Savings limits - time for it to be upped?

Agreed!
Someone upthread said it would take them years to save anywhere near 16k and they were on 60k a year!

It's because people are utterly crap with money. Also the 'keeping up with the Jones' attitude.

Anyway, what is the point in saving money these days.
When you are in a care home they will force you to sell your hard earned family home (children's inheritance) to pay the £1,500 a week but Mrs whole life on Benefits in the room next door gets it all for free!

@Shittyhouse what are you even on about? Who's shopping in Waitrose? How do you no people aren't looking for deals? Why did you even quote me? The person I was talking to didn't have a job at all.

It's high rents that cause people to need to claim benefits not necessarily low wages. And in some ways yes, the lower the income the more of a deposit you need. It's a vicious circle. I absolutely don't think you should be sitting on 16k and claiming, but I do think we need to help people find a way out, otherwise the problem of high numbers of benefits claimants (working in most cases) is only going to get worse as rents continue to increase. We need people to do the low wage jobs, as covid proved. We have to make life livable for them otherwise we will end up in a situation where people just cannot afford to work them. And then who's going to clean our hospitals and care for our old people. It affects everyone in some way eventually.

How about the people who don't have savings stop buying the latest phones and stop shopping at Waitrose? Or even stop buying unnecessary luxury food? Start cooking from scratch, look for deals?

How can some people on minimum wage have savings and others on £60k can't?

Unbelievable that you had that money in the bank and think other hard working people should pay for your living costs!! Outrageous!!

The nation needs to get a fucking grip. This is why I resent paying taxes.

You had 45k in savings though, so you don't need UC, that's what savings are for. Once below 16k you can claim UC

This happened to me fairly recently - I was private renting and was saving for a deposit, I did have about 45k in savings but I've literally been in work since I was 14 and I'm very frugal with money. When I got made redundant, I could only claim contribution based JSA meanwhile I have friends who don't work and get UC and housing benefit - they are still unemployed.

@BalletCat you don't have to be a very low earner to claim UC.

I doubt people claiming UC are going to be approved for a mortgage.

Surely if you're on a low enough income to receive benefits property ownership isnt achievable?

No, spend your own money instead of raiding tax payers’ pockets please!

The entitlement is off the charts these days… do people have no pride anymore?!

This.
The problem with putting a blanket 16k limit on savings is that you're then removing the option for people to ever own and get off of benefits and continuously feeding the high private rentals.

Such a stupid comment.

That’s exactly how it works in Ireland. If you lose your job you are entitled to jobseekers benefits for a period of time regardless.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social-welfare/unemployed-people/jobseekers-benefit/

there are a few terms and conditions but it’s essentially dependent on PRSI payments.

Like many PP, I can only dream of being able to save £16k so my automatic response is to think “gosh, no. That’s more than enough!”

But…

I’m also incredibly privileged to have had help from my parents to get a deposit on a house, and to have bought a couple of decades ago. For people who don’t have that privilege and who are not allowed to save more than £16k, house ownership becomes actually impossible.

I think there should be some sort of compromise: up to £6k in ‘normal’ savings then an (unlimited?) savings fund that can ONLY be used for a house deposit. That way, inheritances, family gifts, etc, could be saved, and the chance of a family no longer needing tax payer support in the future might be increased.

They mean the limit of how much you can have in savings before you lose benefits.

The ISA allowance is £20k, pension allowance is £60k. On savings interest there’s only tax paid above £1000 (or £500 if 40% band).

What are you referring to by a £16k ‘savings limit’ ??

I claim UC and have a job. Did you not know that both can be true?

Snap.

I think everyone should get 6 months UC/JSA whatever their savings, either once a lifetime or every ten/twenty years max. After that time then fair enough, either accept you are going to have to get any job you can, not just in your preferred industry, or accept you are going to have to dig into your savings. and how are you proposing to pay for these handouts?

This is one of the reasons why we’re up shit creek as a country, because benefits spending is out of control, but of course nobody wants to admit that.

If you want to improve your life get a job.

this. How is it fair that someone who earned £100,000 a year but spent every penny would be entitled to claim, as would someone who had never worked, but someone who worked for years, earned £30,000 and lived incredibly frugally to keep some savings to try and be responsible wouldn't? It's pretty much encouraging people to be reckless because the state will bail them out.

I think everyone should get 6 months UC/JSA whatever their savings, either once a lifetime or every ten/twenty years max. After that time then fair enough, either accept you are going to have to get any job you can, not just in your preferred industry, or accept you are going to have to dig into your savings.

For those saying it should be tapered - it is - it's reduced from £6000 upwards, £16,000 is the point at which you get nothing.

Cost of a ok secondhand car so could be fair. A lot of people do work jobs where they need a car but are not paid well. Cheaper than finance or a loan too.

Thinking of warehouses in the prime locations road wise for trucks but no public transport.

But why? Benefits are there for people who don't have enough money, if you can save 6k you have enough money.

I think the limit should be raised for when they start deductions IMO. Maybe 8k instead.

Redundancy settlements didn’t used to count as savings when I was made redundant 20 years ago. However when I was made redundant for a second time in 2020, that had changed and my settlement was considered savings.