UC and inheritance.

lor6126

I'm in the fortunate position of receiving some inheritance probably around £32.000. I know i can pay some debts off but would like to buy myself a second hand car. I have a motability car at the minute but the advance payments are ever increasing.IE, my last car had an advance payment of £2000. I cant find any guidance on what I am allowed to spend on a car, only that it will go to a decision maker to see if it was acceptable but that's not much use once I have bought it. Does anyone have any experience with doing this that they can share?

Also I wondered about having a wet room fitted to make it easier for me to shower and a modest revamp to my really old bathroom. Is this acceptable.?

I just wish I knew in advance what was acceptable and what isn't rather than when iv spent the money and its too late.

One last question ? Do I simply close my claim or report a change .

Thank you

Altior

Are you going to be able to do all of those things within a single AP? Do you have any existing capital that the inheritance will be adding to?

As you allude to, it's just judgement of another person, so nobody knows for sure. The test really is does the expenditure reflect a windfall, or does it blatantly work around benefit limits.

With vehicles, it's easier to defend if the new vehicle is in line with the level of previous vehicles you've driven.

I feel for example, if you had £15.5K capital, inherited £32K within an AP, and closed it with £15.5K capital, it would look very cynical and open to question. If I was a DM I'd be asking why you were sitting on £15.5K if you needed a new bathroom/wet room. It doesn't mean that it will definitely found to be DoC though, as that requires proof of intent, and intent is very hard to prove. For me rule number one would be keep away from any thresholds.

Keep_pedalling

Would this be a second car or is the mobility car being handed back?

lor6126

Hi to answer a few questions, no I have no capital at all. I don't really know if I could do it all in an assessment period. Certainly, paying the debts and buying the car as I have an idea what car I want and they are pretty common. The bathroom possibly not as I imagine it may take time to get quotes.

The car would be a replacement for the motability car which is due to be handed back soon anyway .

Altior

The timing will be pretty difficult. Especially if you have no control over when the inheritance lands then you'll need to report the change in capital at the end of the AP it's received in, which of course will have a material impact if it's over £6K or more, and £16K plus means the end of the claim. But by the letter of the law, you can't have those thresholds as overt targets unless clearing debt.

If it was me the cart shouldn't be driving the horse. Therefore the first option would be doing it via debt, as paying off debt is 100% safe in regard to reducing capital. If that's not possible, close the claim when the funds land (ie the end of the AP that goes over the maximum capital) and then reapply once you have organically fallen below £16K. Rushing to buy a car could lead to buying a bad car for example.

For info I am in a similar position, not with an inheritance but with a stoozing pot. In my original planning I was going to target sub £16K but I ultimately decided to wait until I organically fall below the threshold, then apply for UC.

Ultimately, my judgement is that the perceived threat of DoC is much higher than the reality in practice. But I am going to play it ultra safe and try to give nobody an excuse to challenge my affairs.

Spoonie_Turtle

Do you have LCW or LCWRA and if so do you also claim ESA?

If you have LCW/RA but don't claim ESA, you'd need to open a credits-only claim before you get your inheritance and your UC ends, so that you don't have to go through a WCA again when you reclaim UC.

lor6126

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006544#Comment_82006544

I do have some control over when it lands as a family member is the executor and I am sure would send it to me on a date of my choice. I am actually really worried about receiving it which is sad as im sure my late mother would be upset over that. I'm nervous as there is no likelihood of me ever being fit to work again and I have major anxiety what will happen when the money is gone and I have to try and reclaim UC or worse if I make a mistake and they say I have spent some on something I shouldn't. Maybe I would be better just concentrating on debt for now. I just know I will never be able to afford something like a more suitable bathroom again once it is gone.

Altior

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006611#Comment_82006611

These are delicate considerations of course, I am a finance guy by trade so concentrate on the numbers element.

There is case law around this which basically determined that you don't need to be explicitly frugal with an inheritance, just because you're on benefits. Essentially the law expects you to act the same as if you weren't on UC. Aside from the accurate and timely reporting. So if you got £32K via an inheritance, you'd use some of it to buy a car, whether you were on UC or not. If you had a dream holiday you always wanted to go on, you could use the inheritance money for that. The DWP would have to try and demonstrate that you bought the car or took the holiday to avoid the claim being closed, or to obtain maximum UC, for DoC to apply.

Spoonie_Turtle's suggestion is apposite, if you have the ESA option that means that you will have a continuing underlying claim, making it relatively straight forward to roll back into UC if appropriate.

Yamor

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006603#Comment_82006603

I can't say I have experience of this in real life, but legally you can't have credits-only ESA claim whilst on UC.

See para. (2A) here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1975/556/regulation/8B

lor6126

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006603#Comment_82006603

Hi i get lcwra and contributions based esa and I believe that continues after I get my inheritance?

Robbie64

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006679#Comment_82006679

If you receive conts based / new style ESA then this will continue regardless of your savings, including remaining in the Support Group. When your savings go below £16,000 you will be able to reclaim UC with the LCWRA status still in place. This makes it a lot easier for you, in effect meaning you won't have to "start again" with basic UC and won't have to await a work capability assessment to get extra UC payments for LCWRA.