To wonder why the UC savings threshold is £6,000?

I can't disagree with you there! If you don't have any joy when you say you want to do this, it could be worth talking to the CAB, or similar, to check the situation with them.

A couple of websites I found, when I was checking just now, which may be helpful are:

https://contact.org.uk/about-contact/news-and-views/what-families-need-to-know-about-preparing-for-universal-credit/

and

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

Good luck!

@BooneyBeautiful very well put to echo a PP. Do you mind me asking as I did not know you could claim a full state pension early? But I’m not v clued up on this. Do you become eligible if you have a disability? Are there threats to this eligibility being disproved in the way that welfare reforms are trying to re-write eligibility for disability support? I hope you don’t mind me querying. I’m anti welfare reforms in the direction they’re going & pro improving quality of life & all other social metrics, amongst improving access to employment for disabled people in general. Something the government claim they’re doing but patently aren’t.

I think there should a savings limit but it should be adjusted based on family size and location. A single person with 6k savings is very different to a family in a high cost of living area.

Worth clarifying (if it hasn't been done so already) that the £6k isn't specifically "savings" - it is "total money across any and all bank accounts" - so this includes income that you will be spending to live on. So, practically speaking it really means you can only have "savings" of £6k minus your monthly expenses.

It's also very tricky for people who are self-employed and receive income on an inconsistent basis.

But how does anyone have a buffer of savings for unforeseen eventualities to protect them from financial destitution - for say a new boiler or worse - new roof? Health costs that can’t be met on the BHS (no not cosmetic surgery). £6K doesn’t go v far. Losing any reliable income from benefits bcos you aren’t allowed to also insure yourself against financial insecurity - if you can’t work due to disability or health problems - seems unfair. But yes a line & a figure needs to be drawn. Perhaps it’s a calculation based on a percentage of income that is a generally accepted amount relative to income, that is considered the general rule to have as savings. Any more then suggests you can afford not to be economically dependent on the state. I don’t agree with those maths however.

sorry … still don’t understand!

I had six months of living off savings when I had low and no pay for maternity leave and only got pittance in child maintenance. I didn’t clock at the time I could have used savings to over pay mortgage but I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that. In hindsight I was a bit of a mug as everyone else probably would have overpaid and then claimed!

Cos they're tight fucks. It should be higher.

I think you should be asking yourself why some working people have no savings - broaden your mind a bit.

But I don’t think people on uc should be taking thousands of pounds holiday surely? Why is the tax payer subsidizing that?
I agree with a car though - when I sell one car to buy another (eg when I needed to change to a five door bay seat friendly car) I had a few thousand in my account for a few days - if I’d been on uc it would have been very upsetting if that got stopped due to buying a new car! I guess that’s the kind of reason for the limit - people need to have a few thousand available for house moves, emergencies etc and if you don’t allow this it’s just encouraging credit card debt

If that is the case then it's a dereliction of duty that this wasn't explained to us. We were just told the claim had to be stopped.

I'm all but certain that you can do exactly that. You can have a NI Credits only claim for LCWRA, even if you don't qualify for any cash from UC. I'm not sure if there's any small print which might exclude your child but it's something you need to double check.

We had to get a boiler through finance. Also on UC.

When I had 2 children under 4 my childcare costs were exactly the same as my income. I literally worked for free in order to keep my career going and benefit from the resultant increased salary years down the line.

if it wasn’t for my husband’s salary we’d have had zero money to live on. There was no savings at that point in time at all.

If you could point out where I've said that it is "bad (to) encourage and motivate the country to save" I may be able to give you an answer.

Very well put.

Why is it so bad for encourage and motivate the country to save? At least for an emergency fund?

This is a little unfair. There are different periods in people's lives where they are likely to have no savings - versus other items when they may have a large amount. As an example - Pre-kids we had a decent savings buffer - to cover maternity leave and the early childcare costs. Obviously that was then spent.

It has been £6k for a long period of time. Essentially you could reasonably have £6k a following redundancy - and need the funds to move house/ similar when getting a new job.

Not 100% sure on UC, but with the old style JSA the first 6 months were not means tested - but based on having enough national insurance credits. This meant you could claim benefits and national insurance stamps after losing a job, hopefully with the view that you would find a new appropriate job quickly.

£6k used to cover reasonable moving costs (deposit/ first month's rent/ moving vans). I suspect it does not go that far anymore.

If you are working and have no savings that is your fault (certain exceptions aside)

You should be asking yourself why

Well said! I became physically disabled quite unexpectedly at the age of 46, having just started a new job with a view to taking on more hours the following year when DS started at high school. I was a single parent and couldn't have afforded childcare (very little funded childcare in those days). I wasn't able to work after that. I now claim my full state pension plus DLA (I was never invited to claim PIP as I was approaching retirement). I am slightly better off than I was, but not much.

These people sitting in their ivory towers complaining that UC claimants shouldn't have any savings have no idea what it's like. Any one of us can experience a life-changing event at any time. I worked as a volunteer benefits advisor for a local charity, and some of the people I came across were going through horrendous times! If you have a good job, are in reasonably good health, and have a roof over your head, then please count your blessings. Many people would be so grateful to be in that position.

I think that's really feckless.
I was in the same situation last year. The thought of deliberately using my savings/redundancy money for fun stuff rather than paying my bills sits really badly with me.
What a model to show your kids, and where is her pride?

Oh right. I'm not sure about manipulating behaviour through social control, not when it means people's means of subsistence are at stake. I also don't think social policy should be built on unevidenced assumptions.

they monitor your accounts anyway though? I’m saying this because my friends relative was contacted about deprivation of funds and had to explain

You do know that not every benefit claimant gets high rate mobility allowance ( which gives access to the motability scheme) don't you?