Personal Injury claims and UC

Juthbert

I received notification yesterday from my solicitor that my personal injury claim is entering the negotiation stage of making an offer. I have looked online to see if I can find guidelines regarding injury claims and UC.

The amount I'm awarded could be as much as £40,000 and there is a possibility it could include some loss of earnings. Am I correct in thinking this would only be disregarded for a year? I've also seen something about putting the money into a trust so that it can't affect benefits?

I understand I could be awarded quite a bit of money, but this would be in compensation for something very traumatic that happened to me, and resulted in me requiring ongoing hospital treatment for my physical injuries, and continuing therapy for the ptsd and anxiety it's caused. I don't really want us to lose our benefits over it, which I know may sound selfish, but with the cost of living the way it is, it would be so reassuring to have this money to fall back on in case of emergency, or to be able to improve our home, rather than on having to use it on paying bills etc.

Does anyone have knowledge of how this could affect ourbenefit please?

poppy123456

Yes, it is disregarded for 12 months. The solicitor dealing with your claim should inform DWP that you will receive it but you should still report the changes yourself when you receive it.

The trust fund is a little complicated but I'll post a link to the UC Regulations 2013 so you can read them for yourself.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/75

Juthbert

Thank you Poppy