This film was created by students of Warwick Law School as part of a’ ‘Public Legal Education’ module in collaboration with Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire ( and with the support of Coventry Independent Advice Service ( and the RIPPLE Project at the Central England Law Centre ( .
I know that when i’m 18 i may be able to start to claim some benefits myself, but i worry about having my own money and i don’t know how to get help with it. i have a learning disability and it makes it a lot harder for me to do some day to day tasks, and i’m worried that i will have the same problems with managing my money. i really want to take the next step, have my
Own money and be independent but i am scared in case it goes wrong. hi anna, my name’s bella. i know that turning 18 and suddenly having all this responsibility can be scary, especially if you do find things harder than other people. it can seem like a huge task but i believe in you! and i am here to help you on your journey to financial independence! everyone’s journey
To financial independence is different, depending on their circumstances. depending on your circumstances, you may need to talk to your patents or carers about financial independence and what this will look like for you. this video will discuss some of the things you may want to ask them about and the ways they can support you on your journey to financial independence.
We will also give you the names of some organisations that can provide professional help and advice for you. every journey might not be exactly the same, and you will learn lots of things along the way. but i can show you some of the main things you need to know. in this part we’ll be talking about decisions about your money and the kinds of help you can get to support
You with these decisions. we will be looking at what benefits are, how you can get them and the sorts of things you can use them for. like how you want to spend it and what you want to spend it on. this is true even if you need help sometimes, or if you need assistance to understand information. for example if you need an easy read format or someone like a parent or a
Carer to help explain the information to you. 2. remember that information, even if only for a short period of time and 4. communicate your decision (which could be through talking or using sign language) then you have what is called ‘mental capacity’ and you can make your own decision. you should be supported to make your own decisions about money as much as possible,
And anyone helping you should be trying to enable you to make your own decisions. and then use it to make my decisions and communicate this to other people. would that mean i can’t be in charge of my own money anymore? making mistakes, and learning from them, is an important part of life. sometimes talking though choices, or difficult decisions is really useful. it can
Make things clearer for you or someone might be able to offer a different opinion that helps you think differently! my mum helps me with a lot of things, so i’d like to be able to have her help with my money, too. you could ask anyone you trust, like a friend, parent or carer. there are also organisations that provide information and advice, like the money advice service,
That you could look at together. just make sure that the people you choose to talk to are definitely people you can trust. money is a very personal and private issue, and sharing information with the wrong people can be risky. everyone does things in a way that suits them, you’ll find out what works for you. i’m usually able to understand and communicate information,
Though i have really bad days sometimes when i struggle to understand things. this is a bank account that you and another person share. this can be a good way of getting help because you still have the independence of having a bank account, and access to your money, but someone else can also be on hand if needed. however, if you have a joint bank account, it’s important to
Share with someone you know and trust, because they will have access to all your money in that account the same way you do – you would both own the money. normally to get started, they need to see photo id and proof of address for both of you, if you don’t want a joint bank account, there is another way that your parents, carers or trusted person can help you with your money.
This is by setting up something called a ‘third party mandate’ on your own bank account. this is where the bank account remains in your own name, so it isn’t shared like with a joint account but someone else can help you do your everyday banking, like taking cash from the bank or getting statements for you. my mum could go to the bank for me on those days if i had one
Of those. a third-party mandate is normally only short term though, so if you think you would need help all of the time or for long persons then this may not be for you. this is a legal term for someone who has the power to make decisions on your behalf. this could be a lawyer, but it could also be someone else you trust, like a parent or family member. one for finance
And property, and one for health and welfare. a property and financial lpa can be all the time or just at certain times when you can’t make decisions for yourself. if this sounds like it could be right for you, it would be a good idea to get some advice about the different options. but because they can make decisions for you, you should think carefully about whether this
Is right for you before doing it. this is someone who receives your benefits on your behalf and then can make decisions about your benefit money for you. it can be a person you know and trust, or it could be a company or organisation that provides this service. however, you can only have an appointee if it is decided that you do not have mental capacity. an appointee
Is only for help with your benefits, it doesn’t mean that person can automatically do your banking for you. it is something you need to think about carefully before you agree to it, because it can be difficult to remove an appointee when you have one. as far as possible you should be supported to make your own decision, but if you need more help then you can get that too!
You can get help with making decisions about money by talking to people, this is really helpful, and you can do this really easily. if you need more support than this, you can approach the bank to set up a joint account or third-party mandate with someone you really trust. if you need more help than this it may be useful to have a power of attorney or an appointee to help
You manage your money. it’s important to think carefully about what kind of help will be best for you. we’re going to be talking about the money that you might be able to get to help you on your journey to financial independence. benefits are payments you can receive from the government to help you pay for things you need, like rent, food and household bills, but also
To spend on things you enjoy doing. some kinds of benefits may also help cover extra costs that come up in your day to day life, for example because of having a disability. this usually means there will be forms to fill in, or meetings to go to, which can feel a bit overwhelming. but there is a lot of help you can get with this process. you might have heard of something
Called disability living allowance, which is a benefit your family might have been getting to help manage any extra costs that come with having a learning disability. if this is the case, you should have got a letter when you turned 16, which would have let you know that you might be able to receive what’s known as personal independence payment or pip. you can still apply
For pip even if you didn’t get a letter or didn’t have disability living allowance before. which means that you can focus on achieving your goals in life. for example there is a part of pip for mobility costs, so you could get a taxi instead of the bus if you find getting on the bus hard. there is also the daily living part of payment which you can use to help pay for
Things you might need for everyday tasks, like preparing food or communicating with other people. having some control over your pip payments can be a great way to start learning about how to be responsible with your money and begin to do things differently in your life and more independently. you will then have to fill in a form that will ask you about how your disability
Affects you and what kind of help you might need with your day-to-day life. for example, if you live in the coventry area, you might able to get assistance from a local charity called the coventry independent advice service. you can let them know exactly what kind of help you need by phoning them or filling in a form on their website, and pip isn’t the only benefit that can
Help you to live more independently. life can be expensive, so it’s good to make sure you’re getting everything you’re entitled to. it’s a bit different from pip, because the amount of money you receive depends on how much money you have or how much you make. universal credit can be used to help with more general living costs as well as things related to your disability.
It is paid to you monthly and it can help you pay for things like rent or household bills. universal credit can be a really important way to make up for this so that you can still pay for the things you need and have opportunities to do the things you want to. you will need to start this online and there’s a helpline you can call if you need some help with the process.
When you make your claim, it’s really important to mention any health conditions or disabilities that might make it difficult for you to work or look for work. you might need what’s called a ‘fit note’ from your doctor to help you get universal credit when you apply, or if your circumstances surrounding working change in the future. you will then be sent a form
To fill in about how your health or disabilities may affect you working or looking for work. and which things are more difficult for me than others. because its difficult to understand someone’s experiences just based on this. your application might lead to something called a ‘work compatibility assessment’, which is how the people responsible for your claim assess
Whether or not you can work. they are looking to get to know you and see how your disability affects you, so that they can make sure you are getting the support and money you need. but this will depend on a few different things like whether or not your parents are claiming for you, you can also get some help and advice to find out what the best option for you might be.
You could speak to the charity we mentioned earlier, the coventry independent advice service. there’s also a lot of helpful information online that you could look at with your family or a carer, for example from the money advice service and turn2us, that can help you understand what you can get and how to go about it. applying for benefits isn’t always a simple process,
And they don’t always get it right. if you don’t get the outcome you were hoping for, you have the right for your application to be looked over again to see if a different decision can be made. if that isn’t successful, you can also challenge the decision by appealing. a really useful local charity to contact in this situation is the central england law centre, who
Offer legal advice and representation for welfare benefits issues, as well as other areas of law. two really important parts of reaching financial independence. for more information on these topics and some tools to help you with managing your money, check out the description box below! come back to this video anytime you’re not sure or need to refresh your memory.
Good luck with your journey to financial independence and you can do it!
Transcribed from video
Your Right to Financial Independence By Warwick LinC
