ESA want my bank statements

pat0000

Hi, my father died in Oct 2021, I was the executor of the will, I with my sister were left a derelict house with land, valued at £20,000, I forgot about it, then recently I remembered about it, I informed ESA, I was on both ESA's, they stopped my IR and told me to send in my bank statements from 2012. My father's life insurance policies were paid into my bank account, £30,000, if I give my bank statements to ESA they will want to know about the money, I followed my father's wishes and give it to my niece, I think she gets working tax credits or something, the problem is, I can't explain where it went to them, I don't want to get my niece in trouble, do I have to send my bank statements in, I'm already off the IR part, still getting contributory part, what will happen if I don't send the statements in, can they go to court and get an order or something to make me give the statements in.

The other thing is, over the years, I've been to USA about 6 times with my sisters, they have paid my tickets, can ESA say anything about me travelling?

Any advice appreciated,

Thanks, Pat

pat0000

Hi letitbe,

Thanks for your advice, one of the problems I'm worried about is explaining my father's life insurance money, I don't want to get my niece in trouble as she's on some benefit, can they make me tell them who I give it to, or do I just say I followed my father's wishes and give it to my niece

poppy123456

You will need to make sure you send them everything they've asked for. When claiming Income Related benefits you can give away your money but doing so could be treated as deprivation of capital and you'll still be treated as having that money. Of course if your father left a will and it was stated in there that money was to be left to other members of your family then that will be fine. If it didn't mention this, even though it was his wishes, that doesn't help means tested benefits.

Any overpayment will need to be repaid back. You'll also likely have a small fine on top of the overpayment for not reporting the changes.

Are you also claiming council tax reduction? If you then some local Authorities have a maximum savings limit of £6,000 before entitlement ends. If you're claiming single person discount this will not be affected.

If you're also claiming for help with any rent through housing benefit and had savings of more than £16,000 at anytime in the past then you should have reported the changes to them too. DWP very often share information so it would be better if you tell your local Authority what happened, rather than them find out through another source.

If your niece was claiming Tax credits at that time then this isn't means tested for capital/savings so it will make no difference what she had. If she was also claiming other means tested benefits like housing benefit and council tax reduction, both are means tested.

For Income Related ESA, you're allowed to go out of the country for up to 4 weeks at anyone time without it affecting your benefits.