ESA going over savings limit

[chris_00]

My sister has some life long mental health issues and has been getting ESA and DLA benefits for some time now. She is saving for when she gets a council property but because of the long wait to get this property, about 2 and half years now, her savings have gone past the £16,000 limit for the ESA.

 

Is it just a case of spending the money to drop below the £16,000 and keeping it below that limit to make sure she remains entitled to keep the ESA benefit? I don't want her to lose it, finally get a council property but have her means to pay for it restricted. I've heard is hard to get it back if you lose it.

 

She doesn't have any large regular expenditures, she currently lives with our parents can they back date rent payments to help her bring it down?

Edited July 30, 2014 by chris_00

[abc123def]

She can spend her savings on a holiday or such. Why would she need to pay for a council property? You don't even pay a deposit when renting a LA prooerty, just rent weekly in advance and HB can be claimed for that if needed. Some money is useful as the property won't be carpetted, and will need curtains and a cooker etc but £16,000 is signficantly more than would be needed for that. Maybe she is worrying unecessarily about expenses? Also as she is housed I would assume adequately at her parents she will be way down the list, in my LA someone like that would unlikely be housed at all and would remain on the waiting list for decades.

[chris_00]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I left benefits etc to my parents so I'm only getting the full details of the situation now. It seems like she was basically told these are the benefits you're eligible for and got put on them. When she tried to raise concerns, which is difficult for her having aspergers syndrome, she was told to stay on them because they're difficult to get back.

 

From what I understand she probably doesn't need the ESA and should be fine on just the DLA, until she gets a council property, if that ever happens.

[estellyn]

Is she on income based esa or contribution based esa?