Are childrens savings considered your capital for entitlement to universal credit

redflwr

hi

I have 4 kids for who I put money into savings accounts for over a period of 15 - 18yrs.
The individual accounts are held under my name and the child, until they are 16,when the child can hold the account in their sole name.
Savings deposited in each account are now 5K+
and this money is intended for each child for their future

Will these savings be counted as my capital and affect my claim for universal credit to replace working tax credit and child credit

Also I have money in saving account to pay lump sum into mortgage shortly , but will this be counted as capital

Feel as though I am going to lose out because I saved money for my kids, wish I had spent it on them now:(

please help

Housing_Benefit_Officer

If you have more than £16,000, irrespective of what you are going to spend it on in the future, you will be disqualified from UC.

Whose name is on the accounts for your children? Have you spent any of the money on anything yourself?

redflwr

The accounts are in the childrens name with myself (Mother)
I have been saving this money for kids and not spending it

Are there any CAB representatives online on money saving expert or can I get advice from Martin Lewis regarding this

epitome

Sounds to me like it will all be taken into account.

The lump sum intended for mortgage is still counted as savings whilst you still have it. If you did pay it into mortgage DWP may ask you where it went and then they will have to decide if you paid it into the mortgage in order to qualify for means tested benefits.

Just declare it all including the childrens accounts and then at least you won't be accused of fraud. Leave it to the DWP to decide.

Are you claiming JSA Conts?

nannytone_2

as far as i am aware, if you have access to these savings, then they can be treated as if they are yours.
the simple thing to do would be to get another responsuble adult to take the accounts over and remove your name from them.

lakes17

As far as tour children's savings are concerned it will be down to the DWP to make a decision as to whether or not you had deliberately transferred the money in the hopes of it not counting as the £16,000 savings cap.

zagfles

Note that there are transitional rules when tax credits are replaced by UC which will protect people with capital - though there's no real details as to how they will work.

I don't think paying the mortgage off will be a problem - as I remember the UC regulations state that paying off a debt is not deprivation. I started a thread on this a couple of years ago - though haven't checked if things have changed since then:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4264823

lakes17

nannytone wrote: »

as far as i am aware, if you have access to these savings, then they can be treated as if they are yours.
the simple thing to do would be to get another responsuble adult to take the accounts over and remove your name from them.

And in doing that if the DWP found out it would be treated as depravation of capital!

redflwr

I think I will change the older childs account into their sole name taking mine of .

Cant do it for the others as they are not 16 yet

Has universal credit started in Scotland yet?

pmlindyloo

redflwr wrote: »

I think I will change the older childs account into their sole name taking mine of .

Cant do it for the others as they are not 16 yet

Has universal credit started in Scotland yet?

You may want to have a look at various savings accounts that can be put into the children's names.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/childrens-savings-options

redflwr

I looked at the above link for savings accounts for children

Juniors ISA seems ok in theory

Move the money into the childs junior ISA so that the money can be saved for the child to use when they are 18

But will Universal Credit criteria see it that way?

This is what the purpose of saving for the children was anyway , so its not as if I am lying about the intention of use for the capital

what does anyone think?

appreciate advise