Housing Benefits Investigation

SnooksNJ

pol-zeath wrote: »

Agreed this mob mentality makes me very uncomfortable. It's cruel and shows a very nasty side to MSE forum.

It's cruel to expect people to work crazy long hours to support someone who fraudulently claimed benefits.

gayleygoo

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I am sure you have just made an error but so that people do not interpret your post as written, you do not have to inform HMRC about savings for over £6K. HMRC are for tax credits.

It is the DWP and the council that require notification of savings over £6K - ie. income based benefits (JSA, ESA, IS, HB and CT reduction. )

My apologies. I misread and thought the thread was about tax credits, not housing benefit. So, there is no limit to savings if you are just claiming tax credits?

gayleygoo

BlueX wrote: »

It is benefits for the children so that they do not lose out because of their parents low income, but is given to the parents. Some parents do use it just for their children, while other parents spend it on themselves too.

Sorry, I worded my post badly. Of course it's to support the family

Indie_Kid

gayleygoo wrote: »

My apologies. I misread and thought the thread was about tax credits, not housing benefit. So, there is no limit to savings if you are just claiming tax credits?

It's currently the taxable interest, rather than savings for tax credits.

FBaby

Many families might struggle on what we have, but we live in a poorer (crappier) area of the UK, our rent and rates is £400 a month for a 3 bed semi, we don't pay council tax/water rates, run one old car, don't have any TV packages, fancy electronics (besides a very old laptop), no debts, no childcare expenses, I cook everything from scratch, we didn't have a holiday this year, can't remember the last time I bought myself anything new etc. I could go on, but it'd be pointless as it's different for everyone. If someone suggested I hand "excess" money back to the government because I'm too frugal, that would just encourage me to spend irresponsibly. Savings should be encouraged, but I agree there should be a limit as to how much one can have stashed away while still receiving benefits.

Yet many posters have been going on about they will not manage because they have already cut down on all the luxuries in their life. I think you are being honest and those saying that they will end up in poverty are very selective about what they tell they currently spend their tax credits. I assume with the changes due to take place next year, these savings won't be as much an option, unless you make further cost savings?

Podge52

FBaby wrote: »

Yet many posters have been going on about they will not manage because they have already cut down on all the luxuries in their life. I think you are being honest and those saying that they will end up in poverty are very selective about what they tell they currently spend their tax credits. I assume with the changes due to take place next year, these savings won't be as much an option, unless you make further cost savings?

But we are on a site offering help to benefit claimants. It stands to reason that the vast majority who post will be people in need of help.

That doesn't mean that the vast majority of claimants can't weather the cuts.

LocoLoco

FBaby wrote: »

Yet many posters have been going on about they will not manage because they have already cut down on all the luxuries in their life. I think you are being honest and those saying that they will end up in poverty are very selective about what they tell they currently spend their tax credits. I assume with the changes due to take place next year, these savings won't be as much an option, unless you make further cost savings?

It also needs to be kept in mind that everyone's situation is different; some people will be paying towards their rent, others will have all of their rent covered by housing benefit, the same applies to council tax, some people are paying off debts, some aren't, some will be spending a lot on essential travel, some won't and so on. Everyone's situation is different and I'm sure a lot of people who are managing at the moment won't be when their money drops next year. We are in a reasonably protected position at the moment because all of our benefit income is related to my son's disability and he's a child so we haven't been hammered yet, but that may well change when he turns 16 (2 and a half years away) so we are making plans now to move to a cheaper area with better public transport links, just in case. I can go for quite long periods of being able to save a reasonable amount of money (I keep my son's DLA separate to the other money I receive so we have individual savings accounts) so at times my savings account looks quite healthy; once the car tax, MOT, service and insurance has been paid there isn't a lot left and an additional repair bill can wipe it out (and it's an old car that's been kept going with lots of TLC and a really good local garage who will find second hard parts for me and do the work for a good rate). Equally my son can build up a reasonable amount but a lot of the medical care he needs isn't available on the NHS for as long as he needs it (physiotherapy, for example) so I pay for that out of his DLA so the amount saved can quite quickly go down if his health dips and he goes through a period of needing quite a lot of input that isn't state funded. So I don't think it's necessarily as simple as people being selective about what they currently spend tax credits on, I think everyone's situation is different and, as the other poster has said, we're only able to save at all by living frugally (our lifestyle is very similar to theirs) and those savings take a long time to build up and go again very quickly. We've had long periods where we couldn't save at all and couldn't afford to run a car etc so it's changed over time and a drop in income would see us back to no vehicle and no savings. I find having a bit put by, even if it's only a couple of hundred quid, makes me feel a lot more secure. Really if you're in a private rental you need a lot put aside in case you're given notice to quit but we've never been able to have that much put by and that's quite scary as it means becoming homeless is a very real possibility (and we've been in that situation before and it's horrible!).

missbiggles1

BlueX wrote: »

It is benefits for the children so that they do not lose out because of their parents low income, but is given to the parents. Some parents do use it just for their children, while other parents spend it on themselves too.

It's benefits given to the parents to help them feed,educate and entertain their children - not to make them go without so that the parents can save the money, even if the intention is ultimately use it for the children's benefit.

FBaby

LocoLoco, I totally agree that it is totally reasonable to have an emergency fund as part of anyone's budget, on benefits or not.

My comment is in direct relation to recent posts which made it sound that the cuts would mean that most families would struggle to afford to feed, house and heat the family because they are already totally stretched and there are no cuts left to be made at all. Yet posts like yours are showing that if you live frugally, there are some cuts that can be made before you find yourself becoming vulnerable.

Of course everyone is different, so some families might indeed really struggle whilst others will hardly see the difference, but I don't believe that as a whole, the cuts will have the disaster effect many posters have made it sound like after they were announced, they will just have to adjust to living more frugally.

clarryd

marleyboy wrote: »

In all reality, if you can afford to put every penny of their benefits into a savings account, they will question why you think its an entitlement.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Why are you claiming benefits when you obviously don't need them?.

I am on benefits and live hand to mouth every fortnight, I do not live a lavish life either and never really have. I wish I could save £50 per week, this seems like a large portion of weekly benefits you are saving. If I were to save £50 per week I would have £50 to live on. Which in turn would have to pay gas, electric, water, food and everything else that you need for day to day living.

What is your wives secret, everyone would love to know how she budgets and saves £50 per week.