Savings limits - time for it to be upped?

[Goose38]

Just wondering if anyone knows if there’s any plans for the savings limit to be upped .
I think it’s crazy it’s been capped at 16k for so many years, this needs updating.
How is anyone meant to improve their lives with such a low limit . If anyone knows of any government petitions etc would be grateful.

Why do we pretend that everyone on benefits is the victim of bad fortune? Of course there are people who genuinely are unlucky and they are absolutely who the system is designed for, but there are a hell of a lot of opportunists who will milk the system for all they can. This is why we need strict rules and regulations because people abuse any system that is designed to only help those with genuine need.

Disney had a similar problem with their Disability Access System that meant that people were using it as a free fast pass. The amount of abuse of the system was ridiculous and it really highlighted how selfish people can be. They didn't care that they were making the system worse for those that genuinely needed to use it to access the park, they just cared about their own entitlement. The whole thing became unsustainable and now the whole system has been reformed and stricter rules have been put in place that ultimately have detrimented some disabled people. This is what happens when too many people try to take advantage of a system designed for a specific purpose.

You may earn more but there's a cliff edge in regards to help with dentist, glasses, prescriptions, etc. Go £1 over that and you lose the lot. Plus if some people work extra days that's extra travel costs

The threshold for that is very low. You need to be earning less than £6k a year to be entitled to those things, it's usually people who are disabled/unable to work who are entitled to those. I have never been entitled to any of that during my entire time on UC apart from when I was unemployed.

Two income family. No benefits. Couldn't possibly save that amount of money. So no, it doesn't need to change. That's a lot of money anyway.

@Beezknees yes, when I was moved to UC from tax credits I lost money monthly as UC is less and I lost my help with (in my case regular) prescriptions and dental treatment. I now have to neglect my teeth in comparison to what I should as it's too expensive. Feeding my kids takes priority over hygienist visits. I became a single mum in devastating and unpredictable circumstances and managed through work and planning to keep the house to give my kids stability and myself a future free of housing benefit. We manage but money has become really tight over the last year or so. I hate the perception some people have that basically I deserve to struggle and I'm sitting around waiting for my next handout.

How on earth does owning a house make the way to get off benefits?

Presumably if someone is on benefits their are either unable to work or don’t earn very much. Owning a house won’t change either of those.

House ownership can’t be argued to be massively cheaper than renting these days, with most mortgages for 3 bed semi’s being around £1200 minimum and then full maintenance costs on top.

Lots of people are claiming benefits due to being forced into high cost rentals. As the cost of these is then passed onto the tax payer, and that cost is ongoing, (as unlike a mortgage you can't take a break from your rent and you'll never pay it off), long term it would be more beneficial to the tax payer to help people out of that cycle.
To be clear, I don't think you should be making savings on benefits, but I think it's short sighted to force people who receive a lump sum (say an inheritance or redundancy payment) off of benefits for a short period of time until their money has gone, keeping them in rentals, rather than allowing that money to be set aside for a house purchase in future.

So you need universal credit because you can't afford it... Therefore if you can afford it you don't need universal credit.

This.

I actually really like this idea.

Yes of course the entire point is that people should use their savings to live on, to manage their period of time when they are needing UC.

If someone is working full time, even on minimum wage, then they are very unlikely to qualify for uc.

So they should then be aiming to get off uc.

The welfare state is.a safety net, an absolute poverty prevention mechanism.

For homeowners almost everyone should have some form of income protection insurance to pay the mortgage if they lose their job.

Plenty of people who work full time qualify, it depends on circumstances like if you have a partner, how high rent is, if there's childcare costs etc. But the a massive amount of people claiming UC work full time above minimum wage

This thread is depressing. Full of people thinking that they should be rewarded by the government for doing the right thing by working hard and saving money, whilst saying that people that have not done the same should get fuck all.
Benefits are for people who are not working, either from bad luck or illness, and people who are not earning enough. If you have over £16k in savings, then you will not be eligible for benefits. It does not matter how you got that money.

I am on UC, and I have managed to save a bit in the past.... a result of living like a pauper, and selling a vehicle I could no longer use (whish still put me at under £6k btw). With the cost of living now, it is very hard to not even be overdrawn by the end of the month.

It is shocking to see a PP suggest that the savings limit be dropped to £2k. That is nothing. I have spent more than that in the past couple of years on my dog. I don't drive, but someone with a car could need that money for repairs. And shit happens in 3s.... the fridge is bound to die in that time too. Everything electrical and costly in my house is 14 years old... I can guarantee my appliances will be in cahoots and decide to fuck me over within the same month.

£16k is the cut off for benefits, but it tapers from £6k... and bare in mind if you are on UC, you have to justify any big spends so it is not seen that you are intentionally spending to stay on benefits. You could be a homeowner on UC, and release equity so you can replace your kitchen... and the DWP would be asking if it was really necessary.

I think some people here would like to go the early days of the dole when someone from the Job Centre came to your house and told you to sell personal items before you could claim anything.

@OrwellianTimes it depends where you live. My mortgage is just under £300 a month. 3 bed terrace. It would cost me around double that to rent it. So it makes clear sense from everyone's point of view if I stay in the house rather than be forced into rental.
As for the person who thinks the savings limit should be reduced to £2k, if you know where I can get my car or boiler reliably replaced for £2k I'm all ears. Wouldn't want my family of unwashed rogues to drain the middle class tax payer after all.

If you have the ability to save £16k plus then , no you shouldn't receive benefits. To actually state how can one save for a house etc, do you think other ppl should cover your benefits so you can save for a house?
I'm stunned ppl think like this, benefits are there for times of need to support low earners etc not enable huge amounts of savings.

I think personally you should be able to put money in a government protected account that you can't access and save more like for a house deposit or for a car without it effecting your benefits

Whilst claiming benefits?
Come back from Planet Entitlement,take benefits; money from the public purse to fund your car/house purchase???
This is a new level of crazy.

What about all the families who are £1.- above the in work benefits amount?

Just saying, a lot of people are struggling not just people on benefits. Many are living from hand to mouth and don't have significant savings of 16, 10 or even 5k.
I don't think the savings cap should be changed at this moment in time.
Change the low wage economy, get inflation in check and make housing (rent & mortgages) affordable first.

I think it should be separated out again as it was before with tax credits. This allowed families in full time employment to have enough to live on plus be able to save towards getting a mortgage etc.

Since the introduction of UC, those people are lumped in with the work refusers and everyone is seen as a benefit claimant

If your mortgage is under £300 per month I’m going to very much assume that you weren’t a first time buyer this year.

The national average for a 3 bed is £290,000. If you somehow manage to get a deposit of £40,000 a mortgage of £250,000 at 4% over 25 years will be £1300 per month.

There are many many parts of the country where you can not find 3 bed houses that cheap (unless they are falling to bits)

So my point remains - people I know locally in social housing are paying £800 a month for 3 beds, you won’t get a 3 bed for less than £300,000. Where are they finding the extra £500 a month from if they are on benefits? And how does any of this help them get off benefits? Owning a house doesn’t change your earning potential or ability to work.

It shouldn't be one rule for people on one working age benefit and another if you're on a different working age benefit.

Tax credits are (or were) benefits. I never understood why the rules were different.

I think it should. If you’re working full time and earning as much as you can and it’s still not enough to live comfortably a tax credit top was more to counteract piss poor wages.
I view that very differently to choosing not to work or being temporarily unemployed and claiming unemployment benefits.
Now both cases fall under UC.

Ref Government protected accout"

Each person can save up to a maximum of 20k each, per year into a tax free ISA

Each person under a certain age, can save into a LISA, tax free

Each person can save a maximum of 50K into Premium Bonds & all winnings are tax free

If you do not work, a person can save a maximum of £2880 per year into a SIPP pension & the tax will be added on top by the Government for free

Therefore, these savings already exist

Other savings are liable for tax !

You can have a certain amount in savings accounts before paying tax
( not including ISA, LISA, Premium Bonds which are tax free)

https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings

Read the thread this has nothing to do with savings and tax.