ESA and pension lump sums

stunner190167

Good evening, 

I am in desperate need of advice

I discovere i had a pension with £36k in it and i have taken a number of lump sums from it. 
My wife is disabled and i am a carer, we have had very little money for years so we have been treating ourselves.
For example i took £5000 and bought my wife ipad, watch, pen and a laptop for myself
Then i took another 5k and bought 3pc and bedroom furniture
Then another for holidays plus more smaller items, jewellery for wife (nothing extravagant) 
I have a bit of a gambling problem and tbh i have gambled quite a lot

I never contacted ESA as i have at no point exceeded 6k which i believe is the cut off point for savings

I have, however, received a letter from them today demanding bank statements back to May for all accounts plus proof and reasons for anything i have spent

What advice can anybody offer please?

TiA

Newcad

The only advice has to be to comply with their request and provide the documents.

As you never went above £6K then things should be alright in that respect, but as they are checking then they will want to check that too.

However there is something else besides just the £6k limit to be considered here.

Taking multiple lump sums from a pension pot can become considered as taking an 'income' from that pension.
And of course income from a pension can affect ESA payments.

All that you can do at this stage is provide the documents requested and then see what they say/do.

HillStreetBlues

If you stayed below the £6k of capital all of the time, the only issue will be as Newcad has highlighted they might be trying to class it as income.
They have no legal right to question you about your spending.

stunner190167

HillStreetBlues said:

If you stayed below the £6k of capital all of the time, the only issue will be as Newcad has highlighted they might be trying to class it as income.
They have no legal right to question you about your spending.

Thanks 
When you say they have no legal right to question my spending is that if it is not classed as income?

HillStreetBlues

stunner190167 said:

Thanks 
When you say they have no legal right to question my spending is that if it is not classed as income?

If you have over £6k capital (under state pension age) then there is a deduction from means-tested benefits, because of that it's possible for deprivation of capital to apply.
Under £6k deprivation of capital is not possible, so matters not how you spend that money. So they have no legal right to ask how capital under £6k is spent as will not affect the amount of means-tested benefits a person is entitled too.
You could have £5k of capital and spend it all on a night out in doing so you won't have increase your benefit entitlement that means there is no legal reason for asking the question as the answer is irrelevant .

stunner190167

Thanks Hillstreetblues

They are asking for explanation for everything over £300. 

We didn't intend to take as many lump sums as we did but due to wife's spending(massive symptom of her mental health issue) and my gambling habits we have gone crazy and taken far more than we intended to

HillStreetBlues

stunner190167 said:

Thanks Hillstreetblues

They are asking for explanation for everything over £300. 

We didn't intend to take as many lump sums as we did but due to wife's spending(massive symptom of her mental health issue) and my gambling habits we have gone crazy and taken far more than we intended to

There is few ways of dealing with it, give them what they want, ask why they want the info and how it relates to your claim or make a complaint about the info they are asking for.

Newcad

Well there is the legal position/ arguments, and there is just supplying what they ask for even if legally you don't have to.
Standing stubbornly by your legal rights, for no good reason other than you can, is often not worth the extra hassle it can cause.
It's usually easier just to give a little leeway.

Whilst I do understand your reluctance to admit your gambling habit (addiction?) to the DWP,
if you have spent money on gambling and so have no receipts for it then just say so.
Gambling is legal in this country. (if it's the slots or a casino then there are no receipts, and who keeps their losing betting slips or lottery tickets/scratchcards?)

stunner190167

Newcad said:

Well there is the legal position/ arguments, and there is just supplying what they ask for even if legally you don't have to.
Standing stubbornly by your legal rights, for no good reason other than you can, is often not worth the extra hassle it can cause.
It's usually easier just to give a little leeway.

Whilst I do understand your reluctance to admit your gambling habit (addiction?) to the DWP,
if you have spent money on gambling and so have no receipts for it then just say so.
Gambling is legal in this country. (if it's the slots or a casino then there are no receipts, and who keeps their losing betting slips or lottery tickets/scratchcards?)

Thanks for post

I do feel i need to try and explain/justify situation.
Ive always liked a bet/slots and this sort of enabled me to go stupid. Very regrettably in hindsight, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. 
I am going to write to them explaining everything from the start including health issues (wifes spending), my gambling plus the crap life we have been living for years and just hope we get shown some compassion. 
The only possible good thing on the letter is that they are asking if i intend to draw anymore from the pot so maybe that will swing it towards capital and not income

Can only be truthful and hope for the best

Biggest problem will be time as banks have said up to a month for statements and DWP have given me 10 days from receipt of letter

Thanks again