Compensation Payment

NeuroEve

Hi I need some help. Our son has recieved an offer of compensation over a disabilty discimination case. The amount he will get after fee's etc have been taken off amounts to £6500. Thye have offered to set up a trustee account for him with me and his Dad as named trustees. However with the amount being just over £6000 would it be better off going into a normal account in joint names. We are having difficulty in finding a trustee account that does't charge a fee for setting up and then a monthly charge. He is on UC, HB and has Council Tax reduction, he also had a very large SDP payment backdated but has a letter for disregard for lifetime of his claim. So am I correct after looking into it that his compensation claim will be disregarded for 52 weeks for UC, HB and Council tax reduction. Lastly what can he spend this compensation on as we don't want the issue of deprivation of capital to be an issue.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @NeuroEve, sorry you haven't had a reply to this yet. How are you getting on with it all? Did you manage to decide where to put the money?

I'm afraid I'm not too sure about how it will be disregarded for UC and the other benefits, but I hope one of our members might have some experience of this.

Deprivation of capital can be a tricky one. But he should be fine buying things that are of benefit to him. For example, buying or replacing any equipment, aids or even entertainment items that would help improve his quality of life day to day.

NeuroEve

Hi many thanks for the reply. I opened a new joint bank account in preperation and the money went in today. It is classed as a personal injury/discrimination compensation payment by the solicitors paper work. I informed UC first thing this morning and relayed in my message that I am aware that an appointment will need to be made to confirm the new bank account and the amount along with the paperwork from the solicitor. I did state that his solicitor said it would be disregarded for 52 weeks and he could set up a trustee bank account but few places are offering these now and the costs are crazy. He would end up paying less if UC just calclated it as income and took off the £4.50 for every £250 he was over. Will wait and see what happens as we are already having issues with payments for permitted work he had on ESA that they are deducting completely from his UC. So I am waiting for a gateway appointment for that also.

Rosie_Scope

That sounds complex @NeuroEve! I hope it all comes to a close soon so you can all relax after what must be a pretty stressful time trying to organise it all. Best of luck getting it all sorted!

NeuroEve

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1077248#Comment_1077248

Have received an appointment to confirm compensation payment, however they are asking for the same letter they already got that they have a copy of for his disregarded SDP payment when he was on ESA. The most laughable thing is they sent a letter from UC in the journal last week confirming said monies would be disregarded on his UVC. I will just do what I did for the ID appointment and take every single piece of paper, letter and bank statements. Jumping through hoops.

Rachel_Scope

It's good that you can speak to them face to face. It sounds so complicated but hopefully with all the information you have it'll all get sorted 😊