Managing money at the end of life

Most people who need care towards the end of their lives qualify for disability benefits. These include:

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP), if you are aged 16 to state pension age
• Attendance Allowance (AA), if you are at or above State Pension age.

These benefits are not means-tested. This means the amount of money you have does not affect whether you can get the benefit.

You may also be able to apply for:

• Employment and Support Allowance, if you are unable to work because you are ill
• Universal Credit, if you are out of work or on a low income.

Our money advisers can give you advice about claiming benefits and help you fill in claim forms. To talk to a money adviser, call us on 0808 808 00 00 or chat online. Depending on where you live, you may also be able to talk to a local Macmillan benefit advice service.

You can also get more information and apply for certain benefits by visiting:

• gov.uk if you live in England or Wales
• gov.uk or mygov.scot in Scotland
• nidirect.gov.uk if you live in Northern Ireland.

Macmillan Grants are small, one-off payments to help people with the extra costs that cancer can cause. They are for people who have a low level of income and savings.

You can also apply through a health or social care professional. This may be a social worker, a district nurse, a benefits adviser, or a Macmillan nurse, if you have one.

There may be other grants and loans available if you need financial help. These might include help from:

• government and local councils
• utility companies (gas, electricity and water companies)
• charities and other organisations.

Call our money advisers for more information about finding this type of financial help on 0808 808 00 00.

Turn2us helps people find specific charities that may be able to offer financial help. They have a grants search tool on their website and offer some grants themselves.

Your local library may have books about organisations that offer grants. This may include A guide to grants for individuals in need, published by the Directory of Social Change.

There may be other things to sort out, such as bank accounts and pensions.

When you die, someone will need to tell your bank you have died. This will usually be the person you have named in your will as your executor. If you have not made a will, it will usually be your next of kin.

Your bank accounts will be frozen when you die. This means money can only be taken out if the executor transfers it.

If you have a joint bank account with another person, such as a partner, what happens depends on where you live in the UK:

• In England, Wales or Northern Ireland – any money left in the account belongs to the other person. It is not included as part of your estate.
• In Scotland – any money you put into the joint account still belongs to you when you die. It becomes part of your estate.

If there is a chance your illness may get worse, it can help to plan ahead.

If you are terminally ill or cannot return to work, you may be able to take ill-health retirement. This means you can start claiming a private or work-related pension early. This may be called an occupational pension.

If you are not retiring, you may still be able to use your pension to help pay your mortgage.

Since April 2015, you can take your private pension savings as lump sums if you are aged 55 or over and have a defined contribution pension.

The payment will depend on which type of private pension you have. You can do this whether you are retiring, reducing your work hours or continuing to work as normal.

In rare cases, if you have a private or workplace pension, the age limit of 55 may not apply. For example, this may be possible if you are in poor health. Ask your pension provider for details.

You can usually take up to 25% of the amount built up in your pension without needing to pay tax on it. This depends on what type of pension you have. This can be taken as 1 lump sum, or as several over a period of time. Tax is taken off the remaining 75% before you get it. If you take this money from your pension now, you will have less income when you retire. You should think carefully before using your pension in this way.

Terminal illness and pension (special rules)

If you have a serious illness that means you are expected to live for less than 12 months, special tax rules apply. You may be able to take out your whole pension savings in a tax-free lump sum if you meet all of these conditions:

• You are expected to live for less than 12 months because of serious illness.
• You are under the age of 75. If you are over 75, you must pay income tax on the lump sum.
• You do not have more than the lifetime allowance of £1,073,100 in pension savings.

It is important to check the terms of your pension with your provider. Some pensions may also provide a pension to a husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner. You need to decide whether you would prefer a cash lump sum or a regular income.

If you go into a care home or hospice and have someone living with you, they can stay in your home if they are:

• your husband, wife or civil partner
• someone who relies on you for support or income, such as a child or an adult with care needs (a dependant).

If your savings are below a certain amount, your local council or Health and Social Care Trust may help with the cost of your care. The amount of savings you can have depends on where you live. How much your council or trust will pay depends on your care needs and the amount you can afford to pay towards them.

If you do not live with anyone, you can give legal permission in advance for a family member, partner or carer to rent out your property for you. You can also allow them to arrange the sale of your home. The money can be used to cover your long-term care fees. This is called arranging a power of attorney. It can be temporary or permanent. We have more information about power of attorney in England, Wales and Scotland.

Your local council or trust may agree to lend you the money for the care home fees. It would be repaid once your home has been sold. This is called a deferred payment agreement.

We have more information about planning ahead including writing a will, your wishes for future care, decisions about treatment, and power of attorney.

You can choose someone to be your beneficiary. This means that whatever is left in your pension when you die may pass directly to them. You do this by filling in a legal nomination form provided by your pension scheme. This may depend on the terms and conditions of your scheme.

Make sure your pension provider has up-to-date details of your beneficiary. If you have more than one pension, tell all your providers.

We want everyone affected by cancer to feel our information is written for them.

We want our information to be as clear as possible. To do this, we try to:

• use plain English
• explain medical words
• use short sentences
• use illustrations to explain text
• structure the information clearly
• make sure important points are clear.

We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.

You can read more about how we produce our information here.