JSA and fixed term deposit savings

andreww1

Hi,

I hoped someone on the board may be able to help me.

I've been unemployed for 3 months and have now spent all of my available savings. I want to claim JSA and housing benefit as I'm now pretty much broke. However, I have £30k in savings in a fixed term deposit account that does not mature until August 2011. The bank tells me there is no way I can access this before then nor will they grant me a loan/overdraft as I have no regular income source.

I don't have enough NI contributions for contribution based JSA, so would only be eligible for income based JSA, but I'm way over the £6k savings limit.

Does it make a difference that I can't access my savings? Will I be able to claim JSA and housing benefit? And if not, any other ideas?

I'd be really grateful for any advice.

Thanks

Andy

sunnyone

andreww1 wrote: »

Hi,

I hoped someone on the board may be able to help me.

I've been unemployed for 3 months and have now spent all of my available savings. I want to claim JSA and housing benefit as I'm now pretty much broke. However, I have £30k in savings in a fixed term deposit account that does not mature until August 2011. The bank tells me there is no way I can access this before then nor will they grant me a loan/overdraft as I have no regular income source.

I don't have enough NI contributions for contribution based JSA, so would only be eligible for income based JSA, but I'm way over the £6k savings limit.

Does it make a difference that I can't access my savings? Will I be able to claim JSA and housing benefit? And if not, any other ideas?

I'd be really grateful for any advice.

Thanks

Andy

you can always get at your savings but it will cost you plenty, thats what fixed term bonds are about, you promise them to let them have your cash for a fixed term in return for a higher rate than standard products (and if youve any sense with profits) but if you cant keep to your part of the bargain they have the right to to reduce your initial ammount in charges/costs.

You can and will have to get access to your savings, no one with £30k savings can get means tested benefits and correctly so.

fluffymovie

I wouldn't agree and I work in HB.

I personally have a bond with National Savings and the contract I signed states that I cannot access money for five years. There is no break clause although mine isn't 30k!!!

You will need to provide something from the bank to show you cannot access rather than you would lose interest.

dmg24

fluffymovie wrote: »

I wouldn't agree and I work in HB.

I personally have a bond with National Savings and the contract I signed states that I cannot access money for five years. There is no break clause although mine isn't 30k!!!

You will need to provide something from the bank to show you cannot access rather than you would lose interest.

The DMG states that because the bond can be sold, it is counted as capital.

fluffymovie

The DMG? Decision maker something?

I have checked my paperwork and I have an ns and I guaranteed equity bond which clearly states in the t & c "once you have invested and the offer period has closed you cannot gain access to your investment"

I have also seen a case where capital had been used from a fixed term investment for HB. The LA lost that appeal at tribunal.
DMG, have you any legislation you could share?

real1314

DMG = Decision Maker's Guide - used mainly for DWP related benefits, however as we know HB is actually a DWP benefit administered by Local Authorities.

The questions relevant to capital are mainly:-

1. Is the claimant the beneficial owner.
2. What is the value of the capital (/investment).

A fixed bond would be owned so 1. would pass, it could be sold, so 2. could be established.

Did the LA take any action to appeal the tribunal decision they lost? Were the circumstances were extremely uncommon? It's a rare thing for capital to be held in a state that prevents any valuation being available.

fluffymovie

Thanks Real. We didn't take the appeal further as bond certificate did show it wasn't accessible and we didn't look into any further.

As I have a bOnd personally, how would I sell it and who to? How would we establish a Market value for this?

Sorry OP, just interested now!!

enabledebra

You will usually be able to close the account to access the savings, albeit incurring a loss of interest. If this isn't possible as DMG24 says a saleable value will be attributed to the asset and used as the capital figure.

andreww1

OP here. First of all thanks to everyone who replied to my initial question. I do appreciate the advice.

One thing to clear up is that the £30k I have is not a bond or 'savings bond'. It's a fixed term deposit and, as such, there is no recognisable secondary market where it can be sold. Neither is there any option of withdrawing form it, penalty or otherwise, as I said in the original post.

Anyway, I put in a claim over the phone today, so we'll see how that turns out.