To just withdraw all my savings and keep cash under my mattress as they keep messing up my benefits claim

[feellikeahugefailure]

I don't have much, a few thousand for emergency. But it really complicates claiming benefits.

I've sent them screen shots of the accounts, but they wanted "documentary evidence". I've sent the statements but as they are online there isn't much paperwork and the statements are only generated once a year. So i've sent the out of date statements generated months ago and they say there are discrepancys with the amounts.

Of course there are they are months old! When I claimed on the form I put in the exact amounts at the time of claiming and screen shotted all of these accounts and sent them in.

Every time I reply they ask for something different or ask me something that I've already confirmed on my initial form when I claimed. They reply by second class post rather than an efficient online system so I've had 5 sets of ping pong letters over a month.

It's wasting alot of my time for simple stuff that I provided in the first place.

Yes.

Your savings are lower than the threshold anyway.

Keep an eye if that changes though.

You'd still need to declare it (even if it's below the threshold) or you'd be fraudulently claiming to have no savings.

I doubt that they'd just forget that they know you have savings, either.

Are you paying into the savings regularly, if the balance keeps changing? I'd either stop paying it in to keep the amount the same until you've been assessed, or add on any expected payments so you have a good chance of predicting the balance when they get round to looking at it.

as they are online there isn't much paperwork and the statements are only generated once a year.

Sorry if i'm being thick, but why can't you print off the months statements that they want to see.

Being self employed our benefits are suspended every now and again and we have to submit everything to prove we're not secretly making millions. We just go online and print off what's requested.

Is it that to ring your bank and get an up to date statement that is relevant to your benefit claim?

It's to put you off claiming.

They want you to live off savings rather than claim.

Light that's rubbish. The person processing the claim form is likely to be under huge pressure to clear that claim ASAP and simply wants relevant information to be able to do so correctly. If the savings are at a level that may affect entitlement/weekly rate of benefit then it needs to be accurate.

I have printed off the statements for them. They don't exactly say what they want other than "documentary evidence", so I phoned them and they said the current statement would be fine. But the official statement is only generated once a year.

I'm forever adding or taking away from my savings, it just seems to cause such a headache. I'm never near the threshold amount.

They do seem to be deliberately making it difficult.

Surely they must know savings amounts change?

Withdraw it and say you had to spend it on your car, or getting a new boiler.

Can you ask the bank to send you more regular statements?

It's every man for himself in this country at the moment so, yes, I would. I can understand them checking that people aren't on the fiddle (the vast majority aren't) but while that's happening people can be left with no money for food,energy or rent. And they don't give a toss. and they are that lethal combination of judgemental and incompetent

If it makes you feel better gradually add a couple of hundred to a Morrisons gift card or something. Keep enough cash under the mattress for the rent.

I fucking hate the DWP. They do awful things to claimants but they treat their staff even worse, turning (mostly) decent people into uncaring jobsworths.

DISCLAIMER: I do not condone benefit fraud/money fiddling but I am currently having mega stress with my mom after my dad passed away and now I am very much of the opinion if you need that money to survive then you need to do what you can to ensure you get it.

In my moms case after my dad passed away my mother was entitled to widows allowance but she only gets it for 12months. During that 12months my moms council tax bill changed to now allow for the one income, but once they discovered my mom also had widows allowance for that year she was sent a bill for £1,200!! The letter frightened the life out of her and was frankly the last thing she needed.

Go to a machine in branch, put in your debit card and print off a statement there and then?

most online bank accounts show a running total as such so you can see the history of the account. why not select different dates and print them out over a period of 4 weeks or something?

I don't think you should take all the savings out and put them somewhere else - that's wrong and you will be found out.

How about copies of the last three statements plus a print out of the latest balance off the internet, with an explanation that written statements are only sent once per year, as they will see from the evidence you have provided? Clearly they have a deep desire to be flooded with paperwork.

I guess they want to see if there is a pattern otomthe money in and money out, to check you aren't trying to cover up regular income?

In other words, they don't want your current balance, they want the history of incomings and outgoings.

Two things come to mind:
When I had a drastic reduction in savings (had moved out of my parents house and bought a washing machine, microwave, fridge etc) they asked for proof of what the money had gone on - they were fine with receipts but if I'd not been able to provide them they would have been within their rights to treat me as though I still had the money (google intentional deprivation of capital)
Print a list of however many months worth of recent transactions and send those off - I've had that accepted before.

My Mum is a widow of almost 80. She worked until she was 65, as did my Dad. Both paid into private pensions all their lives. She is entitled to nothing at all. The amount she loses in tax on her pension is a fair whack.
Meanwhile, the widow across the road who never worked is better off than she is, has just had a new boiler fitted, downstairs shower room etc (free) and gets her garden tended to over the summer months. She was clever, and after her husband died somehow moved their savings into their sons name (DH and I are friendly with son socially and he was quite proud of this). They also moved the house into his name too.

If you asked my Mother the question you are posing here she'd tell you to draw out the lot, get a shoe box and keep it under the floorboards. I'm inclined to agree.

PS don't keep the money under your mattress - house fire, mice, theft, flooding, damage, decay, obsolescence of notes, etc, would be a risk over an extended period of time.

As far as I know our council don't ask for savings amount unless it's over a certain amount (£6k I believe?) It means people can have a small amount of savings for emergencies without worrying about it affecting their entitlement.

I'd be inclined to withdraw it and keep it somewhere safe too - as pp have said its every man for himself and sometimes you have to look after number 1. But I'm not sure how you could do that without them suspecting something since they already know about your savings in the first place.

Right, so fire proof safe in the wardrobes it is then, I'd say!! Its not as though the OP is talking about several thousands, just their rainy day fund.
Has anyone got any receipts for expenses you could've legitimately spent the money on - that's what here asking for if your savings suddenly decrease.
After uni I couldnt claim jobs seekers allowance because of my savings (towards a deposit for a house, long term thinking) even though I also had a massive student loan debt... paid some debt off to bring savings under the threshold and they still refused.
Seems the system is set up to discourage people from saving - no wonder so many say they feel 'trapped' by the benefits system!

yanbu. I would book an appointment and take in all the paperwork. They were deliberately obstructive to me too 'losing' documents or 'sending them to another office for scanning'. Basically any bs so they could delay it for about 3 months. Oly ended when I booked a face to face appointment which they tried to cancel when I arrived at the office but I refused to leave until they took all the paperwork again and sorted it there and then. I sayit every time I see a housing benefit post, but I'd love someone to investigate these companies and see what they're doing with the money they hold on to for a few months.

Greyponcho, the system isn't set up to "discourage saving". The whole point of it is that the system is a safety net to fall back on if times are hard. Fair enough if someone has a tiny rainy day fund, but if someone has many thousands in savings, then why should the taxpayer have to give them benefits as well?

I work full-time and don't have much in savings (due to living on a modest salary in the SE, not due to fecklessness). Why should I have to pay benefits to top up the income of someone who has a huge amount in the bank? benefits are for those IN NEED.

say you withdrew them to get new flooring or something

None of that was about the OP btw, as it sounds as if the OP has savings below the threshold and is perfectly entitled to claim.