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savings and wtc

hi, i have recently been awarded £140000 from the cica for criminal injuries compensation this includes £2300 for private health care in order to overcome my illness resulting from incidents.
My problem, i work 16 hours and get working tax credit and child tax credit as well as housing and council tax benifit. i am a single parent with 5 children of which 3 i claim tax credits for.
I have been told so many diferent things and dont know what to do. i was told i will now have to live off the money paid by the cica and lose my benifits etc,
Please could you advise me on this ie, do i have to declare the money or just any interest, (as i saw on another foru on here)

Comments

  • zzzLazyDaisy
    zzzLazyDaisy Posts: 12,497
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Welcome to the forums Galaxy Dog

    The CAB aim to respond to queries within two working days. As it is now the weekend, this means that you are unlikely to get any reply from a CAB representative until sometime next week.

    You may wish to post your query on the main MSE boards if you require a quicker response.
    I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.
  • CAB_Birmingham_representative
    CAB_Birmingham_representative Posts: 89 Organisation Representative
    galaxydog wrote: »
    hi, i have recently been awarded £140000 from the cica for criminal injuries compensation this includes £2300 for private health care in order to overcome my illness resulting from incidents.
    My problem, i work 16 hours and get working tax credit and child tax credit as well as housing and council tax benifit. i am a single parent with 5 children of which 3 i claim tax credits for.
    I have been told so many diferent things and dont know what to do. i was told i will now have to live off the money paid by the cica and lose my benifits etc,
    Please could you advise me on this ie, do i have to declare the money or just any interest, (as i saw on another foru on here)


    Dear Galaxydog,

    May we first apologise for the delay in responding to you.

    A payment that is made because of ‘personal injury’ to you can be disregarded for up to 52 weeks. Personal injury in this context also includes accidental and criminal injuries.

    During the first 52 weeks, you can spend some or all of the payment or put it into a trust fund before the payment is affected. The 52 weeks starts from the date you actually received the compensation payment.

    Any additional payments for the same injury will be affected unless it is put into a trust. After the 52 weeks are up, for tax credit purposes, the interest may have to be declared. For Housing benefit/ Council tax benefit your capital must be below £16,000 before it may be affected.

    It may be best for you to contact a financial advisor who will be able to inform you of options available. The following link will lead you to a website called ‘Unbiased’ it will be able to help you search for an independent financial advisor:

    http://www.unbiased.co.uk/

    Alternatively, you can contact the Money Advice Service who provide a free and independent advice on 0300 500 5000.

    We hope this answers your question, please get back to us if you have any concerns.

    Kind regards,
    Birmingham CAB
    Official CAB Representative
    I am an official representative of CAB. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to questions on the CAB Board. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. If you believe I’ve broken any rules please report my post to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com as usual"
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