Universal Credit should relax £16,000 savings eligibility rule

[DreamChaser23]

do you agree? This is to ensure other workers who were laid off and have 16k OR higher in savings should also be eligible for help.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-must-change-universal-credit-21792760.amp

@Hester54. You're assuming these people don't work and don't want to work. Can see who votes whatever right wing shithead demonizes anyone out of work. People on low incomes without savings have also just lost jobs you know! The amount of UC is too low to surcive on. It should absolutely be increased for those with little savings. Those with savings can use them.

esjee so reward people for not saving

@Hester54
In an ideal world our savings are for certain things but in this situation unfortunately we need to dig into them, it’s called having moral decency.
I’d rather the money is for those in dire straits with no income, no savings, young kids to feed.
You really need a long hard look at your horrible selfish attitude, I volunteer with our foodbank, it’s called being human and caring.

@Hester54 A lot people out there have no capacity to save. As you know.

@OrlandoAlice
“ Do you not get contributions based benefits for the first 6 months? Used to be that way on job seekers. If not then that is bad, if everyone is paying in then everyone should get something out. Thats how universal benefits should work. If you start chipping away at entitlement then people start to wonder why they are bothering to pay in and they stop voting to support social security benefits. However thats probably the intention of successive neo-liberal market led governments over the last 40 years. Perhaps if this pandemic teaches us anything it will be that this mentality leaves us in the shit in a crisis like this.”

This. Absolutely this.

When the welfare state was set up, this was understood. So many posters on here aren’t grasping this though and it will be those on long term benefits that end up suffering.

The economy goes in cycles and this will be a blip, those that are willing and have work experience will find work again in a few months time. A lot of people won’t vote for a larger benefits system due to this, if they’ve been shafted. Those posters that think the middle classes will start voting for a more generous benefit system and will happily pay higher taxes to pay for it are deluded. These people aren’t going to vote for a system that they have to pay into but get nothing back from.

JKScot4 so after nearly 40 years of working and managing to save over £16,000 for my retirement, i am horrible and selfish because i don't want to just live off it now, what will i do in retirement?

@Deathgrip you can tell them a mile off. Even worse when they try to hide the fact their Tory and claim they are green. People forget you can see a persons entire post history on here .

100 times this LooQoo

What would make this fairer, I think, would be a return to the old style Unemployment Benefit that was dependent on NI contributions and not means tested.

People with nothing in the bank and needing Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credits etc could still be supported.

I was made redundant a couple of weeks before this hit.

I have worked all my life in a modestly paid charity / not for profit sector, no employer pension contributions above legal minimum so small pension, I am 3 years off retirement, what pension I have has just plummeted.

I have, over 40 years, squirrelled away £20k savings as a new boiler / car repair / emergency fund when I am living on my pension.

So, no benefits for me, after an unbroken lifetime of Class 1 contributions.

esjee my argument is with people that could of and haven't,

@Hester54. Maybe you shouldn't have voted tory! Oops.

It's always been this way though. My grandmother had a tiny pension so she didn't get the benefits her friends got. She always told us not to bother saving for a pension as it isn't worth it.

There's a lot to be said for putting assets into portable items like gold jewellery in times like these.

It's absolutely repulsive to moan about a car or wedding. Use the savings to support yourself now you are out of work. You are lucky to have the option.

CalmerViole stop flashing your wealth, people will be after you, i know what you mean just because you have a bit of savings doesn't make you rich

This is why they should have done a UBI at least temporarily.

I find it very hard to care about you and your retirement savings, given you don't give a shit about there being a reasonable safety net in place for those in need. Which you now are apparently. I believe that's called irony.

esjee sorry to say i didnt

@Hester54

To not have any care or consideration for people other than those you have actually met is appalling.... Starving children - who cares! Syrian refugees - not my problem! etc etc....

What’s worse that seems this concept is as alien to you as, say, actually being an alien!

Your post is a bit confusing, disorganisedsecretsquirrel, because I'd normally expect someone with 20 years' continuous NI contributions right up until their accident to be able to claim contribution-based ESA, regardless of savings (in the same way that contribution-based old-age pensions are regardless of savings).

www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-employment-and-support-allowance-detailed-guide

‘New Style’ ESA is a contributory benefit. Normally, this means you may be able to get it if you’ve paid and/or been credited with enough National Insurance contributions in the 2 full tax years before the year you’re claiming in.

To get ‘New Style’ ESA you’ll need to have been an employee or self-employed and paid (or been credited with) National Insurance contributions, usually in the last 2 to 3 years.

esjee i find it hard after 40 years of work to care for those that haven't or don't want to work

UC and tax credits have been increased by £1000 a year. So all those suddenly needing to claim will be better off than people were previously on these benefits. Raising it is right but it angers me that it has taken a crisis to acknowledge the fact that it isn’t sufficient for people to live on.
Any anybody with savings absolutely should use them before being eligible. The only savings which should be exempt are those sitting in a pension fund.
Yes it’s shit that people who have never saved can get the benefits as well as those who have saved but the majority of people who don’t have savings don’t have them because they don’t earn enough to save.
I would rather have £16k to spend meeting my basic needs during this crisis than be trying to claim universal credit without a penny to my name and not knowing if I will get a payment in time to buy food to feed my family.

I find it very hard to care about you and your retirement savings

Why should anyone give a crap about your retirement savings when you’ve repeatedly made it clear you don’t give a crap about anyone other than perhaps your family and some friends?! Don’t you see the irony!

No the rule shouldn’t be relaxed. And I say that as someone with more than £16K in savings that is earmarked as a house deposit.

Unfortunately a lot of people are going to learn that life isn’t fair and most of us are going to have to take on some of the hardship. It’s shit. But shit things have been happening all over the globe for millions of people who haven’t done anything wrong. People living comfortable lives in Europe have been shielded from it but it looks like nobody can hide from this.

Those posters that think the middle classes will start voting for a more generous benefit system and will happily pay higher taxes to pay for it are deluded.

The irony being that we will all be paying significantly higher taxes now regardless of who we vote for.

And you also have a strange definition of shafted since you’ll start receiving financial support should you drop below £16k of savings, meaning you’ll still have significantly more in savings than the majority of people in the country will ever have.

Derbygerbi sorry, i cant help everyone, there is people in better position and with far more money than me to do things to help, They don't seem to bothered