£16k Savings Limit

[kaiser78]

Am I right in thinking that if I have personal savings of >£16k I am unable to claim JSA / council tax benefit etc ? Does this just relate to capital savings, ie liquid assets or capital assets as well ?

This thread has some detail on this, I guess I am just looking for confirmation - http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...lst-bench.html

I did a rough calculation on Benefits Search and you have to declare salary and other income above £300, ie dividends. As a 'standard' IT contractor set up I am struggling to see how anyone is entitled to claim taking such salary and dividends into consideration ? Or I presume one would stop drawing out of the company whilst not in contract in certain cases ?

(ps - my query has nothing to do with the fact that I am due hit the bench in 5 weeks time...)

[northernladuk]

You can still claim JSA but don't get anything else. They will send you a really well worded letter saying 'You will not get xxx' over and over as they go through the benefits making you feel like a criminal by the end of it but that is another matter.

It is any assets, shares, second house and so on. I have a house I let out and they count that.

[Andy2]

if you have savings>16k , you can only claim contribution based JSA which is £65/week
and you have to sign in every fortnight at jobcentre
hth

[Saddo]

One other thing to bear in mind with claiming JSA is that they will crawl over every bank and building society account which your family has - in public.

I signed on a few years ago, and had to produce the building society books for my children. The rationale they work to is that if granny gave the kids a few pounds at Xmas then it was your right to spend that money before going to the job centre.

I asked, politely, whether we could discuss this in private and was told no way - any decision to discuss things privately was entirely theirs to make, so we were forced to discuss our private finances within easy earshot of the professionally unemployed layabouts.

The sadness is that I didn't actually want to take their money - the sole purpose of signing on was to protect my NI stamp (which gets paid automatically when you are signed on to keep your NI record straight).

Since then I don't bother signing on. I phoned the NI helpline recently to check my NI payment record and I already have the minimum number of NI stamps to give me a full state pension when I reach 65 (or 66). One of "good" things that Gordon did was reduce the number of years you have to pay NI to acquire full state pension entitlement. It used to be 40 years of paying NI, it is now 30 years - and I am already well over that limit. NI is like a tax for which I get no benefit in terms of unemployment.

[wallop79]

One other thing to bear in mind with claiming JSA is that they will crawl over every bank and building society account which your family has - in public.

I signed on a few years ago, and had to produce the building society books for my children. The rationale they work to is that if granny gave the kids a few pounds at Xmas then it was your right to spend that money before going to the job centre.

I asked, politely, whether we could discuss this in private and was told no way - any decision to discuss things privately was entirely theirs to make, so we were forced to discuss our private finances within easy earshot of the professionally unemployed layabouts.

The sadness is that I didn't actually want to take their money - the sole purpose of signing on was to protect my NI stamp (which gets paid automatically when you are signed on to keep your NI record straight).

Since then I don't bother signing on. I phoned the NI helpline recently to check my NI payment record and I already have the minimum number of NI stamps to give me a full state pension when I reach 65 (or 66). One of "good" things that Gordon did was reduce the number of years you have to pay NI to acquire full state pension entitlement. It used to be 40 years of paying NI, it is now 30 years - and I am already well over that limit. NI is like a tax for which I get no benefit in terms of unemployment.

I work for my local jobcentreplus & reading what you have put, find it disgusting that you were treated in this way, having to discuss things in earshot of other people, if I was you I would put in a complaint.

[wallop79]

if you have savings>16k , you can only claim contribution based JSA which is £65/week
and you have to sign in every fortnight at jobcentre
hth

On a further note you would only get 6 months of money & stamp towards your national insurance contributions, after 6 months the money stops, but your stamp continues, but it is best to carry on "signing on" as you can become entitled to things like back to work credits, which you would receive payments of £40.00 per week for getting a job, but this depends how long you have been claiming for.