Does gold jewellery count as property/money for Universal Credit purposes? What about gold sovereigns and bars?

[WalesBitesDog]

Would the value of them count towards the savings limit?

No, but ditch any smart ideas you might be forming about converting all your capital to gold. If you're found to have spent capital in order to have entitlement to benefits, your benefit entitlement will be calculated as of you still had that capital

I wasn't thinking that! More that on hitting hard times eg redundancy, one would be able to claim universal credit even if one had a couple of already existing chains/bars. Is that the case?

Why not sell the gold so you have money to see you through redundancy whilst looking for a new job?

That's a different question

If they are existing, then no.

You can own innumerable amounts of valuable belongings (other than property) and still claim UC. However if you acquire a lot of money, spend it and then try to claim you'll be turned down if they find evidence of what you've done.

Thanks, I thought it wouldn't count as savings but I wasn't sure.

Makes sense I guess as it's not like cash - the value changes every day.

Plus, you can own a £3/5/4/500k house and claim universal credit no problem, as long as you live in it.

Sovereigns are counted as cash, hence VAT free.

Also, if you own a few, check how much "cash" your home insurance says you are covered for in case you burgled.

All gold bullion is vat free, not just sovereigns though. Sovereigns are also CGT exempt which is different from other gold.