Another Benefits Savings Limit Question (Please read)

Penguin90

This is more of an academic question since I'm not yet (and probably never will be) in this situation.

As I understand it, if one is receiving a means-tested benefit and you have savings above £6,000 then you need to inform DWP and £1 will be deducted from your benefits for every £250 over, and once you have £16,000 you stop receiving benefits altogether.

What I don't understand is the process of informing DWP and how often you would do it if you were adding to your savings every month. Imagine you have £6k saved and you inform DWP, 1 month later you have £6500, 1 month after that you have £7000 and so on - would you really need to tell DWP every couple of weeks how much you're over the limit? That sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare!

unforeseen

If you are adding £500 per month to your savings why are you on a means tested benefit?

Penguin90

unforeseen wrote: »

If you are adding £500 per month to your savings why are you on a means tested benefit?

I'm not currently. But assuming my PIP appeal is successful, which I don't think it will be, and because I live at home with my parents and I'm too sick to really do anything, it's easy to save money.

poppy12345

Penguin90 wrote: »

I'm not currently. But assuming my PIP appeal is successful, which I don't think it will be, and because I live at home with my parents and I'm too sick to really do anything, it's easy to save money.

If you're PIP is successful then any backdated money will be dis-regarded for 52 weeks for means tested benefits.

poppy12345

unforeseen wrote: »

If you are adding £500 per month to your savings why are you on a means tested benefit?

For young people living at home with parents and claim a disability benefit and means tested benefits, it's very easy to over the savings/capital limit.

Mojisola

poppy12345 wrote: »

For young people living at home with parents and claim a disability benefit and means tested benefits, it's very easy to over the savings/capital limit.

So why bother claiming the benefit if you don’t need the money?

poppy12345

Mojisola wrote: »

So why bother claiming the benefit if you don’t need the money?

Just because a young person lives at home with their parents it doesn't mean they're less entitled to the money than anyone else. Even more so for those who have a disability.

Teahfc

Mojisola wrote: »

So why bother claiming the benefit if you don’t need the money?

Because it’s a chicken and a egg situation, Benefits are what some are entitled to or to meet specific needs. So even if opening poster does not require benefits to meet specific needs they may be entitled to them.

If you worked and got paid 500 pounds per week because that was your entitled salary but you only needed 250 pounds per week to live would you bother taking the money?

Opening poster keep taking as much as you are entitled to and save what you can because one day who knows when you need it most it might not be there.

Penguin90

poppy12345 wrote: »

If you're PIP is successful then any backdated money will be dis-regarded for 52 weeks for means tested benefits.

Hi, yeah that's true but I have nothing really to buy and I can't travel so it would be hard to spend the money. But even if I could spend it, because of my personal circumstances, sooner or later I will go over the saving limit. What then? Would I need to inform DWP every couple of weeks? How would that work in practice?

Mojisola

Penguin90 wrote: »

But assuming my PIP appeal is successful, which I don't think it will be, and because I live at home with my parents and I'm too sick to really do anything, it's easy to save money.

poppy12345 wrote: »

Just because a young person lives at home with their parents it doesn't mean they're less entitled to the money than anyone else. Even more so for those who have a disability.

Of course they are entitled to claim - I just don't understand why anyone would put themselves through what can be a very stressful time claiming for money that they don't need.

TELLIT01

Penguin90 wrote: »

Hi, yeah that's true but I have nothing really to buy and I can't travel so it would be hard to spend the money. But even if I could spend it, because of my personal circumstances, sooner or later I will go over the saving limit. What then? Would I need to inform DWP every couple of weeks? How would that work in practice?

If you are ever actually in that situation you should speak to DWP at the time and ask them how they want to deal with it. Ask them to confirm whatever is said in writing to protect yourself. They would probably say to update them on a 3 monthly basis, simply because they don't have the staff to change info on a weekly basis. When I worked there there was a backlog of up to 6 months worth of documentation which claimants had sent in and hadn't been processed.
One possible alternative, to prevent going over the savings limit, would be to pay your parents more for your keep. If they choose to put that money into a savings account of their own (assuming they aren't on Income Related benefits) that's their business. If they then spend that money on any big ticket items you may need, that is also their prerogative.