If you have been awarded compensation in excess of £6,000 for a personal injury as a result of a legal claim or because you have received an insurance policy payout and are in receipt of means-tested state benefits, you may find the compensation award if paid directly to you means you are no longer eligible to receive these income-related benefits.
How can I keep my benefits?
You can set up a Personal Injury Trust, sometimes called a Compensation Protection Trust to ensure your compensation does not affect your means-tested benefits and if you are not in receipt of means-tested benefits now, should you be eligible in the future provided it was set up at the time the compensation monies were received it will still give you protection.
How do Personal Injury Trusts work?
The trust is set up by signing a Trust Deed. A bank or building society account is then set up in the name of the personal Injury Trust and the money from the compensation is paid into that account and can be accessed by your Trustees. The monies can be used for your benefit and if money is needed by you from the trust , all trustees must agree to its release.
The Trust will need at least two Trustees. The Trustees can be anyone you choose, the important factor being you trust them. They must be over 18, can be a family member or friend or a professional trustee, such as a solicitor. Here at Ward & Rider, we can act as your Trustees and if this is something you are interested in we can provide you with our fees.
It is important your Trustees avoid making payments from the Trust into your own bank account to ensure the means-tested state benefit capital limits are not breached.
We would always advise payments from the trust are made directly to the providers of goods and services rather than transferring money directly into your account.
Financial advice
We would advise that you seek financial advice depending on the amount of the compensation received. This will enable you to plan to get the most from your compensation award.
Ward and Rider are unable to give financial advice but we can suggest Financial Advisors assist you to make the right decisions.
How we can help
Our experienced team can provide assistance in all aspects of creating and managing a Trust.
We can advise on
- Whether a Personal Injury Trust is right for you
- Who to appoint as Trustees
- Preparing Trust documents
- The correct information to provide to your bank to set up the Trust
- The correct information to provide to the benefits agency to ensure your benefit entitlement is protected
- Removal of existing trustees and appointing new trustees held can then be accessed by the ‘Trustees’