Jsa boosted money?

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:.. I thought the disregard was going down to something like £300. 

It was but that was postponed again (unrelated to coronavirus). I can't remember how long it has been postponed for.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:.. I thought the disregard was going down to something like £300. 

It was but that was postponed again (unrelated to coronavirus). I can't remember how long it has been postponed for.

Oh that is excellent news for lots of people in this situation! Thanks, I've edited my previous post accordingly.

epm-84

Gig1968 said:

There is a three month mortgage holiday available to all if they contact there bank or building society.

To be pedantic only to those who are lucky enough to be living in their own homes.  Those saving for their first home are seeing interest rates drop at an alarming rate, at the same time as they are seeing their income drop.  Some will also find themselves in the situation where they no longer have a job and find they are ineligible for income based benefits due to having too much in their saving accounts.

Gig1968

Interest rates have been low for ages .  If their income has dropped  the government is helping and topping it up as much as they can before most of them helpfully  return to their jobs. I'm sorry but if people do lose their jobs and they are not entitled to some benefits due to having enough savings I'm afraid that's life. You cannot expect the government to give you money each week when you have your own money in a savings account. That is why it is called income related. It maybe unfair if you are saving for a house I feel sorry for you.  Your circumstances are probably different to a lot of others.  I had something similar I'm on income related ESA and have been for years. I have had  huge ppi payouts which sent me miles above the £6k limit ( Due to taking out too many loans when I was younger). I made sure that the cheques I got when straight into my account and the money was transferred out of my name straightaway. Break the rules I don't care. Thousands do it's everyone for themselves.  There are two choices you have except the income related rules or move it. But I didn't tell you that.

epm-84

Gig1968 said:

Interest rates have been low for ages . 

I'm sorry but if people do lose their jobs and they are not entitled to some benefits due to having enough savings I'm afraid that's life. You cannot expect the government to give you money each week when you have your own money in a savings account. 

The base rate has never been 0.1% before.  Getting an easy access account with an interest rate of 1.4 to 1.5% was possible a few months ago, now it looks like in a couple of months 0.4% will be a 'good rate.'  If you're saving for a first home the recent reduction could lose you a 3 figure sum of interest over a 12 month period.

There's no way the benefit system can be fair for everyone but the way it currently works is those who are cautious with spending get discriminated against, while those who splash their cash can get the full amount in benefits even if they own their own mansion, yacht and Ferrari - just as long as they don't have too much in a savings account when they apply.  However, the forum rules say this forum is for helping people understand how the benefits system works, not discussing the government's policies on benefits, so we better leave it as that.