Ok, so I've looked at these 'trusts'. As I see it, I pay nearly a 1000 bucks to someone to 'launder' my money! I mean talk about morally grey areas!! You can circumvent the need to 'declare' the money by setting up a 'trust'! LOL.. The worlds rules make me laugh! Trust fund it is then.. I stand to lose much more if I dont. Thanks for your help all. Kutter

Indeed.. It's looking like I'm going to have to lose a massive bulk of it after all.

Thanks for the link... It's confused me even more. There was never any suggestion that the DWP might be paid by my compensators... That document just confuses the matter further (well for me it does) I have asked my solicitor for help, he has arranged for me to see one of his colleagues who deal with this kind of thing. He suggested a trust also. Thanks for your help all. And RaeUk... I know I came here asking for advice and opened myself up to your direct disagreement. What you have to understand is that I'm here because of this moral 'grey area' I could have just claimed nothing to anyone, said nothing to anyone and 'probably' got away with it. I am not that sort of person, I feel an obligation to be 'honest' and while I cant disagree with the grounds that you disagreed with me on, I am of the mind that this money should NOT change my financial situation. I mean look at it this way. I suffered BOY DID I SUFFER at the hands of incompetant staff at the hospital... You have to understand that this money isn't even close to the 'apology' that I wanted. If I were in the USA I would have had a multi million pound pay out. My ability to see this as not being dishonest stems from the fact that this money is for something completely out of my control. Its a payment that I damn well feel I am entitled to. I don't see why it should change my finacial situation at all. (I'm not explaining this properly - the words are difficult to express how I really feel. Bottom line, Is I dont think I should have a penny of this money taken away from me by ANY means - I hope you can understand that?) Kutter

Yeah, you see you make me think of something else too... I was always quick to jump on folks who claimed benefits 'illegally'. It used to wind me up people getting money under false pretenses.. Is this any different? I'm a decent person 'morally' but I strongly believe that this money is not ANYONE's business. It has been paid to me for life changing issues that will not go away. This is a hard one indeed.

I can't disagree with you, Conniff. If the truth be told I want someone to say it will be ok, and everything will work out. The truth of the matter is, my wife and I have debts which cover over half ov the money I am getting. That will leave us with about 30k sat in a bank account. Like I said this is 'not' a fortune, and as a couple who have been without for so long, we feel the right is ours to 'have a good Christmas', buy all those things that are essential to my well being and actually have some fun; something that I have been denied thanks to incompetence. Do I want people to back my 'sod em' decision.. No, I dont. I would not ask for that from anyone. I guess what I want to know is if I do decide to be selfish, who's ever going to know? I DO NOT feel that for an amount of 30k that I am being particularly 'dishonest'. I realize the overall impact sure, the complexities of the situation. I realise that 'strictly' it IS wrong and theres a chance the windfall will be discovered and the Housing Benefit paid to me will be asked for back. I can live with that if it happens. For now, I guess I just want to know how likely it is they will know. Thanks for your help, I realise you cant answer certain questions, I realise that what I'm asking is not strictly 'right' but thats why I'm here; I really dont know whether to bother.

Hello everyone, I hope you can help me. I have just finished with a 5 year case of clinical negligence, that I won. I am being paid compensation for injurys (which are pretty severe) to me thanks to this negligence. I claim Housing Benefit as the condition precludes me from work, I claim no other benefits - my wife works and she is lucky enough to run her own business. She does however claim some Tax credits as a lower income worker. We get by, just. This compensation will be great for us, but I have a real problem with actually telling the housing benefit about this. I'm not trying to be selfish here, or circumvent the system but this compensation is to help me with not being able to work. While I appreciate the help I'm getting from the DWP, the money we are getting will cover our debts, buy some things around the house for me, and ya know what to hell with it, we are going to spend some!! I just want to know where I stand with this. It's not a fortune, it wont last longer than 6 months (although my injuries are for life - gotta love this countries red tape) and I really feel that I should say nothing. I need some advice, I really dont know what to do. Thank you for your help, it is appreciated. Kutter