To wonder why the UC savings threshold is £6,000?

[GiddyLurker]

Why is the Universal Credit savings threshold set at £6,000? What’s the reasoning behind that number?

It feels quite specific and I just wondered whether there’s a particular logic or policy decision behind it?

• Energy & Bills: £150 Warm Home Discount.
• Travel: Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card (50% off train tickets).
• Days Out: £1 tickets for
• London Transport Museum
• Kew Gardens
• , and others.
• Health: Free NHS prescriptions, dental care, and eye tests.
• Council Tax: Up to £2,171 off via local council schemes.
• Technology: Discounted "social tariffs" for broadband from providers like BT, Virgin Media, and Sky.
• Food/Cost of Living: Potential one-off cost of living payments and grants for essentials

Are you actually suggesting there are different rates for UC claimants for mortgages?? 😂 There isn't. Well, not the last time I checked anyway. I certainly don't receive one. Just as I don't receive any special rates for all of my other bills and outgoings. And I am FULLY aware of how much everything costs.

I do not and have never received any of those. And prescriptions are free in Scotland for everyone anyway as are eye tests.

Ha, same. The only thing I get cheaper is council tax. Everything else is the same as... um, everyone else.

Next time I go to Tesco I'm going to tell them I'm on UC to get the special prices.

Have you had regular holidays and new clothes/kitchen/car?

Same with British Gas and Thames Water for me. There is no "UC price".

I live nowhere new Kew Gardens. How is that a perk?

Ah, the hardships.

£6k is when you start to lose money off your UC entitlement.
It's £4.35 less for every £250 over £6k that you have.
So if you've got £7k, you're getting paid around £20 a month less than before. If you've got £8k, you lose around £40 a month.
And so on and so forth until you reach £16k and are entitled to nothing.

Really... you can't say I have a benefit/perk worth xyz when I live nowhere near the place offering it.

It’s a perk whether you use it or not. I take it you got cost of living payments, and don’t pay for prescriptions. You have no commuting costs, no work related expenses, you have the whole day every day to leisurely browse yellow stickers and deals. You have no time pressures. You can organise your life in whatever way suits you. Yet apparently ‘working people should stump up and stop being miserly’ 🤷‍♀️

Here is a list of most of my household monthly outgoings and the discounts/special rates I receive for them due to being on UC. I'm sure I've probably forgot some. Clearly I receive so much discount that I am completely unaware of how much things cost these days.

Mortgage - 0
Gas & Electricity - 0
Car Insurance - 0
Phones x 2 - 0
Internet - 0
Council Tax - 0
Life Insurance x 2 - 0
Contacts - 0
Road Tax - 0
Home Insurance - 0
Food - 0
Toiletries, nappies, cleaning products etc - 0
Clothes - 0
Diesel - 0
Kids clubs and activities - 0
Dental care - 0

I don't live anywhere near there either.

Is nobody familiar with income protection these days?

I have it! I’m a mug aren’t I?

If the nurse has >6K in assets she won't be able to claim - hence the hand-to-mouth, month-to-month existence. This is why some nurses use food banks. That small family food box may be just enough to tide them over until the next pay day.

I can't work because my child is disabled. There's no income protection or insurance for that unfortunately.

It also isn't instantly paid out. What happens in the time between when you have no money and are waiting for it to be paid? Benefits most likely unless you have a good amount of savings.

It would cost me about £200 in train fair to get there.

What income protection scheme is there for a NMW zero hour contract job?
Or someone with pre-existing health conditions?

I have a confession.

After having a long hard think and some soul searching I remembered that went to the zoo once and used a reduced price special offer for benefit bums.

Clearly rolling in the handouts here. I reckon if I tried really hard I could convince the bank to reduce my mortgage for me too. It's basically the same thing. Right?

Are you the poster that go so pissed off on these threads, you went and bought a steak? Because we kept being told us bums should not be allowed steaks 😂

I don't think I am but this sounds like something I would do...

Some people said that people on benefits should not be able to afford steaks. A poster did a name change to 'GovernmentFundedSteak', and another on UC said she bought steak out of spite after reading some of the comments.
I have a posh steak in my freezer, but it was reduced.

Chester did it temporarily over the Christmas holidays and we went then. I only found out about it due to someone making a thread on here complaining about it. 😂