Will receiving an inheritance affect my benefit?

j5000
j5000 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Hi community, I am just seeking clarification on inheritance and benefits, as I have got conflicting information from different sites. I currently claim ESA and the highest tiers of PIP. I also get a 25% single occupancy discount on my council tax, and receive a small pension each month of which the DWP are aware. I am likely to receive an inheritance from a property sale in the near future, will this affect the benefits I currently receive? From what I understand my benefits are not means tested so should not be affected, do I still need to inform the DWP of inheritance if it doesn't change things?

My second question concerns savings, as I'm worried that receiving a large inheritance will involve the DWP looking into my bank statements, where they will see a decent saving accrued from saved benefits since I had to give up work in 2011. Should I have been informing the DWP of these accrued savings? (over £16k for sure)

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing

    You don't say which ESA it is you're claiming. Is it contributions based or Income Related? If you're in the Support Group then contributions based is currently £138.20/week.

    If your ESA is more than that then at least part of it will be Income Related, which means as you already have savings of £16,000+ there will be no entitlement to IR ESA and you should have reported the savings.

    Do you also claim council Tax reduction as well as the single person discount? If you do then there would also be no entitlement to this with savings of more than £16,000. In fact some local authorities have a savings limit of £6,000 before entitlement ends. Single person discount isn't affected as woodbine correctly advised.

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