Can I do this and claim benefits or not?

[Yapppp]

I am a massive worrier. I love my job and don’t want to not work but I overthink everything and like to have a plan in an emergency.

I have a decent amount of savings, enough to pay off half my mortgage. I’m keeping it investments for now as well as overpaying my mortgage monthly. If I were to lose my job, could I pay off the chunk of my mortgage with my savings and then claim benefits while I looked for another job? It almost seems pointless saving if I don’t get the same access to benefits as the next person should my job go wrong and I need time to find another. But I also don’t want to pay it off now when I’m working. Does anyone know as it seems confusing online when I google it!

That is correct. Contributions based JSA is 6m. Not means tested. I had it for seven weeks during Covid and had over £100k in savings and no mortgage.

It's not much though, c£80pw I think.

I would pay of half now, keep working and paying extra each month, them if and when you have no job then recess situation.

Which people who are capable of working are paid by the government not to do so?

Of course UC doesn't favour homeowners over renters. In this one specific case a homeowner with mortgage who happens to have a lot of savings will be able to put it towards their mortgage whereas a renter won't be able to do anything with their savings over the limit and will have to use the money to live off.

This is one very unusual example that happens very rarely. The far far more common thing is UC paying for a renter's housing expenses (though depending on where you live the amount paid may be far lower than the actual cost), but paying nothing whatsoever towards a homeowners housing expenses. Obviously it would be unfair for benefits to be paid to cover mortgage capital, but they used to cover mortgage interest until 15 years or so ago. So it's far far more common for UC to favour renters over homeowners.

You need to appeal that. It’s not the correct interpretation of the law.

You need therapy, OP. These aren’t rational worries.

There are a few exclusions such as disciplinary or voluntary redundancy but it gives you £2.5k a month for up to a year if you are made redundant. Easy to set up, there are some comparison tools online to find a policy, only a few providers have a look at Palladian/ Howdens. There is an initial 90 day non-claim period and you also can’t claim for the first 30/60 days are redundancy.

Would it help? Surely you pay a lump sum then it comes off the total amount owed and you’d still have to pay a regular monthly payment til it’s actually paid off? You probably wouldn’t be able to afford to do that on benefits as well as covering living costs

It depends on a couple of things. What was the reason for moving house? Was the property owned or rented? What was the money actually spent on? What was the timeline?

This is incorrect. See my earlier post.

If you're a massive worrier then get income protection insurance.
You may be entitled to benefits but if you're a single person with a mortgage or mortgage free and no kids you'll get very little, certainly not enough to live on.
I think the base rate is something like £400 p/m with no kids/housing costs.

They said they could pay off half their mortgage. If they used their savings to live off whilst they looked for a new job then they wouldn’t need to claim benefits.

It appears that this is allowed but seems a bit off to me. Having access to a lot of money but wanting to claim benefits.

Op, some mortgage lenders have a clause that you can only overpay your mortgage by a certain amount every year. We're with Halifax and can only overpay 10% per year. At our time of life, this equates to around £6k, but appreciate it may be more for you, depending on how much of your mortgage remains.

If you're that concerned about losing your job, I'd suggest you look into income protection insurance. Job seekers is not a huge amount anyway, but granted you may be entitled to UC as well if you didn't have the savings. But if you protected your income with insurance you could keep your savings pot if the worst happened.

if you are made redundant and you have savings under 16k you could claim UC instead of Job seekers allowance. You have to attend appointments at the job centre but certainly is viable.

Actually you can.

My carer inherited some money from his father, he used it to buy his council flat.

Everything was above board although I don't know the ins and outs.

It's ridiculous but you are actually allowed to do this.

Sounds like you agree the benefits system needs reforming!

You could yes. However if you haven't any children, then the only benefit you'll have is UC at about £90 a week, plus 25% council tax reduction for a single person. Benefits are very little if you have no children or housing element.

@Yapppp I agree with some PP, you need to think carefully there.

I get you want to protect that money and put it towards your mortgage instead.
BUT please remember UC is very low. About £400 a month for a single person. That’s it. Even wo a mortgage p/rent to pay, I personally would struggle like hell to live on just that.
Id look at income protection instead tbh.

Also why do you have such a big amount of money saved but you haven’t used it to pay your mortgage yet?
Firvthat to be worthy, you’d need a pretty mortgage deal AND very good return on investment. I’d double check if it’s worth doing it that way anyway.
And ofc, keep 3~6 months saved just in case too.