I’m not missing something here am I? Universal credit, renting and saving for a deposit.

[tiredconfusedhungry]

Keeping it a bit vague. I’m separated, STBXH and I were looking at figures last night and we’re not going to come out with much to put towards a deposit. We’re looking at around £15k each, I’d need a deposit of around £60k - £70k and that’s to buy a 2 bed house.

We’re in the South East and house prices here are high, rent is high. We’re already in the ‘cheaper’ part, moving further away from where we are puts us in prime commuting land and would be more expensive.

Anyway, it’s likely I will end up renting and saving for a bigger deposit. I did a calculation on entitled to (based on no savings) and I could get some help with rent, which is great. It means I could save some money each month and then hopefully buy after about 4 years.

But now I’ve looked into it further, if you have more than £16k in savings you aren’t entitled to any help. Which I do understand, but it then means that after all essential bills and costs are covered, I’d have about £200 left a month. Which doesn’t go far with 2 kids and certainly wouldn’t leave me anything to save.

So essentially I’m never going to be able to save a deposit am I?

Nope. That's how the system works.

Know your place and don't try and better your circumstances!

No it starts reducing after 6k

You can save a little bit of UC, they don’t want to stop people having any money set aside for emergencies. But once you hit £6000, the savings start to reduce your UC. After £16000, it stops entirely.

If you already have £15k in savings then why would you actually think it’s fair to get UC?

UC is a safety net. It is not there to allow you to save tens of thousands of pounds. You’d literally be buying your home with taxpayer money. Did you actually think you could do that? If you’ve got savings, you need to live off those until you drop below the threshold. You simply can’t save thousands whilst claiming support from the taxpayer. Why would you?

(I get a UC top up on my salary, before you accuse me of benefit bashing).

What we need is council housing

Welcome to never owning a home. If you've got £15k then not being funny but you don't need UC.

It’s the opposite. You need to better yourself if you want to have certain things. If you want to buy a house, you need to go an earn that money. Do you actually think the taxpayer should be handing the OP £60,000 so she can buy a house? Because that’s what sheas asking for.

UC is to give you extra when you need it to live month to month. It’s not to give you a £60k house deposit. If you want that, you have to earn it.

Yep. It's the system. We got some inheritance but not enough to buy. Couldn't save anymore though, as our top benefit went from tax credit to universal credit. So we lost it. It's easy to see how people get trapped.

You’d literally be buying your home with taxpayer money.

Plenty of people bought homes with tax credit money. Now, with UC they can't - but their landlords can, via the UC that their tenants receive. I'm not entirely convinced that's a better situation.

And UC isn't a safety net, it's a top up to compensate low waged employees/tight employers.

UC is supposed to be a safety net, it’s not there to give you excess money to save. The 16k limit gives you a good emergency fund but if you can save more then that you really don’t need UC. Is there a way you can up your income like upping your hours or going for a promotion?

Ok but she does work and earn money

If she doesn't buy a house she might be claiming UC rent element for years. That could well add up to more than £60k.

Lifting yourself out of the benefits trap is hard and the sums don't always look like you might expect them to.

You will just have to increase your income.

Which is why they moved away from the tax credits system. Huge waste of money.

We need a private rental market. Landlords are providing a service with those homes. I know mumsnet hates landlords but it’s a fact of the country. We have renting. We have private landlords. And a lot of people pay their rent with benefits… would you like those people banned from private renting in case their money pays a landlords mortgage?

It’s actually nuts. If Op saved enough for a deposit, she wouldn’t need the housing element of UC, which in the long run would save the taxpayer money. As it is, she will need to Claim UC till retirement, then get her full rent as Housing Benefit in retirement, and if she needs care the State (taxpayers) will pay as she won’t have a house to fund it. It will all cost hundreds of thousands of pounds potentially. It would be better if she could get a low interest loan from the State to buy a house, repayable over say 10 years, in exchange for no UC.

@CeeJay81. You didn’t lose it. You spent the money supporting yourself.

You’re assuming OP could afford a mortgage. Without UC help, she’ll only have £200 a month leftover. She sounds like she is looking at expensive houses, which means an expensive mortgage. So how is she going to pay that as UC won’t pay your mortgage.

Although potentially if OP could claim UC for 4 years then buy a house, as opposed to being on it forever, overall she might claim less UC.

I do agree with PP, UC is a safety net, not for saving £60k with. But putting people in a position where there is no point them even trying has downsides as well.

No.

that’s the way it works.

i moved over an hour further North when I got divorced to afford a house. I expect to move again when my final child moves out.

I meant we lost the top up benefit cause we had savings. Yes I totally see that's how it should be, as we had money to live off. Doesn't stop it being frustrating though

Honestly people on Mumsnet are full of shit. Op, go and look online and you’ll see that DWP will give you a six month grace for capital in terms of house buying. You should speak to citizens advice bureau about your specific circumstances as you’re clearly not trying to stay in the system and need clarity on tbe way ahead. Don’t listen to people telling you that you’re trying to gain benefits you don’t deserve. Good luck.

Yep, long term it doesn't add up at all for public finances.

OP if you can't buy, don't. Keep renting and claiming UC. Don't put your money into savings - put it into a pension. Uc will give you credit for it subject to the usual taper rules. Apply for social housing now so that when UC eventually stops you've got cheap rent and a secure home. Make sure you access and spend your private pension (eg by going part time/part year) before you claim your state pension though otherwise all that money will just have to go on rent when you're no longer working.

Then when you draw state pension you'll get your rent and council tax paid too.

For capital yes, not for saving an extra £40k plus o top of the £15k capital op will have after the divorce. This is completely different.

Benefits system isn't there to help you buy a house! Good grief !

@BeltaLodaLife it’s hypothetical at the moment, but I take home just under £2000 a month (won’t get much from STBXH as he wants 50:50). Renting a 2 bed flat is around £1200 a month. That leaves me with £800 to pay council tax (£180), gas, electric, food, run a car (needed for my job - social services case officer). So that £15k will go down pretty quickly. I’ve done this job for nearly 10 years and I’ve worked hard all my life, I worked hard for my first deposit, I’m not asking for handouts. It just feels impossible to give my kids somewhere secure to live.

@Overthebowim already full time and there isn’t any where for me to progress to unless I do a social work degree and become a social worker. Not something I want to do particularly but I would consider, but it’s a full degree, not a quick fix.

No, it's there so your landlord can buy a house.

Welcome to capitalism