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Universal Credit should relax £16,000 savings eligibility rule

661 replies

DreamChaser23 · 02/04/2020 12:16

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

OP posts:
TheArchSorcererofContwaraburg · 03/04/2020 17:42

What's Primark have to do with Philip Green? Hmm

psychomath · 03/04/2020 18:03

Do the people saying "but it's not fair that I should spend my own money when I was saving for a house/wedding/car" think the government is sitting on an infinite amount of cash that they can just dole out (no pun intended) to anyone they deem worthy? That money that would be going to you is money that's not being spent on other public services. How on earth is it 'fair' that funding should get taken away from schools, the NHS, police services, disability benefits and so on, because it's more important that you can still have your expensive wedding?

You're looking at this the wrong way round, OP, and others who agree with you. No-one is automatically entitled to take money from other public services to make up the shortfall whenever they hit a rough patch financially, and who gets the help isn't decided by who's been the most virtuous in their spending habits. Thankfully, we live in a society where we (mostly) don't let people starve to death on the streets when they lose their jobs, so people for whom that would be the likely alternative should have access to an emergency safety net as a last resort. It's not that you're being denied some basic right - the person who's blown all their money on other stuff is in that position and you are not.

StarUtopia · 03/04/2020 18:06

Seriously!!! Honest to god.

Savings are for hard times. If you have money, you use that first. Christ. No one is entitled to keep that £16k+ AND use UC to buy food. That's a joke!

EightNineTen · 03/04/2020 18:18

I think if you've got over £16,000 in savings you're very lucky indeed, whatever it's for. And yes, absolutely, you can be using those savings to live on until such time you go under the amount and qualify for help from the government.

psychomath · 03/04/2020 18:20

so its alright for the people that have spent their money to have somebodies else is then?

Do you get angry that the NHS will send out an ambulance to a lifelong smoker who's dying from lung cancer, but not to take a meticulously healthy person to regular GP appointments if they get ill through no fault of their own? The healthy person isn't getting 'penalised' for their lifestyle choices by being denied their God-given right to free transport. There are limited resources and they get allocated to the people who might literally die without them.

If we had infinite amounts of money to go round then of course everyone could help themselves to benefits and free ambulance rides whenever they wanted. Alas, we don't, so we have to prioritise. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that.

EightNineTen · 03/04/2020 18:24

@Wewearpinkonwednesdays

If I were you I'd keep at least £1000 as a safety net and claim for what you're entitled to. You may find you're in more need of it as time goes on, or for another emergency where the government isn't quite so generous. Don't put yourself in a situation where you're completely at the mercy of others when you don't need to be!

YgritteSnow · 03/04/2020 18:31

The thing is though @starutopia they will be able to keep that £16000, oh wait, sorry £15999. It's the savings above that they don't want to spend...

TestBank · 03/04/2020 18:38

For it to be really fair, we need to start looking at assets. Houses, cars, TVs, whatever you could sell basically. Someone could come to your house and have a good look round.
Oh cool ... then we'd be recreating the system from the 1920s and 30s.
No idea why Labour stopped it.

SnoozyLou · 03/04/2020 18:41

@Wewearpinkonwednesdays It will take potentially months for your claim to be considered, by which time you may find yourself in a very different situation. If you're entitled to claim now, I'd get on with it sharpish.

Hester54 · 03/04/2020 18:54

Deathgrip Yes, if they haven’t saved and could of

Hester54 · 03/04/2020 18:56

psychomath, if times are tight, why should someone that has a self inflicted health issue, have a place before someone that tried to look after themselves

Hester54 · 03/04/2020 18:57

Wewearpinkonwednesdays No don’t claim if you would rather not, more for others

Graphista · 03/04/2020 19:01

There was a small taste of this attitude when tax credits were first cut after Cameron dodged and fudged answering if they’d be cut in the run up to the 2015 election, there were people on the news and question time basically desperately trying not to say ‘when you said you were cutting the benefits bill I didn’t think you meant ME I’M not a SCROUNGER’

They didn’t like having to face the fact that as far as the tories are concerned YES YOU ARE.

The same is happening now on a much larger and faster scale - NOW do you realise WHY they didn’t have the guts to bring in UC across the country all at one time? They can minimise and have their pals in the press and media under report the disastrous effects of that on people’s lives because they’re letting it trickle out - or at least they were trying to!

As @canigooutyet said you’re not different, you’re not special you’re the same as the rest of us claimants! We’ve also had to claim because of bad luck - divorce, bereavement, illness, accident, redundancy due to our employers going under from poor fiscal management of the entire country!

To paraphrase Al Powell (die hard) time for Tory voters who are now having to claim

why don’t you wake up and smell what you been shovelling

Happy to dump the manure on the rest of us when they’re doing ok, not interested in mucking in when it means they gotta make sacrifices!

@userxx why do you think it unfair that cohabiting couples are treated like married ones? Been that way for benefits for many many years suspect you didn’t care until it has potential to affect YOU?

Joint claims are problematic for many reasons not least trapping mostly women in abusive relationships and making it a lot easier for them to be financially abused. Or did they not matter until it affected YOU?

@Deathgrip true colours coming out aren’t they? Iirc you and I were both pretty vocal on the nastiness of the tories on election threads and had Tory supporters denying and minimising so much of what we said - chickens coming home to roost just a few months later!

Lots of resentment and anger on this thread towards people who have made the effort to put a little bit of money aside.

NO the resentment and anger is towards those who have savings but DON’T WANT TO SPEND THEM but instead think the govt should help them protect those savings.

I have no problem with people who’ve been lucky enough to be able to save BUT who now acknowledge that in the current circumstances if their income is reduced or not happening they’ll need to use those savings to live on.

I absolutely DO have a problem with the snobby, entitled arses who think they’re more “worthy” than “ordinary” claimants and therefore deserve to be treated differently!

It’s the hypocrisy that fucks us off!

Talk to some disabled people about the DWP, then you’ll know about shafted. hear hear! Especially those of us with invisible disabilities and certainly mental illness is very poorly dealt with.

Well no. Workers who have saved £16,000 have been contributing to society and paxing tax. People who are long term benefits professionals without working, not so much

lovely attitude!! See - true colours!

Never mind that MOST long term claimants are:

Working poor receiving benefits - like ohh retail workers, refuse collectors, hcp’s, care workers, cleaners, child care workers... been clapping on thu nights?!

Carers - are you really saying THEY don’t contribute to society? Come off it! Bet they contribute more than you! Carers save the govt a fucking FORTUNE in health and social care costs!

Sick & disabled - many of whom worked previously for as long as they could manage and who even if not in paid work often support others

Odfod! Don’t contribute to society! You know the last groups that dismissed people’s lives based on their inability to create wealth for others? Nazis and communists!

The benefits system is there to help people who are looking for work no its not!! The tories in recent years have tried to claim this is the case and bastardised the system to reflect that but it is NOT what it is intended for at all! That’s only a part of it.

I wonder how many on benefits are actually doing that. you clearly have ZERO experience and barely watch the news. In recent years the disgusting “fit for work” decisions have caused people’s DEATHS.

@wewearpinkonwednesdays while the sentiment and humility is laudable I have to echo @deathgrip in saying that as someone with a lot of experience with dwp and knowing how overwhelmed they are at the moment (I actually know people who work for dwp too and they are sharing that they’re completely snowed under) in all likelihood claims may take several months to process (which was already the case in many places actually the 5 week wait is a MINIMUM really) and they only backdate to when you formally applied not to when you were made redundant or furloughed (as far as I know this is still the case). So the sooner you apply the better. £1500 isn’t that much that would last me 2-3 months and it’s just me here. If you have children to support you need to get moving.

It can take around a week just to fill in the forms and gather all relevant evidence in acceptable formats.

Graphista · 03/04/2020 19:07

why should someone that has a self inflicted health issue, have a place before someone that tried to look after themselves

As an ex nurse you do realise that every health issue aside from rare genetic disorders are "self inflicted"?

I have met very very few people who are seriously ill from conditions that weren't "self inflicted"

Very few people never eat processed food or drink, don't ever drink alcohol, aren't and never have been smokers, exercise min 30 mins a day cardio and 30 mins stretches, don't get in cars or other transport, don't live in areas where they're exposed to pollutants...

Virtually all ill health is "self inflicted"

Deathgrip · 03/04/2020 19:10

true colours coming out aren’t they? Iirc you and I were both pretty vocal on the nastiness of the tories on election threads and had Tory supporters denying and minimising so much of what we said - chickens coming home to roost just a few months later!

Indeed we were. And I would hope that having to actually experience the dreadfulness that is the benefits system and its inherent unfairness (and no, I’m not talking about well off people being unable to claim - I’m talking actual unfairness, like having to cut your working hours to four a week because you’re caring full time for a disabled child but still unable to claim the paltry carers allowance because you earn too much money!) would be a life changing, eye opening experience. But as we’ve seen from this thread, it’s just making people more entrenched in their right wing views.

Deathgrip · 03/04/2020 19:15

Yes, if they haven’t saved and could of

Just to be sure I have you right Hester you’re saying as a society they should be allowed to starve to death and die from exposure because they’ve not been frugal enough? Really?

And what about people who haven’t saved from their decent salary because they’ve been paying for a parent to live in a care home? Or funding therapy for their disabled child because the nhs won’t provide it? Or because they have parents who live on the other side of the world and want to see them every year? Or the house they bought was a money pit?

Please give us your list of criteria for who should be helped and who should be allowed to starve and be homeless? Please ensure it’s clearer and fairer than the current system wherein they only give money to people who actually need it?

(And actually I’d argue that people with £15k or £12k or £10k in the bank don’t actually need it)

PomBearsyummy · 03/04/2020 19:32

Whats everybody keep saying "true colours" for? Is it some default saying that you think has special meaning in the present context?

I doubt people with lots of savings have ever hidden the fact they would like to keep them in tact if they possibly can.

Graphista · 03/04/2020 19:35

It's utterly heartbreaking to see that rather than acknowledging and admitting the benefits system is pretty shit for EVERYONE and needs to be changed ASAP they are merely wanting rules that will negatively affect them and their THOUSANDS in savings suspended temporarily.

Happy for all those on benefits outside the pandemic issues to continue being treated as worthless, inhuman and disposable

As long as they don't have to actually see the effects of that! The bodies, illness and despair that causes.

Those of us already on benefits when all this started are also being impacted financially but have been completely ignored in all the financial remedies the govt has put in place.

Xenia · 03/04/2020 19:36

We need to equalise the £16k thing though - so £16k in your house (equity), £16k of jewellery, £16k car etc all should count.

Graphista · 03/04/2020 19:38

@PomBearsyummy many of them until now were more subtle about their disdain for us ordinary benefits claimants. They claimed ignorance of how bad the system was or even outright disbelieved us.

Now that they are having to deal with the brutal reality themselves they COULD have been decent compassionate human beings and said

"I'm so sorry I genuinely had no idea it was this bad. I will contact my Mp and demand that things improve and from now on I won't be such a dick!"

But no it's

"Waaah it's so unfair I'm BETTER THAN YOU and they're treating me THE SAME AS YOU"

It's fucking disgusting!

ivykaty44 · 03/04/2020 19:41

It comes as quite a shock to many how little the benefits system actually provides when you’re unemployed, still expected to pay council tax, gas, leccy & food
. It’s not the sunshine holiday with wide screen tv that’s been sold to them by the gutter press

TheArchSorcererofContwaraburg · 03/04/2020 19:48

Applauds Graphista!

Peapod29 · 03/04/2020 19:52

I don’t understand why posters who want the saving limit increased are being accused of being ‘snobby tories’ and ‘never caring about benefits before’. They are far far more likely to be labour voters surely? Can we just remember which constituencies handed the tories their victory in the last GE. The reason I joined MN 4 or 5 years ago was specifically to warn people about the 16k savings limit and child tax credits, as my area was the 1st where UC was rolled out. I didn’t post in AIBU but of course I still got my arse handed to me for daring to suggest that it was unfair that someone saving for a house who had had a reduction in wages couldn’t claim UC whilst down the road a homeowner with any amount of savings and a decent salary could carry on receiving their CTC unchanged. MN never changes.

Devlesko · 03/04/2020 19:54

So somebody who has been frugal and saved money instead of spending it on material things, shouldn't be given help? When there are those who spend everything they have on luxury items who will be bailed out.

Devlesko · 03/04/2020 19:57

Oh, I don't have 16k savings btw Grin and I'm on tax credits.
It just seems unfair to those who have saved.

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