How much savings are you allowed when applying for JSA?

qwertyuiop12345

KimYeovil wrote: »

A crook who doesn't want to pay taxes but wants to claim benefits. Typical.

To be fair, it is his parents who are the tax evaders. He is actually the victim in that part; why on earth do people let others take advantage of them for tax purposes? It isn't the first time someone has posted on this board that they are in a difficult situation due to their parents greed.

ManicMum

KimYeovil wrote: »

A crook who doesn't want to pay taxes but wants to claim benefits. Typical.

Why are you calling this guy a crook? Why are people so vitriolic on here? The money is in his name so legally, that is not an offence.

To call someone a crook is a bit harsh.

KimYeovil

ManicMum wrote: »

To call someone a crook is a bit harsh.

'Crook' or 'bully'. Which is the greater hyperbole? There's only one way to find out...

(as Mr Hill would say)

viktory

ManicMum wrote: »

Viktory, you disgust me with your attitude

Oh damn! That's me unable to sleep tonight :laugh:

Owain_Moneysaver

If you are in a position to buy a house (even shared ownership) then you can use your savings as a deposit* and that will take you below the income-based JSA savings threshold. *This is allowed by JSA as you are housing yourself.

briona

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If you are in a position to buy a house (even shared ownership) then you can use your savings as a deposit* and that will take you below the income-based JSA savings threshold. *This is allowed by JSA as you are housing yourself.

I think you've misunderstood that rule. You can't just say "Oh my savings are for a house deposit; now can I live off the State?"(Bring back the sarcastic smiley please!)

AFAIK, if you have sold your house, and will be buying another with the proceeds in the next six months, your capital is disregarded for that period.

steve3742

Coming a bit late to this thread. I find, like ManicMum, that I'm also pretty disgusted by the sanctimonious rubbish posted by some of the people here also. The World View is what, precisely? That if you've saved hard for 19 years, you should lose all or most of it once you become unemployed? What are benefits for if not to support people when their luck is down? (And I'm not impressed by the argument that he was dismissed for gross misconduct either. That just means his employer wanted to get rid of him and found a way to do so.)

Back to the original question:

1) Even if you are sanctioned for up to 26 weeks (you might not get the full stretch), you can still claim hardship payments for that time bar the first two weeks . They're usually 60% of JSA, so £38 a week or so. (I wonder if all the sanctimonious moaners here could live on that for 26 weeks?) It is, however, not automatic - they need to be convinced you need the money to avoid harship and if you have £11,000 of savings, they probably won't be.
2) Other benefits - Housing Benefit (HB) to pay your rent, Council tax benefit CTB) to pay your Council Tax - can be claimed, even if the JSA sanction you. They are affected by savings in the same way as JSA. However, if you're on Income based JSA and they've reduced your income due to savings, they don't also reduce your HB and CTB. (But if you're on Contribution based JSA - unaffected by savings - and apply for HB and CTB, they WILL reduce them for your savings.)
2) You could, of course, always get rid of your savings before making these claims. A deposit on a house - actually paid for, not just planned - would do. Me, I'd buy Gold. Spend all bar £6,000 on Gold sovereigns. Gold sovereigns would, I believe, count as personal posessions and so not be counted as savings. When you get a new job, they'll almost certainly be worth far more than you paid for them. However, if they notice you've done this, they might say you've intentionally deprived yourself of capital and so treat you as if you still had it (not if you bought a house - that's allowed.)

Jomo

steve3742 wrote: »

(And I'm not impressed by the argument that he was dismissed for gross misconduct either. That just means his employer wanted to get rid of him and found a way to do so.)

Not necessarily, I don't see any evidence of this?

Benefits are there for people who need it, you don't need it if you have thousands of pounds saved up. IMO

steve3742

Jomo wrote: »

Not necessarily, I don't see any evidence of this?

Nor do you see any evidence to the contrary. Fact is, we don't know why he lost his job. Unless you assume that an accusation of gross misconduct by an employer is always justified and reliable? My experience would say no.

Jomo wrote: »

Benefits are there for people who need it, you don't need it if you have thousands of pounds saved up. IMO

Benefits are there to help people down on their luck, as I said in a previous post. I would define this help as allowing people to keep their savings intact. The alternative is to say that people who have saved for years and years should lose all of this if they become unemployed for a few months. Is that what you believe? Why?

Vader123

Only on MSE would you find someone who was sacked from his job, has 11K in savings, and still has supporters giving dodgy advice on loop holes and fraud!

Is Steve the OP back in another guise?!

Vader