Saving your benefits.

[Help4SomeoneElse]

A friend lives in a bedsit and is on ESA. Because he doesnt get out much or drink or smoke or do anything really, and his rent is paid by housing benefit and running costs of the bedsit is minimal, his ESA has been adding up in his bank account and he has over £6000. Now he wants to move to a private rented house. He has seen online that savings over £3000 will affect any housing benefit he gets. Obviously the running costs of a house will be more which will eat into future ESA payments, but he will still have over £6000 in ESA at the start of any tenancy. He wants to know if the ESA in his bank account will be counted as savings or affect housing benefit. For some reason it hasnt affected his housing benefit in the bedsit, but hes now getting worried after reading stuff online. Thanks

[Peridot]

Hi,
My understanding was savings over £6,000 are taken into consideration not £3,000. Maybe have a look at the eligibility criteria here: https://www.gov.uk/employment-suppor...ce/eligibility

[Peridot]

Hi again,
This may help too - Housing Benefit calculator:https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/eligibility

[Help4SomeoneElse]

Thanks. From reading those links, he should get some housing benefit.

The worrying one now is, to qualify for ESA his savings must not be above £6000. Because he has been unable to spend his ESA due to circumstances, it has built up to over £6000. The question is; is the built up ESA in the bank classed as savings? If it is then that would mean his unspent ESA would stop him qualifying for further ESA.

[Peridot]

Hi help4someoneelse,
The money he has in the bank, however it has been acquired ESA or otherwise would be classed as savings. Remember any amount over the £6,000 reduces the amount of benefits received by an amount, not completely wiping out any claim. I would suggest if the sum over £6,000 is not significant he maybe looks at spending some, if he needs new furniture for example. Of course if it is a significant sum then any spend may be questioned by the Benefits Agency when they come to considering his claim.
It may be worth seeing CAB to help him work out exactly how much HB he would be entitled to. Remember as the savings reduce he will be able to get the claim reviewed after a certain amount of time.