Universal credit and saving for a house deposit

[Musereader]

I am a single parent with one child, i could not cope without tax credits as my rent, council tax and childcare costs are more than my montly wage so i rely on the tc to cover the bills and food.

I do work in national goverment on the lowest rung in a call centre and have been looking through the releases we get and i am horrified to find out that you cannot claim UC if you have more than £16k in savings. Between £16k and £6k in savings does mean a reduction in UC. This is not the case in tc

A house in my area ranges from £150 to 200k so a 10% deposit is £15k minimum.

Basically as soon as i save any amount of money that looks like a reasonable deposit i have to use savings to pay childcare because my UC would reduce.

So aibu to hope that the goverment does do a uturn on UC roll out which may mean that i never have to go on UC and be subject to these silly savings rules

You won't earn enough for the mortgage either way so what's the point? Unless you plan to buy with someone else or shared ownership perhaps.

OP
We had to use our savings before we could claim any benefits, so I think the rules do apply to Tax credits, the only thing I don't think it effected was child benefit.

If I remember correctly we had to be under 6k

No.lets use tax payers money to.prop.up landlords paying their mortgage instead! The idea of tax credits was to top a wage up.to a decent level and to try to end child poverty. UC is a different propersition altogether.

I agree. I can never buy a house because im in the exact same position as the OP. It is our (or anybody elses in this position) fault that we live in a country where it is standard to pay a wage that is impossible to live off.
Yes in an ideal world we would all get married save for a house buy said house have children and live happily ever after but life isnt like that and childhood events and mental health issues meant my life didnt pan out like that and now im stuck in a trap where it is near impossible to better yourself.
2 years ago i wanted to commit suicide and didnt see the point in anything anymore and my DD changed that for me, I am happy now, I can see a future and I am a good mum, I work 3 days a week and manage all house things, i know lots of people do that too but for me it is a massive turn around i went from a 24 year old recluse living with her parents to a 26 year old actual functioning adult with a baby in 2 years and it was the both the hardest and best thing ive done.
Im looking at uni and things to better my prospects but its very difficult to balance study work and being a single mum and i dont think im quite there yet
Its very disheartening to know i have come so far and now thats as far as i can go because as soon as i saved £6000 id lose my "fun money" which goes sttaight into savings instead of on fun stuff (nights out clothes etc.) And therefore couldnt save anymore as all other money goes on bills. It just makes you feel stuck.

sobey is right though same rules for tax credits i thought.

*not our fault

It's very rare for me to defend the benefit system, but this is an exception.

The capital threshold is there to prevent people getting benefits when they have shedloads of money. It riles me that TCs are based solely on income, so someone could, in theory, have hundreds of thousands in the bank but still qualify for TCs because their income is low (although interest on those savings would be counted as income, so would reduce TC entitlement).

There has always been a capital limit for other means-tested benefits, I've never understood why TCs were treated differently.

I didnt read any further than your OP.

I was made redundant this year. I have more than £16k in savings. I get nothing. No eligibility for benefits at all. I am living off my savings.

YABVVVVU. HTH.

So beyond no thete was never a savings limit on tax credits.

YABU - when you no longer need child care - work more hours.
TCs allowed a lot more savings because only the income from these savings which was taxable (excluded ISAs and the like) was counted

Tax credits are interest in savings over £300.
The fact that this was added should how well off tax claimants originally were.

With tc you have to declare savings and any intrest is used as income but there are no savings limits

I was hoping to save 400 a month and get 2400 in 5 years as my wages are 1200 tc and cb 900 (total 2100) and outgoings 1700. After gov help to buy and mortgage on £21k pa would have about 130/140k to buy house which could in neighbouring suburb to north, east or south of my parents suburb but now considering i cannot save that 2400, i am trying to save my wages, not any benefit that inhave been given.

As a single person no child i was able to save 400 a month on this wage but that was wiped out by debt my ex put me in and unpaid maternity leave. Been back at work a month only to find out that saving is useless and those people who think anyone can buy a house by scrimping and not having iphone and coffees are even more deluded as i am not allowed to save that amount so there is no point even trying

It's the same old same old. Keep them down at all costs. The working poor and disabled should not aim to better their situation, just exist in the position the rich or powerful deem suitable.

Keep your head down op you'll rock the boat.

If you want evidence that the above is actually true read the responses here. Too bigoted to recognise that helping someone work their way out of renting benefits the country with lower benefit bills amongst many other things.

No wonder this country is in the shit it is. Half of the posters sounds like they're trying to swallow the daily mail sideways.

If it makes you feel any better, OP, I’m also a renting single parent who won’t be able to afford to buy a house for a very, very long time.

I now understand why so many people draw cash out and keep it under their mattress, I always thought it was weird(I work in finance but started as a bank cashier) but now I see why they do it. No paper trail. Sad really.

@Bufferingkisses you have absolutely no idea of the circumstances of others posting.

If the OP can save £400 a month then they aren't working poor.

Oh and people earning up to 40k can qualify for tc if they have children and the max amount is 53k if you have disabled children. These people would suddenly be constrained by this rule

YABU

Benefits are there to pay for things like childcare, bills and rent. Not so you can have thousands of £ in savings.

You should still save because if there's a fuck up with your benefits payments or you have a sudden expense or you lose your job, savings will see you through the worst of it. You're actually in an extremely fortunate position to be able to save at all!

Being a homeowner is not a right. For millions of people it's something they'll never have.

The working poor and disabled should not aim to better their situation

It’s not just the working poor who can’t afford to get on the property ladder nowadays though, is it? It’s really difficult for most people, even if they earn a good wage.

I don't think anyone is trying to keep anyone 'down'. It's just that benefits are paid from taxes that other people, who also can't save for a deposit, pay. So to hear someone who gets benefits can afford to save £400 a month makes my daughter working 65 hours a week a bit pointless. She'd be better off on benefits 😳. That's wrong. Benefits are to stop people going homeless or starving, not to let them buy houses. If you can afford to do that why are you needing handouts from benefits - they are other people's money !

OP have you considered shared ownership? We were looking into this. You will need a smaller deposit and unfortunately it is true that it's unlikely with a 5% deposit you would get a mortgage to cover the costs of a house of that price.

I live in the SE and would be able to borrow about £100 - £120k max on our current income and I believe they do take dependents into account too.

If you can get a government backed SA property you would have the security of not private renting, however there are drawbacks. But if you pay your rent and service charge and don't plan on moving for a while (assuming that's why you want to buy a house - for the security) then it does look like an okay option?

This is a shocking thread, I can't believe anyone thinks it's right to pay benefits to someone able to save £400 per month - I fully support benefits providing a decent standard of living but that's massively taking the piss. OP, the taxpayer should not be giving you £400 each month to buy you a house. The capital threshold exists to protect the taxpayer from people with thousands in the bank who still feel that somehow everyone else should pay their expenses whilst they happily squirrel money away.

I dont usually manage 400 a month as i used to spend about 200 on a hobby and would indulge my self in large purchases once or twice a year which usually wiped outbthat years savings, but 400 was the amount i thought i could if i really tightend spending to only essentials - i didnt want to buy a house before my dd was born last year. Coming back to work i thought i would sacrifice my hobby for dd and try for a house but this has scuppered that.

Actually, reading this I think it's a wind-up/journo - UC is omnipresent in the news currently. Can't believe I fell for it.

Were those large purchases massive flat-screen TVs or goat's, perchance?