Saving Gateway, 50p for every pund saved

Andy50_2

Good evening and apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place. Surfing around the net today I came across an article about a Government scheme to pay you 50p for every pound you save, up to £25 a month over 2 years starting in 2010. Basically it seems to be for people on benefits or a low income, the full details are on the direct.gov.uk website in the money, tax and benefits section.
Seems too good to be true, though if you're on benefits saving 25 pounds a month is a bit optimistic.

Baz_2

Andy50 wrote: »

Good evening and apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place. Surfing around the net today I came across an article about a Government scheme to pay you 50p for every pound you save, up to £25 a month over 2 years starting in 2010. Basically it seems to be for people on benefits or a low income, the full details are on the direct.gov.uk website in the money, tax and benefits section.
Seems too good to be true, though if you're on benefits saving 25 pounds a month is a bit optimistic.

I took part in the pilot for this they did in East Yorkshire a few years back.

They gave us £50 for opening the account and then £1 for every £2 we saved. You could save up to £25 per month and had to save 16 months out of 18 to get the bonus paid.

So in the end we paid in £400 and received a bonus of £250 over 18 months.

The terms in the trial were that you had to have an annual household income of less than £50k. The account then turned into a Halifax account at the end of the 18 months.

Sounds like the terms have changed slightly now it has been announced, which they did in the pre budget report back in November.

G_M

You have to be in receipt of certain benefits to qualify. Details here. (wasn't easy to find.....)

cocktail

mervyn king says no!

Energize

Seems bizarre to me, if you are on these benefits you don't have spare money to save, if you do you shouldn't be on them in the first place! Why not just give people on these benefits more money?

Mikeyorks

That is logical ......... a commodity this Govt no longer works in!

elaina79

So £25 for 2 years is £600. The the government will pay in £300, giving you £900. I am assuming that this is per person not per family. This is definately something I will be using when the time comes.

JoeCrystal

So... by paying in £25 every month for two years would create £600 overall and you get £300 from Government. :rolleyes:

I do not know why but does that sound bit silly? I mean, what is the whole point?

Milarky

JoeCrystal wrote: »

So... by paying in £25 every month for two years would create £600 overall and you get £300 from Government. :rolleyes:

I do not know why but does that sound bit silly? I mean, what is the whole point?

It's all in the title - their gving aways 'punds' - a combination of a bung and a Pound. Or you can consider it a loyalty reward for being in a Labour-voting demographic. What makes this slightly interesting is the timing - how did the government know all the way bakc in 2001 when they announced the idea of the savings gateway that they would introduce it in the midst of a recession taking place in 2010. Quite impressive country-cyclical planning, eh?

Baldur

G_M wrote: »

You have to be in receipt of certain benefits to qualify. Details here. (wasn't easy to find.....)

Already discussed at some length in November 2008, in this thread....

Cook_County

Excellent news, so someone on £60,000 say a year could drop £40,000 (net) into a pension plan so that tax credits can be claimed & qualify for the savings gateway...