Confused about allowed savings limit

Jayleen

My Son has just recently become unemployed and is receiving Contribution Based JSA. I am in receipt of Contribution Based ESA in the support group & also enhanced PIP for Mobility .
As we were paying full rent before I am having to make a new appliction for Housing Benefit but confused as to weather we are allowed £6000 or £16,000 in savings .
At present I have just over £6,000 in my account which doesn't pay interest .
I am also 62 and so under the present pension age .
Also having to state a change in circumstances for Council Tax .
Is there a difference in the amount of savings you can have for Contribution Based benefits ?
Will it be £6,000 or £16,000 limit ?
I am also confused about Universal Credit as I have been told previously that I wouldn't be going on to that but at the time my Son was working . Will my HB be classed as Universal Credit ?

Any help in clarifying appreciated , thanks .

glosoli

Jayleen wrote: »

My Son has just recently become unemployed and is receiving Contribution Based JSA. I am in receipt of Contribution Based ESA in the support group & also enhanced PIP for Mobility .
As we were paying full rent before I am having to make a new appliction for Housing Benefit but confused as to weather we are allowed £6000 or £16,000 in savings .
At present I have just over £6,000 in my account which doesn't pay interest .
I am also 62 and so under the present pension age .
Also having to state a change in circumstances for Council Tax .
Is there a difference in the amount of savings you can have for Contribution Based benefits ?
Will it be £6,000 or £16,000 limit ?
I am also confused about Universal Credit as I have been told previously that I wouldn't be going on to that but at the time my Son was working . Will my HB be classed as Universal Credit ?

Any help in clarifying appreciated , thanks .

If above £6,000, then income from your savings will be taken into consideration, and the benefits will be reduced accordingly (it doesn't matter if you are actually receiving an income from this or not, the DWP calculation is something like 20% interest).

If you have above £16,000 savings, then you may not quality at all.

Ames

glosoli wrote: »

If above £6,000, then income from your savings will be taken into consideration, and the benefits will be reduced accordingly (it doesn't matter if you are actually receiving an income from this or not, the DWP calculation is something like 20% interest).

If you have above £16,000 savings, then you may not quality at all.

I'm afraid that's wrong.

For savings above £6000 £1 will be deducted from means tested benefits for every £250 or part of above the 6k. For savings above £16000 means tested benefits stop completely.

So if someone has £6300, for example, £2 would be deducted each week.

Jayleen

Thanks for your replies . The confusion is that we aren't on " means tested " benefits which I believe relate to Income Based benefits . We are both on Contributary Based .

anmarj

Jayleen wrote: »

Thanks for your replies . The confusion is that we aren't on " means tested " benefits which I believe relate to Income Based benefits . We are both on Contributary Based .

Your ESA is not effected but Housing benefit is means tested so tariff income will apply as per Ames post

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Each Local Authority runs its own Council Tax Support system meaning every Council's rules are different. Some stop all Council Tax Support if you have savings over £6,000.

Xbigman

Surely if your savings are just above 6000 the most direct route to sorting this out is to spend a few hundred on something mundane and get below any possible limit.




Darren

NYM

Would you believe it, some people would rather retain their integrity than try to 'screw' the State for every penny they can.

Jayleen

Thanks again for your replies .
Believe it or not I have just got my rent sorted out after 2 months and I was right to be confused because it turns out that I can have up to £9,250 in savings before anything is deducted . It's all to do with the ' Applicable Amount ' that is shown on the rent bill .
For example I receive £112.05 per week ESA(CB) (DLA or PIP are still disreguarded ) but the Applicable Amount that I can receive is £125.05, therefore even a tariff of £13 per week added still only adds up to £125.05 and makes no difference .
Hope this helps anyone else out that is confused about the difference between CB & IR .

theartfullodger

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Each Local Authority runs its own Council Tax Support system meaning every Council's rules are different. ...

Surely... "there are many different sets of rules...".

I doubt every council has a different set: Bet at least 2 councils have the same rules: (£5 to an agreed housing charity if I'm wrong...)

nannytone_2

Jayleen wrote: »

Thanks again for your replies .
Believe it or not I have just got my rent sorted out after 2 months and I was right to be confused because it turns out that I can have up to £9,250 in savings before anything is deducted . It's all to do with the ' Applicable Amount ' that is shown on the rent bill .
For example I receive £112.05 per week ESA(CB) (DLA or PIP are still disreguarded ) but the Applicable Amount that I can receive is £125.05, therefore even a tariff of £13 per week added still only adds up to £125.05 and makes no difference .
Hope this helps anyone else out that is confused about the difference between CB & IR .

that doesn't make sense.

the applicable amount isn't a 'cash' amount. it is just the amount of income a household is alloweed before they start deducting housing benefit.

they can't use it to offset any deductions made due to excess capital.

obviously the highest amount of HB you can get is the full amount of your rent.
if your 'applicable amount' is higher, they cannot use it to compensate for the money lost due to capital.