giving money to the children

Hazzardaguess

If you  have more than £16k in the bank

And you gift a lump sum to your children to help them out with getting on the property ladder – but in the future things change and you need to apply for means tested benefits would the DWP or whoever reject your claim because you gave money away – ( is it like the 7 year rule with money from your parents estate )

At the moment all I claim is pip (daily living only) I have a small wage coming in (less than £12k a year) – as self employed but this could stop at any time – hence asking the questcion.

poppy123456

It's not like the 7 year rule you mentioned. If you do claim a means tested benefit like Universal Credit and you've given away some money then it will be down to a decision maker to make the final decision on whether there's any entitlement to UC.

As you are self employed if you've paid enough class 2 NI contributions in the previous 2 tax years then you can claim New style ESA because that isn't means tested. You would need a fit note to be able to claim this. At the moment this pays £84.80/week (25 and over) that amount does increase each April if benefits increase. The only thing that affects it is a pension of more than £85/week.