Savings for UC, does this count?

[beautifulsun]

Are they counted if in child's name?

My daughter (3) has a savings account. It currently holds about £4000

My monthly payment of UC is 1350. DLA about £650 (part is automatically paying for motability car). Carer's about £300. Salary of £1910 a month

I don't really have the cash to make premium bonds worthwhile

What would be the best way to put some savings away for her without the impact on UC savings limit?

Obviously I'm thinking very long term. She isn't reaching the 16k limit anytime soon (they only charge for it per £ or so once you're over £5099 in savings)

To be totally transparent, no, it isn't 'secretly' for me. Her current savings Account is an ISA and I cannot touch it. She gets money from family and friends for birthday etc on top of small contributions I make

When I claimed UC My daughters bank accounts had to be declared and totals added to the pot although they had maybe £350 in from grandparents etc, but yes they were added to total along with my /my husbands bank account /ISA but I was no where near the £6k limit at that time as cash was tight. At your dd age bank accounts will be under your control/ responsibility even if her name is on it also- the fact you can't withdraw it at the moment I believe is irrelevant.

Are people receiving benefits not allowed to save?

Apparently we're not. It's a trap. I'm on UC. I work full time, only get around £300 a month which just about pays the remaining bills. I put a small amount away on savings every month. If I ever reach 16k in savings I'll lose my UC, won't be able to save anymore as that £300 a month will come out of my savings, and the dream of buying a house thus becomes possible. Desperately trying to get a promotion and do well in my job so I'm not stuck in this trap anymore.

Also. You can put as much as you want in savings for your child as long as it is an account you can't access or stocks and shares. If you can access the money then it will affect your claim.

I've only skimmed through but I would certainly save some for your son if you can, in an account that's instant access- we've just had to spend several thousand going through court in order to secure an appropriate education for our disabled DC. Fortunately we were able to save some of his DLA over the years because we wouldn't have been able to pay for it otherwise

The benefit bashers on here usually wang on about UC being spent on booze n' fans n'big tellies. Now they are outraged that someone is being careful enough with their money that they are able to save.

The best part of this thread was the made up story of the person on contribution based ESA and PIP with a "paid for" car who was stashing their money under their mattress so DWP didn't find out how much they had in savings.

Took the wind right out of that poster's sails when they were informed that you can have a few million in savings and it doesn't affect either of those benefits.

This is what the decision maker's (DM)guidance says:

Ownership of capital of a child or young person

H1077 Capital owned either legally or benefcially by a dependent child or qualifying young person is not
to be included in the capital of the claimant

. However, the DM may still need to make enquiries about
such capital if it appears to be owned by the claimant but is actually benefcially owned by a child or
young person for whom they are responsible.
1 WR Act 12, s 5

H1078
Children and young people may not be the legal owners of the capital of which they are the
benefcial owners. This is because businesses, such as banks, will not enter into a contract with them. If
they are the benefcial owners and not the legal owners their capital will be held on trust by another
person.

H1079 Children and young people become the legal owners of their capital when the terms of the trust
say they can have the capital. In England and Wales this may be when they are 18 years old and in
Scotland when they are 16.

H1080 A child or young person cannot be the legal owner of

1. real or heritable property (see H1020 4.) or
2. shares.

Sometimes a mistake is made and a child or young person is shown as the legal owner.

If she can afford to save some then why shouldn't she?

I work full time and get UC. I have savings of £5000, which I'm perfectly within my rights to have under UC rules. Individual opinions on that are irrelevant.

Isn't it £6k for UC? £16k was tax credits.

UC will be reduced if you have over £6k and will stop if you have over £16k.

So once all the living costs are paid for the month and there's a tiny amount left over, what are people supposed to do with that? Piss it up the wall on frivolous purchases just to satisfy people like you who feel it's their right to question it? Oh but you're a working taxpayer who is essentially paying for this right? Let's all just pretend we don't know that most people on UC work too.

People on benefits are just as entitled to put THEIR money into a savings pot as anyone else. It's not like people are choosing to put money away rather than paying their bills is it?

Why don’t you write to your MP about how shocked you are that people on UC are allowed to have savings?

In fact, why don’t you write to DWP and let them know about your concerns. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to hear about the fact that you don’t want UC claimants to be able to have any savings at all. Even if the OP had £5900 saved in an account that she could access, guess what? She could do that and her claim would still be unaffected!

@Blomdd but surely tax payers shouldn’t be paying for your house deposit. Which is what is happening if you are just saving the benefits you get

So I guess you would have been opposed to the help to buy ISA and the current schemes where taxpayer's money is used to help people buy their own homes?

www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes

Yeah. Can confirm this is true. I got a reply this morning on my journal saying 'Your child can have any limit in the Junior ISA. It isn't counted as your own capital'

So that's that

Yes, in your name. Or a child's name if you can access and withdraw easily

You said carers, is that the caring element of uc or carers allowance?

Most people on UC work and are tax payers too.

The savings limits don't allow you to save enough for a house deposit.

If you think this is bad, you want to see another thread with someone complaining about being migrated from tax credits to UC. As she has over £16k in savings, believes any deductions are effectively an extra 'tax'.

This person believes people on UC should be allowed to have £80-100k in savings before deductions. Said it "isn't even worth their time applying".

Yep, deluded.

Under £6k is not considered. For every £250 between £6 and 16k, there is a UC deduction of £4.35.

There's a caring element to UC

No, she receives Carer's Element of UC, which you are entitle to if caring for someone on either mid/high rate DLA, or standard/enhanced PIP. If you earn below the limit to receive Carer's Allowance, then that is deducted £ for £ from your UC.

They also shouldn't have allowed people to receive tax credits whilst having an unlimited amount of savings.

But they did.

I know, I was just asking the op to confirm which it is they received