children savings and housing benefit

[user1483617032]

I made a new claim for housing benefit (not universal credit) i declared my sons savings, he has £2000 in an account that can be withdrawn i'm the trustee of it and i have savings of £3000. my son also has a child trust fund the government set up and i know that won't affect the claim. I read online that his accessible account can have 3k limit before it affect my claim, why 3k and what would happen if it goes over?

The idea is to stop people putting their savings under their childrens names in order to access benefits.

so if i want him to have more than 3k i should just invest it in his child trust fund even though there is a risk he could have less money than i put in?

Yes but the trust funds aren't that risky. Or you could start him a pension scheme, sounds mad but with compound interest even a small amount now could be significant in 60 years time. Or get a grandparent to open an account for him.

i was talking about the children pension scheme to a friend today, i think it's a great idea. I havnt read much into it but if anything is held in a trust until they reach a certain age it won't affect any benefits my son may need in the future will it? i would hate for him to struggle financially because me and his family saving for him.