Appointee Savings

Penguin_egg
Penguin_egg Community Member Posts: 4 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)

I’d really appreciate some help. My dad manages my sisters affairs as her appointee. My sister is severely mentally disabled.

My sister is going through the process of being transferred to UC which will top her PIP and ESA up by a small amount. My dad doesn’t claim any carers etc. owing to working just a few hours too many. But UC introduces means testing for the first time.


We’d appreciate help regarding how to approach the question about savings apportioned to my sister relevant to UC. My dad has never had to worry about this before and is very anxious about the need to report what she spends etc. his own (lifelong) savings owing to being thrifty are over the £16k limit but he manages finances from a single pot - into which my sisters money goes and all the household costs are taken, having never had to think about what % might potentially be my sisters before.


does anyone have any practical advice to give us to work out what % of those savings might be allocated to my sister? I personally work out very little once costs and proportion of luxuries are taken but it’s causing significant stress for my dad so thought I’d ask how others approached this.


for avoidance of doubt, my sister has a lovely life and very happy and her money is unquestionably spent in her best interests. How much is arguably left at the end of the money is the debatable bit.

Comments

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,722 Championing

    I know this doesn't help with your question, but going forwards it would be better to have all your sisters money going into a separate account, that way everything is more transparent. It can still be in Dad's name and under his control.

    If your sister is migrating from Income Related ESA, then this also had savings limits.

    https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/help-with-your-esa-claim/esa-how-much-you-can-get/

  • Penguin_egg
    Penguin_egg Community Member Posts: 4 Listener

    yeah, I’m going to travel up and set him up with Monzo so at least he can use different pots as a bridge. I wish we’d have done this a while ago - though the question would still remain about what constitutes savings for her. I don’t believe her ESA is income related.

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,722 Championing

    As you used the phrase "transferred to UC" I assumed it was a migration from one of the legacy benefits that includes Income Related ESA.

    Did Dad receive a migration letter in the post for Universal Credit?

    Or is this something he's decided to apply for on her behalf?

  • NeuroEve
    NeuroEve Community Member Posts: 157 Empowering

    Don’t know if this is any help but this is how we approached a similar predicament. Our 2 adult children were both on PIP and ESA. Their money used to go into my account as it had done from being on DLA, and then I just used to transfer it to them as they needed it. However before they moved to UC I got a joint bank account with each of them. Our oldest lives in his own property semi-independently but the younger one lives at home. The money goes into the joint account and the older one just gets it transferred into his sole account for his bills etc. Our daughter who is still at home has half transferred into her sole account and the rest goes into ours. We pay for all her shopping, clothing, holidays, bills, and meals out from her contribution. She simply has the rest as pocket money to buy her little things that she likes. I double checked with DWP and they said it was better to do it this way as they can see where the money is going in and where it is going to. I was worried about having to explain what spending was from my money as I work and what was from hers. This way is more transparent for us, hope you get sorted.

  • Penguin_egg
    Penguin_egg Community Member Posts: 4 Listener

    thanks for your help. I’ve set him up a Monzo and this is helping to separate my sisters spending from my dads.

    the next problem we have is working out what is appropriate to ‘charge’ to my sister from her money. Since my sister lives at home, I’ve suggested a ‘contribution’ of 1/2 of the household costs inc. bills and pegged at a defensible ‘market’ rate (best I could think of) of £500 inc. bills/food. Then there’s her social/respite costs which are obvious. Mileage is a hard one as it varies each month - some people have advised us to to 45p/mile and best I can think of that’s practical is to do an estimate per month based on # of trips of a type but this seems quite ‘grey’. Then there’s holidays, luxuries etc. she has a small amount left over per month after that but not a great deal.

    it would be nice if there was some guidance on this :( all the things I’ve read say it’s principe based but that doesn’t help me convince my dad he’s not doing this all wrong. He’s in a right spin over this new way of accounting. I sympathise with him as knowing what to ‘charge’ my sister for meals out for instance makes it quite impractical when you take this very literally and is stressful to him.

  • Penguin_egg
    Penguin_egg Community Member Posts: 4 Listener

    It was a forced migration. She was on new style contribution based ESA I learn along with PIP. It’s only in the last few months the means testing has applied.

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