Your Savings and Benefits

In the old days people had to fend for themselves, and would put money away in the good times so they could cope with the bad times. Today, the government provides a safety net for everyone, making a stock of savings less of a necessity than it was before. Some people still do accumulate significant savings, though. So will your eligibility for benefits be affected if you are one of those?

It seems rather paradoxical that those who have acted responsibly by building up a stock of savings to help them cope with adversity are penalised for doing so by the government. That is how it is, however. Your savings do affect your eligibility to receive some government benefits, potentially either reducing the amount you get or even meaning that you will get nothing whatsoever.

For those who have just been made redundant, this is an especially important issue because, in most cases, you will have received a lump sum redundancy payment. Sometimes, this can be a very large amount. Up to £30,000 can be paid free of tax, but if you just retain it, it will affect your eligibility for some state benefits.

Benefits Which are Affected By Your Savings

If you’ve just been made redundant, unless you have a new job lined up, you will naturally want to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance. There are two forms of Jobseeker’s Allowance : contribution-based and income-based.

Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance is only available to those who have made enough national insurance contributions and is only payable for six months. It does not take account of your level of savings. Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance does take your savings into account when determining you eligibility. It is not time-limited. Both contribution-based and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance can be claimed at the same time.

The main state benefits which take savings into account when determining eligibility include income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Council Tax Benefit, Income Support and Housing Benefit.

How the Amount of Your Savings Affects Your Eligibility for State Benefits

For those benefits which are affected by savings, the basic rule is that if you have savings above the upper savings limit, which is currently £16,000, you will not be eligible to receive any benefit. If you have savings below the lower savings limit, currently £6000, your benefits will be unaffected. (Note that these values can change over time, so you will need to check for the latest values.)

For savings in between the two limits, your savings are assumed to yield a weekly “tariff income” of £1 for every £250 of savings. This equates to an assumed annual tariff income of approximately £50 for every £250 of savings, equivalent to an interest rate of 20%, which is clearly absurd and unattainable in the real world. Nonetheless, this is the basis the government uses for their calculations. The benefit payments you receive each week will be reduced by your assumed tariff income. So, if the lower limit is £6000, and you have £10,000 saved, £4000 of that will be counted. £4000 divided by 250 is 16, so you will get £16 less per week in benefits.

Savings and Benefits – Conclusion

When you’re made redundant, the payment you get from your employer is the silver lining to the cloud. Just be aware that, when it comes to applying for benefits, the silver lining may have a whole new cloud of its own.

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