How much can I have in savings while on benefits?

jak

I receive full child tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income related esa. How much can I have in savings before it effects my benefits? Has the budget changed the amount? And am I correct in thinking it's up to £6000 For myself and £3000 for my little boy? Thanks, J x

HappyMJ

jak wrote: »

I receive full child tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income related esa. How much can I have in savings before it effects my benefits? Has the budget changed the amount? And am I correct in thinking it's up to £6000 For myself and £3000 for my little boy? Thanks, J x

£6,000 before it affects benefits and £16,000 before you lose the lot.

You should know this already as you filled out an application and would have had to declare any investments you hold.

Your little boy can have as much as he wants. You can't give him more than £3,000 and claim it's not yours. He can be given more by other relatives. You could also give him any income you have and that also doesn't affect any money he has to declare to the council.

I know he's only a child but he's not on your claim. You only know what you've given him and technically he doesn't have to tell you how much money he has. No one can ask you how much he has they have to ask him directly and they never ask children.

It's nice to know how much your child has but how much he has and how much he earns is technically private information and he can keep that information to himself. Just imagine for a minute he's 18 years of age you have no right to ask him for every payslip he gets from his evening and weekend work. He could have tens of thousands saved up it doesn't affect your benefits as long as you personally didn't give it to him.

Casual_Bystander

Wouldn't lose the lot at £16k, CTC is not affected by savings, only income, so the savings themselves will not affect CTC, but you need to count any interest received as income for CTC purposes

Cas

fed_up_and_stressed

HappyMJ wrote: »

£6,000 before it affects benefits and £16,000 before you lose the lot.

You should know this already as you filled out an application and would have had to declare any investments you hold.

Your little boy can have as much as he wants. You can't give him more than £3,000 and claim it's not yours. He can be given more by other relatives. You could also give him any income you have and that also doesn't affect any money he has to declare to the council.

I know he's only a child but he's not on your claim. You only know what you've given him and technically he doesn't have to tell you how much money he has. No one can ask you how much he has they have to ask him directly and they never ask children.

It's nice to know how much your child has but how much he has and how much he earns is technically private information and he can keep that information to himself. Just imagine for a minute he's 18 years of age you have no right to ask him for every payslip he gets from his evening and weekend work. He could have tens of thousands saved up it doesn't affect your benefits as long as you personally didn't give it to him.

I take it you have not heard of non dependant deductions for Housing Benefit then HappyMJ as working adult childrens wages are taken into account.

tomtontom

jak wrote: »

Hiya I'm finally in a position to start saving up for a house deposit! Yay! I did see a thread where people were supporting each other but cant find it! I'm planning to save £500 pcm and I need at least £18500! So far I've got £750 in an isa and £750 in my instant savings for my rental house move coming up in Sept.
I'm also learning to drive and need to save up for a car, so my plan is to put £500 towards the house deposit pcm then anything else can go to the instant savings to cover car/move etc. Can anyone point me towards the savings thread? Or want to join me in this one? J x

*sitting on hands*

jak

Re: the house deposit savings I'm going back to work soon so no hand sitting is needed, promise! I just needed to make sure of where I stand currently is all. As for my little boy, he's 7 so I want him to be in a good position when he's older and his grandparents are saving for him, his money is his own and nothing to do with me at all. I just didn't want to get into trouble as his savings are getting up there.

jak

I've only just been in a position to save anything and wanted to verify the amount I could save. Thanks for the replies x

HappyMJ

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

I take it you have not heard of non dependant deductions for Housing Benefit then HappyMJ as working adult childrens wages are taken into account.

Not whilst they are in full time education. An 18 year old could still be in full time education. I did mention evening and weekend work assuming they were still in school.

Edit: it still doesn't affect the housing benefit of the claimant if they've saved a huge sum.

jak

Also my little boys account is in his name and his grandparents do a standing order every month fron their account so as there is a paper trail that proves I don't contribute, I'm assuming they can continue to do that over the £3000 mark? I'd hate for him to lose out because I've had to be on benefits for a bit! Thanks J x

jak

Casual_Bystander wrote: »

Wouldn't lose the lot at £16k, CTC is not affected by savings, only income, so the savings themselves will not affect CTC, but you need to count any interest received as income for CTC purposes

Cas

Fab. So when I'm back at work it won't matter anyway as long as I declare any interest on my savings x

HappyMJ

jak wrote: »

Also my little boys account is in his name and his grandparents do a standing order every month fron their account so as there is a paper trail that proves I don't contribute, I'm assuming they can continue to do that over the £3000 mark? I'd hate for him to lose out because I've had to be on benefits for a bit! Thanks J x

Yes it's only your money under your control that counts.

Does your son have a bank account of his own?

If not, I'd get him to set one up. Children can have one in their own name from quite a young age. I'd then send the £3,000 you've saved up in a trustee account for him straight to that account. The money will no longer be under your control though so you can't dictate how it's kept or spent.