Can I come off benefits completely with parents financial support?
Hi All,
I really wish to come off benefits completely, but I'm on lwcra.
My parents are willing to financially support me from now on, so I can do this.
Is this a straightforward process? From what I'm reading, it can be very difficult, if not impossible.
Can anyone give me any advice?
Comments
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Hi @lostinthisworld and welcome to the community. That's very kind of your parents to support you. Are they in a position to do this for the long term?
Have your parents talked about what amount they are happy to give you? You may still be able to claim some benefits depending on the amount. You can use a benefits calculator to find out .
You are able to close your UC account online . If you close your account, you would have to apply from scratch if you needed to claim again. Do you mind me asking where you have read that it would be very difficult to do?
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Hi there,
Thank you so much for your reply, I am really grateful!
My parents are financially stable and have a business which is doing well. They have plenty of capital to support me.
They have discussed how much they'll help me with, which is great as it covers all my bills and needs.
It's a good opportunity to get me off benefits. I'm not the biggest fan of the system and find it challenging to navigate, which puts pressure on my mental health.
Is it simple to just cancel this way? Read that it can be complicated if you're on lwcra and they will refuse to close your claim? I wonder why it was so difficult for some?
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Oops, I read it on Reddit that it can be difficult to cancel the LWCRa element and the only way to do that is by closing the entire claim, but many DWP workers are reluctant to do so?
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That all sounds great! Have you thought about what you might do once you don't have the worries of benefits hanging over you? Do you have any interests or hobbies?
I can understand why DWP staff may be reluctant to close the entire claim as many people often need to reapply, and closing the whole claim makes this more difficult. This doesn't seem to be the case for you so there shouldn't be an issue 😊
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Thank you, Rachel :)
I think I'll take up some hobbies such as singing again. I've stopped for a while and it'll be nice to get back into it.
Aaah, that makes sense. Do you think they'll try and pressure me to stay? Does the claim close straight away or do I need to do a leaving review or new health assessment to make sure?
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Have you considered your Class 1 NI contributions in all this? You might end up not qualifying for the State Pension.
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what would happen to you if your parents business went under, (i hope it doesn't) would your parents still be in a place to help you?
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Might it be worth keeping some and ditching some?
Many benefits can be hard to obtain at first with all the proving that is needed, it may be worth looking in to this as some may not be linked so you can severe them.
If you have a claims advisor ask them too.
Ask as many people as possible, don't jump without knowing where you'll end up.
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Double click error, ignore.
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Hi,
It shouldn't be difficult to close your whole UC claim if that's what you choose. There is a link right on the front of the UC page labelled 'Close my Claim'.
Once you click it, it'll ask for a reason, and will then be checked by a staff member. They might ask further questions, or they might just action the closure immediately if they're content with it.
The only problem comes when the person has a vulnerable marker or an appointee. In that case, UC can't just stop their claim as they may lack the capacity to understand whether that's in their best interests. UC would need to contact their appointee or put further checks in place if they just have a vulnerable marker.
It is difficult to stop LCWRA on it's own and keep the basic rate of UC. I don't know why anyone would want to do that. In that case they would have to go through another WCA and be classed as Fit For Work.
The staff generally won't care whether you're on UC or not, and shouldn't try to pressure you into keeping it. They have absolutely nothing to gain from that. People on LCWRA aren't even assigned a Work Coach.
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I'd also urge you to consider not being on benefits will mean no National Insurance contributions towards your state pension. By the time you approach state pension age, your parents might be gone or not in a position to support you financially.
If you did end your claim then need to reclaim, you'd have to go through another WCA and if awarded LCWRA again, be on the lower amount.
Have you considered instead having one of your parents support your by being your appointee for benefits?
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. . . . . there is also the option of "Working" on paper for your parents company in a position that will be available when they are not and it might even be a real job not just on paper.
You have to decide what you want.
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Regarding NI Credits. You should be able to make a 'Credits-Only' New Style ESA Claim before coming off UC.
At the moment that gives you Class 1 NI credits without any payments. However, that could obviously change in future.
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about NI Credits or State Pension if you're under about 30/35. So much is likely to change regarding benefits and pensions by the time you retire that we can't reasonably plan for that so far in advance. Obviously it's different if you're within about 10 years of retirement.
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Sorry to bother you, Rachel. I've been googling and got myself worried. Could this be seen as coercion? It absolutely isn't, but I'm worried it'll be flagged as that and I won't be allowed to close? Perhaps I'm thinking too much into things, but it was just something that I thought of.
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That's very unlikely @lostinthisworld, but you've highlighted one of the reasons they don't make it straightforward or easy to end a claim, especially for people with LCWRA.
Some people in a bad moment reach out to close their claims and regret it a few weeks later and depending on how quickly they realise the mistake, it can mean starting again, especially the work capability process.
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Thank you, Emilee.
Could this mean they may not let me cancel at all? Or can they not force me to stop cancelling?
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They can't force you to keep claiming if you are certain you want to stop, but they will want to make sure you understand the choice and implications of doing so. For example, if you need to reclaim in the future you'd need a new assessment for LCWRA.
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I may be in a similar position in a few years as my parents are also financially stable and the constant assessments and ocd in overdrive 24/7 worrying about the welfare system has taken its toll on everyone in my family.
Because of this I’m in a unique position to advise you not to rush into anything and perhaps wait for a uc reassessment to come round before making any solid decisions.
First now there’s a law that allows someone to gift any additional income (regular surplus) before incurring inheritance tax as long as it doesn’t impact their own standard of living - a burnham or left wing government could end this exemption.
A burnham/ left wing gov will also lean into a variety of wealth tax measures which target both wealthy and financially stable individuals
On the flip side a Tory gov would most likely introduce policies that would stabilise this type of situation (aka protecting wealth) however there’s a chance the nhs may be fully privatised with a right wing party (you’d hope the tories wouldn’t be that stupid - reform on the other hand has trump type intelligence) - unless you parents are already on private healthcare insurance this potential additional cost would impact any monthly surplus they may have.
I’ve been very clear to my own parents I don’t want their quality of life to be impacted by helping me and I’ll never forgive myself if they are priced out of life saving treatment.
The dwp won’t allow you to ‘time’ any exit on uc to suit you (as in waiting a year or 2) but in an ideal world I’d want to see who wins the next ge before solidifying any schedule (if kemi didn’t keep swinging the tories away from the central right they may of been the safest way to vote next ge for your circumstances - I do worry about burham targeting my parents financial situation if he gets his mandate and reform policies will financially inpact 95% of the uk population negatively) - time is a valuable commodity.
lastly means tested welfare like uc has a upper savings limit of £16k (and may be the most straightforward excuse to give the dwp if you want to permanently sign off in the future)
hope I was some help0 -
Sorry I'm only just seeing this @lostinthisworld. It seems our members have done a fantastic job of providing advice and support 😊
Are you certain that you want to close your claim completely? It's entirely your decision, just make sure to bear in mind everything that everyone has suggested.
Singing is a wonderful hobby! What kind of things do you prefer to sing?
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