880/year. 

Savings of less than £6,000 are ignored so he can spend the money on anything he wants. Does he need anything new, clothes, bedroom furniture? 

Once his savings go over £6,000 there’s a £4.35/month deduction for every £250 or part thereof over that amount. 

marcia_

 You can definitely charge him keep or rent. I think it's good to charge young adults rent, it prepares them for when they move out. Plus of course you have costs with food etc
 
 Yes he can save in a pension that would be a good idea. Ask on the pension board for advice on this.

 He can spend his money on anything he wants so long as its not done to allow him to qualify for benefits. 

TELLIT01

If he isn't spending the money it makes on sense for his Dad to be giving him £110 each week.  It would make far more sense for him to set that money aside for the son's future.  If the son's savings from benefits alone are increasing, take an amount for rent/food from him in order to stabilise the balance.  You can also set that aside for his future needs.  The only problem will be if either parent is themselves in receipt of income related benefit as that could be affected by the additional money in their account.

Muttleythefrog

Agree with Poppy above. No mention of PIP. If he's not getting that disability benefit which is not means tested and would not affect UC it may be worth looking into to see if he could qualify... a good place to start is the CAB website guidance but also other sources including threads here.

In terms of lists you can and can't spend on.. can spend as he wishes but if monies go above the lower limit of savings £6k then there can be scrutiny of spending if there is possibility of depriving one's self of funds in order to gain benefits...it is subjective.. but for example in an extreme case if someone had over £16k in savings and so did not qualify for any UC but decided to give away £11k to a family member then that would likely be seen as deprivation of capital if they then tried to claim UC and they likely would be considered to still have it. So ideally yes... keep savings below £6k and yes they should/could/can be contributing to their upkeep.

The monies from father may be better directed including for son's future.

Perhaps try to think between yourselves what could improve their life quality or provide family oriented breaks in consideration of accrued benefit monies that may be good to spend. The consideration is far from unique as often disabled/sick benefit claimants are in receipt of decent benefit income but struggle to spend it due to having restricted lives.

lostrich

sorry, not £110 a week from his dad, a month.
if I got board from him do I have to show it’s a fair reflection/will they check my accounts?
I don’t claim any benefits. Full time NHS worker.

thank you all for your comments.

We are overwhelmed just with claiming UC and have concerns on the stress of pip claim, especially as he has so little to spend on.

lostrich

Also, parents saving money for his future - is that allowed?

sammyjammy

lostrich said:

Also, parents saving money for his future - is that allowed?

As long as its not in his name and he doesn't have access to it its fine because in the eyes of the law its yours.

You can charge him whatever you consider reasonable nobody has any interest in what he pays you to keep a roof over his head and feed him/contribute to bills.

marcia_

lostrich said:

sorry, not £110 a week from his dad, a month.
if I got board from him do I have to show it’s a fair reflection/will they check my accounts?
I don’t claim any benefits. Full time NHS worker.

thank you all for your comments.

We are overwhelmed just with claiming UC and have concerns on the stress of pip claim, especially as he has so little to spend on.

 Nobody will look in to your accounts or even call you. If he is asked its keep/rent 

sheramber

If you put money in an account in his name it will be his money,

If you put it into an account on your name it any interest on it will be treated as your interest  for tax purposes.

Is there nothing he would like?- e.g his pwn tv . Some special treats that he could buy for himself. 

Muttleythefrog

lostrich said:

sorry, not £110 a week from his dad, a month.
if I got board from him do I have to show it’s a fair reflection/will they check my accounts?
I don’t claim any benefits. Full time NHS worker.

thank you all for your comments.

We are overwhelmed just with claiming UC and have concerns on the stress of pip claim, especially as he has so little to spend on.

Just regarding the bolded as I agree with the above advice all given. 

You may not be aware but the government is planning to phase out the Work Capability Assessment which I understand your son is about to be subject to for his Universal Credit claim as you say he is 'applying' for lcwra which would be the more severe of the 2 categorisations of limitations regarding work (related) activities. They plan to eventually use PIP assessments as a determining factor in deciding disablement in relation to work. Now 1 The timescale is up in the air and it will likely be phased and take years. 2 This government is quite likely to be replaced by one of different flavour later this year. 3 Bearing in mind 2 what changes could be expected are near impossible to guess at or what the timeline may be. However, 4 I do suspect that there will be simplification/alignment of assessments under the next government or two that continues what is proposed and this means a PIP award could be of more value than just in relation to PIP in future.

I would potentially bear this in mind. Claiming PIP can be a pain.. keeping PIP can be a pain... but ultimately for those genuinely eligible (and we cannot here say whether that's the case for your son) most will get suitable award eventually. So definitely I would have it remain on radar even if you have concerns over the process and potential concerns for (his) using any further extra money.