Savings scheme for those on low incomes gives up to £1,200 bonus - MSE News

Wizard_of_Id

I wish I was on benefits so that I could make use of this scheme rather than get the pittance offered to regular savers.

I don't work but because I took early retirement and receive a small private pension, I don't qualify for any of the required benefits to get into the savings scheme.

VT82

Afraid_of_Kittens wrote: »

Simple Save £50 per month for 2 years - total £1200 and they give you £600.
Sve another £1200 and they give you another £600 in 2 years later.

So save £2400 in 4 years and get a free £1200 bonus.

And when you’ve been saving £50pm for 18 months and then withdraw £300, I take it NS&I will warn you that your bonus will be the same whether you carry on saving £50pm for the next 6 months, make no further deposits, or withdraw the rest of your money altogether?

Or if after 24 months at £50pm, you withdraw £600, they will warn you that the most extra bonus you can earn is 50% of £600, and only if you deposit another £1,200?

Hardly ‘simples’. It’s a blo0dy minefield!

Afraid_of_Kittens

VT82 wrote: »

And when you’ve been saving £50pm for 18 months and then withdraw £300, I take it NS&I will warn you that your bonus will be the same whether you carry on saving £50pm for the next 6 months, make no further deposits, or withdraw the rest of your money altogether?

Or if after 24 months at £50pm, you withdraw £600, they will warn you that the most extra bonus you can earn is 50% of £600, and only if you deposit another £1,200?

Hardly ‘simples’. It’s a blo0dy minefield!

The £600 bonus is sent straight to your bank account. If you left the £1200 in your account you won't get any further bonus. You have to keep saving and not withdraw any money to build up £2400 to claim the next £600 bonus after 4 years.

singhini

Has the government made a public announcement about this scheme or are the job centre supposed to inform people?


Shame I cant get it (having clicked onto the link in post #6 it mentions universal credit but I am on the old system of NI based JSA [aka Contribution based JSA]. And I get the impression this is for Income based JSA). Shame that as they refer to the scheme as "low income scheme" which is what I am now that im on benefits, but its not to do with income its to do with savings.
correct me if im wrong

Peelerfart

Afraid_of_Kittens wrote: »

So everyone using this scheme is a benefit fraudster?

Nope! Don't believe that was said

Samsung_Note2

Sounds like a no brainer..sling £50 a month away and keep doing so for four years and then get a nice little bonus,or have i missed something.

Signed up and took all of 5 mins or less...very straight forward.

vacheron

So to summarise.... unless I have misunderstood:

• If you are claiming benefits to Make ends meet but for some reason have a nice " surplus" at the end because you don't need it all, you can put your "spare" money from the taxpayer away and earn far more money on it than the taxpayers who funded it could ever dream of.
  
  
• If you are claiming benefits to make ends meet but genuinely only receive enough to make ends meet, you can't afford to save... so you get nothing.
  
  
• If are eligible for universal credit but don't claim because of pride of because you genuinely don't want to be a burden on the system, you get nothing.
  
  
• If you are not eligible as you earn pots of cash, but you know a good friend or relative who is, you can give them the money to save on your behalf and receive a nice tidy profit funded by the taxpayer.
  
  
• If you are on a low income because academic ability may not be your strongest suit, you risk falling foul of the convoluted initial and ongoing eligibility requirements.

Marvellous.

Afraid_of_Kittens

vacheron wrote: »

So to summarise.... unless I have misunderstood:

• If you are claiming benefits to Make ends meet but for some reason have a nice " surplus" at the end because you don't need it all, you can put your "spare" money from the taxpayer away and earn far more money on it than the taxpayers who funded it could ever dream of.
  
  
• If you are claiming benefits to make ends meet but genuinely only receive enough to make ends meet, you can't afford to save... so you get nothing.
  
  
• If are eligible for universal credit but don't claim because of pride of because you genuinely don't want to be a burden on the system, you get nothing.
  
  
• If you are not eligible as you earn pots of cash, but you know a good friend or relative who is, you can give them the money to save on your behalf and receive a nice tidy profit funded by the taxpayer.
  
  
• If you are on a low income because academic ability may not be your strongest suit, you risk falling foul of the convoluted initial and ongoing eligibility requirements.

Marvellous.

Depending on number of children you could earn £30k+ and still qualify - like me...

mjm3346

vacheron wrote: »

So to summarise.... unless I have misunderstood:

If you are not eligible as you earn pots of cash, but you know a good friend or relative who is, you can give them the money to save on your behalf and receive a nice tidy profit funded by the taxpayer.

Marvellous.

Marvellous indeed, where else can you have an average of £600 invested for two years and get paid a totally secure and guaranteed £600?
The second payout of £600 for an average balance of £1800 for the next 2 years is nowhere near as good but still worth having even if you are splitting the payouts 50/50.

benj111

If anyone is having problems understanding this, just view it as a 2 year bond, optionally extendable for another 2 years.
You can withdraw your money at any time, and the bonus will be paid on the highest balance. Theoretically you could pay in £50 today, withdraw it tomorrow and still get a £25 bonus in 2 years (please don't take my word for this exact scenario).
The only gotcha is if you do choose to extend it to the full 4 years, the bonus is only paid on the balance over and above what was paid in the first bonus.
eg you save £50 every month for the first 2 years saving £1200, your first bonus is paid on this (£600). If you then save £50 for another 2 years you would then have saved £2400. Your bonus will still only be £600 because it will be only be paid on the extra £1200.
What this means is, if after the first 2 years you withdraw your £1200, you may as well close the account, because you won't be able to save enough to get back above your original high watermark balance.

Account set up was very easy, If you already have a gov't gateway account setup, it is literally 2 clicks, and entering bank details.

Bravo to gov't IT services for making this painless, I was expecting forms and forms and posting things.


@vacheron
"If are eligible for universal credit but don't claim because of pride of because you genuinely don't want to be a burden on the system, you get nothing."
If you don't want to claim universal credit because of pride, why would you want to claim this. a hand out is a hand out.

I do agree with your other points, if you don't have money. a 50% bonus in 2 years seems a bit abstract.
I suspect it's more of a sop to the 'struggling' lower middle classes, but if it gets people saving....