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Money matters

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Flip

Original poster

On WTC? Check out "help to save"

10 replies

Hamiltoes · 23/04/2018 06:21

Not noticed a thread about it yet but I just discovered "help to save" and thought I'd share.

If you're entitled to working tax credit (I think anyone claiming for childcare gets the WTC element of CTC) then you should also be eligible for a "Help to Save" account.

You put away £50 a month (or £10 or £20) and after 2 years the government will pay a bonus of £600. After 4 years provided you continue to pay the maximum £50 a month you receive another £600 bonus. The bonuses are 50% of your highest balance over that time so even if it's £10 a month it's well worth doing.

You can apply by going into your gateway account where you would usually update your tax credits claim.

OP posts:

TryingToForgeAnewLife · 23/04/2018 06:29

I saw that but I'm a bit bothered and want to know what the catch is ...

Interest of over £300 has to be declared as income.... so when the bonus arrives that would have to be declared surely? Which woukd then reduce your TC payments.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 23/04/2018 06:31

Interest over £300 isn’t the same as savings over £300.

TryingToForgeAnewLife · 23/04/2018 06:46

But the bonus would surely count as income still

TryingToForgeAnewLife · 23/04/2018 06:49

I don't trust them not to try and claim something back

Helpmeplan · 23/04/2018 06:54

To get £300 interest in a year at rates of around 1% you'd be looking at consistantly having £30,000 in savings.

Babyroobs · 23/04/2018 07:52

This doesn't make sense - why would the government be looking to give away more free money ?

OurMiracle1106 · 23/04/2018 07:57

I have wondered if this is the governments way of finding out how many people can afford to save a regular amount each month and use it as an argument for reducing benefits.

TryingToForgeAnewLife · 23/04/2018 08:09

Exactly. I don't trust anything that involves them giving "free" money

morespaceneeded · 23/04/2018 08:27

You are nuts If you think this is a way of them working out if you have spare income to save. It's free money that you get by being careful. It's an incentive to be careful. All of us are in the position that we will get less from the state if we are careful but that is no reason not to do it - the opposite actually.

Original poster

Hamiltoes · 23/04/2018 11:55

My thoughts are it's similar to Help to Buy or the new LISA just with a better bonus.. they have said they want to be the government to "help hard working families" so perhaps this is their let them eat cake moment? Either way I thought I'd share as it's probably the best option for anyone looking to save who is on WTC. And it does say on the gov website it's paid tax free.

OP posts:

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