Not eligable for benefits

chequebook_lil

I was made redundant 1 month ago due to the company going bankrupt. I applied for jobseekers allowance, went to sign on, kept checking my bank account - no money. I am single (divorced) renting a room as I can't afford to have my own house yet. I have savings over 16,000 which is the payout from my divorce which I am hoping to use as a deposit for a house eventually! I was informed today that I am not eligable for benefits. Do I have to spend all my savings before I get any help? I am 51 which doesn't help when applying for a job and a mortgage, especially these days, but I'm having to use my savings to live and what happens when they are gone???? Cardboard box or park bench???

welshmaiden

you are only allowed a certain level of savings. i dont know what the current figures are as i havent looked into it for a long time. but it used to be that you could have 3000 in bank before it affected your benefits. then they would deduct 1 pound a week from your benefits for every hundred pounds in bank over three thousand. when you have over six thousand then you are not entitled to any benefit at all.
these figures have probably changed now and im not sure if the allowance is any higher now as it was a few years ago that i read these figures. but i think they are still much the same.
maybe someone on here would know more about that than me. from now on keep reciepts for everything you buy. as you may have to prove what your money has been spent on as it becomes lower.
the weay the benefits system see it is that you have a nest egg to live on and they do have a cut off point as to the amount of saveings you have in bank.
you will be entitled to benefits eventually but not before your savings have dropped below a certain level.

savemoney

You'll get less if you have savings over £6,000. If you have savings over £16,000 you probably won't qualify.
If your partner or civil partner works 24 hours or more a week on average, you can't usually get income-based JSA (contribution-based JSA isn't affected). If they work less than 24 hours, it may affect how much you get.


http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Employedorlookingforwork/DG_10018757

welshmaiden

i have just looked into the current figures and have put them down for you. sorry i got initial figures wrong but was going by previous memory.

have £16000,or over you can not claim JSA.

if your savings are over £6,000 - then they will deduct £1 for every £250 you have as an assumed income and deduct it from your benefit

For example if you had 10,000 that would equal
10,000 - 6,000 = 4000/250 = 18 off your benefit payment

foxxymynx

chequebook_lil wrote: »

I was made redundant 1 month ago due to the company going bankrupt. I applied for jobseekers allowance, went to sign on, kept checking my bank account - no money. I am single (divorced) renting a room as I can't afford to have my own house yet. I have savings over 16,000 which is the payout from my divorce which I am hoping to use as a deposit for a house eventually! I was informed today that I am not eligable for benefits. Do I have to spend all my savings before I get any help? I am 51 which doesn't help when applying for a job and a mortgage, especially these days, but I'm having to use my savings to live and what happens when they are gone???? Cardboard box or park bench???

almost... if you have over 16,000 you're not entitled to any benefits, other than DLA. For JSA or IS you must have less than £6000.

ceridwen

welshmaiden wrote: »

i have just looked into the current figures and have put them down for you. sorry i got initial figures wrong but was going by previous memory.

have £16000,or over you can not claim JSA.

if your savings are over £6,000 - then they will deduct £1 for every £250 you have as an assumed income and deduct it from your benefit

For example if you had 10,000 that would equal
10,000 - 6,000 = 4000/250 = 18 off your benefit payment

Is it possible to have the link for the webpage you found this on please...I am wanting to put some money aside for savings and have been wondering whats the most I can have to one side - without it being at risk of being grabbed if I ever became unemployed? (I thought it was still the same £3,000 level it has been for literally decades).

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Re the savings being for the purpose of a house deposit - I've an idea that savings are exempt from being "grabbed" by the D.W.P. for a certain length of time if they are for the specific purpose of buying a house? - ie savings as just pure spare money set to one side they will grab - but savings for the purpose of buying a house are left alone. I may be wrong on that - but its worth checking.

daveboy

You have £16k in savings yet you still want to take the taxpayer for a ride too?

Well done DWP - I don't want to pay to support someone who has enough to look after themselves.

ceridwen

Daveboy - I dont think you saw the bit that says these savings are meant for a house deposit and O.P. only lives in a rented room at present. Nor the mention that they are 51. They dont have long in which to get that house deposit together - and certainly shouldnt lose any of it by being made to use it to live on....its a house deposit (not savings per se).

So - I suggest you reread the first post and then "put yourself in their shoes". That situation could happen to many of us.....

uktyler

ceridwen wrote: »

Daveboy - I dont think you saw the bit that says these savings are meant for a house deposit and O.P. only lives in a rented room at present. Nor the mention that they are 51. They dont have long in which to get that house deposit together - and certainly shouldnt lose any of it by being made to use it to live on....its a house deposit (not savings per se).

So - I suggest you reread the first post and then "put yourself in their shoes". That situation could happen to many of us.....

Just because it is being saved towards a house deposit does not mean the DWP don't have to take it into account. If this was the case everyone with savings would say the same thing, and the taxpayer would take the hit.

There are a lot of people out there who spend their entire lives in rented accomodation, what makes the OP think we should help pay their house purchase?

milliemonster

daveboy wrote: »

You have £16k in savings yet you still want to take the taxpayer for a ride too?

Well done DWP - I don't want to pay to support someone who has enough to look after themselves.

So you think then that because someone has been prudent and saved their money throughout their lives and PAID THEIR TAXES that when they fall on hard times they should have to use their savings? sorry but that is why our benefit system is a shambles!, what is the point in any of us saving money then? we may aswell spend every penny we earn (and more as I have done I admit!) and if we fall on hard times the government will help us out

there is no incentive to save at all

sorry but I completely disagree with you, our benefits system rewards those who aren't careful with their money, my parents never had holidays, never went out much and saved money for a nest egg for their retirement only to discover when my dad lost his job they had to use their savings cos they couldn't get a PENNY, now they are retired, all they have is the state pension and are scraping by, if they had never saved their money they could have had a great life before my dad lost his job and then live off benefits!

ceridwen

MillieMonster - totally agree.

The last thing we would want is wealthy people receiving benefits - BUT the benefit system shouldnt discriminate against those who have been careful stewards of their very ordinary level income.

I'm on a poor salary myself - always ever have been (darn it!) - but have managed (by dint of lots of planning and some extra work) to buy a house and pay off the mortgage on it and am now planning on getting a bit of savings behind me next (as I can see that benefit money is clearly not enough to even literally keep body and soul together - so I would need to subsidise it from my own savings in order not to literally go cold or hungry).

The fact is that - because I have been prudent and careful with my money - as it is the DWP wouldnt have to give me any money towards rent or mortgage interest - so they would already be saving themselves quite a bit of benefit money they would have had to pay me if I had stayed in rented accommodation and "blown" every spare penny.

I will be ensuring that my savings never go over the allowed "limit" in order not to lose any benefit due if I ever became unemployed - but, having said that, I dont intend to be unemployed ever if I can help it. Also - I am now middle-aged and aware that many peoples health starts "breaking down" come middle age onwards...and therefore the main reason why I want to have some savings is because I might need them in order to pay health care bills (not for my OWN reasons personally - just because the NHS doesnt provide the standard of healthcare I expect).

Also - because I have been prudent and therefore bought a house - then I am the one who has to find the money any time my home needs any maintenance work on it - I have certainly found from experience (more than once) that the house can suddenly urgently need a noticeable amount of money for maintenance. If I was in rented accommodation I would just turn to the landlord and say "Your problem..please deal with it" and it wouldnt cost me a penny. As a homeowner - I need a decent amount of savings to one side in case theres a house maintenance bill to pay.