Confused about allowed savings limit

Jayleen

nannytone wrote: »

just to add, because it may be useful for you to know in the future ...

there are no premiums paid on contributions based benefit . so the fact you get the enhanced disability premium means you are receiving an income based 'top up' to your ESA.

you are in fact, receiving BOTH contributions based and income related ESA.

this means you will automatically get the highest amount of housing benefit for your circumstances.

your savings will have already been deducted from your ESA and so should have no bearing on your housing benefit.

i still don't get how they say you can have 9k in savings though

I was asked if I wanted to go on Income Related when I first started getting ESA and I said 'no'.
The only way I can explain the 9k is that the applicable amount (125.05) is what the law says I need a week to live on so any tariff up to and including £13 per week added on to my £112.05 is acceptable because I'm still within my applicable amount.

Derwent

If it's your first HB claim for over a year you may qualify to get your whole rent paid for the first 13 weeks instead of the LHA rate. You have to demonstrate a change in circumstances and that you could afford the rent previously.

nannytone_2

Jayleen wrote: »

I was asked if I wanted to go on Income Related when I first started getting ESA and I said 'no'.
The only way I can explain the 9k is that the applicable amount (125.05) is what the law says I need a week to live on so any tariff up to and including £13 per week added on to my £112.05 is acceptable because I'm still within my applicable amount.

the reason you are getting less than the applicable amount is because your ESA top up ( enhanced disability premium) is being reduced due to your savings.
otherwise the £125'05 is what you would receive in ESA.
so you are being stopped £15 a week which would mean that they believe your savings to be £9,000 and £9,250.

if you don't have that much you need to update the DWP with how much you actually have

Xbigman

nannytone wrote: »

please explain how having £6,200 in savings stops you getting £700 in council tax support.

for capital over £6,000 and under £16,000 you lose £1 per week for every 250 ( or part of,) that you are over the limit.

will be interested to learn otherwise

Council tax relief in my council area has an absolute cut off at £6000. Many other councils have the same rule.

Was that interesting?


Darren

nannytone_2

Xbigman wrote: »

Council tax relief in my council area has an absolute cut off at £6000. Many other councils have the same rule.

Was that interesting?


Darren

provide a link please.

each council determines how large or small a reduction can be independently, but the capital limits are set nationally

Jayleen

nannytone wrote: »

the reason you are getting less than the applicable amount is because your ESA top up ( enhanced disability premium) is being reduced due to your savings.
otherwise the £125'05 is what you would receive in ESA.
so you are being stopped £15 a week which would mean that they believe your savings to be £9,000 and £9,250.

if you don't have that much you need to update the DWP with how much you actually have

Yes & there it is !!! It's not because anything has been stopped , It's because I've never claimed it .

Whenever I go on these calculators online there is always a mention that I could claim extra 'premium' per week and I never have !!!


It's the same with ' Income related ' . When I got transferred from Incapacity to ESA my money was frozen at £112 per week ( The old Incapacity) and I was asked in the letter if I wanted to claim (IR) if I didn't have enough money coming in , as my Son was working I didn't think it was worth it and to me it sounded like claiming Income Support . Plus having gone through all the ESA thing I really didn't fancy going through all that again , I had just been put in the ESA Support group .


This is the first time in my life that I have ever been asked about my savings because until last year after my Son got his wage rise we have always had a rent rebate of some kind or other, in fact since he was a child. I have never ever ever been asked about any savings before .


As for PIP , I used to receive the low mobility rate of DLA and I was actually expecting to lose that , so imagine my surprise when after my interview I was awarded the Enhanced PIP .


So you see it's not that it's been reduced, as you say due to any savings , it's because I have never claimed the extra 'enhanced disability premium ' on my ESA., even when I have been offered it .


Maybe some people may think I am mad , but once all the form filling in and interview etc. were over and I was placed in the Support group , that was me done !! I didn't want to go through all that again and we were coping after all . I did not see any point in trying to claim anymore, and still don't , even though my Son is unemployed now for the first time in 13yrs since he left college , which at that time I was on Incapacity , Invalidity or whatever they called it back then .


Come to think of it the amount on the right hand side of the rent statements or the 'Applicable Amount ' as they call it now has always been higher than what I have actually received even when on Incapacity/Invalidity.

So unbeknown to me at the time, the fact that I haven't claimed the 'enhanced disability premium ' when I have been offered it, has allowed me to have more in savings . I'm not sure how this works out financially in the long term but as I have said I would rather just stay as I am for now .

Phew, glad that's sorted .:T

Jayleen

Derwent wrote: »

If it's your first HB claim for over a year you may qualify to get your whole rent paid for the first 13 weeks instead of the LHA rate. You have to demonstrate a change in circumstances and that you could afford the rent previously.

Thanks for the info but we started paying full rent last April . Not only did the minimum wage go up but our HA was forced to put the rent down so we lost our 66p a week housing benefit . :wall:

nannytone_2

Jayleen wrote: »

Yes & there it is !!! It's not because anything has been stopped , It's because I've never claimed it .

Whenever I go on these calculators online there is always a mention that I could claim extra 'premium' per week and I never have !!!


It's the same with ' Income related ' . When I got transferred from Incapacity to ESA my money was frozen at £112 per week ( The old Incapacity) and I was asked in the letter if I wanted to claim (IR) if I didn't have enough money coming in , as my Son was working I didn't think it was worth it and to me it sounded like claiming Income Support . Plus having gone through all the ESA thing I really didn't fancy going through all that again , I had just been put in the ESA Support group .


This is the first time in my life that I have ever been asked about my savings because until last year after my Son got his wage rise we have always had a rent rebate of some kind or other, in fact since he was a child. I have never ever ever been asked about any savings before .


As for PIP , I used to receive the low mobility rate of DLA and I was actually expecting to lose that , so imagine my surprise when after my interview I was awarded the Enhanced PIP .


So you see it's not that it's been reduced, as you say due to any savings , it's because I have never claimed the extra 'enhanced disability premium ' on my ESA., even when I have been offered it .


Maybe some people may think I am mad , but once all the form filling in and interview etc. were over and I was placed in the Support group , that was me done !! I didn't want to go through all that again and we were coping after all . I did not see any point in trying to claim anymore, and still don't , even though my Son is unemployed now for the first time in 13yrs since he left college , which at that time I was on Incapacity , Invalidity or whatever they called it back then .


Come to think of it the amount on the right hand side of the rent statements or the 'Applicable Amount ' as they call it now has always been higher than what I have actually received even when on Incapacity/Invalidity.

So unbeknown to me at the time, the fact that I haven't claimed the 'enhanced disability premium ' when I have been offered it, has allowed me to have more in savings . I'm not sure how this works out financially in the long term but as I have said I would rather just stay as I am for now .

Phew, glad that's sorted .:T

you said yourself that you receive the enhanced disability premium.
this is paid to those in the support group who's income falls below the level of 'what the government says you need'

this premium is an income related top up.

the basic contributions based ESA ( in the support group) is £109.30.
the extra you get is income related ESA that has been reduced due to your savings.

you really need to look at what you are and are not receiving because it can and does, impact on other entitlements.

just to add ... the only other premium available would be the severe disability premium. you wouldn't be entitled to that because you need to be in receipt of the care component of PIP

nannytone_2

Jayleen wrote: »

Actually it's not the amount a household is allowed , just me . It's made up of ......
Enhanced Disability-Single.
Single Claiment between 25 and pension.
ESA support Component.

It's also the same amount when my Son is working . I think it is similar to what the Government used to say you needed to live on .

am i imagining that ?

that is the 'enhanced disability premium'
the income related top up to your ESA claim

Jayleen

nannytone wrote: »

am i imagining that ?

that is the 'enhanced disability premium'
the income related top up to your ESA claim

This is what it states under the 'applicable amount ', the £125.05, not what I actually receive , more like what I could receive if I applied for it .


The £112.05 was frozen until the new rate of ESA caught up with mine, this was so those that had been on Incapacity and Contribution Based wouldn't have a loss, by which time I'll be a pensioner anyway ( unless they change the age again). Therefore the only top-up I receive is £2.75 and that gets less every year .


I do not receive the Enhanced Disability- Single and this is the part I haven't claimed which is stated under the Applicable Amount .


I only claim the Single claimant between 25 and pension and the ESA Support Component because I am in the Support Group, plus the £2.75 ( until it goes down again) top-up .