Hi, my name is Jomph! What do the DWP class as enough money to live on if you've got savings?

Jomph

Hi I'm Jon. New on here. Got a question. Does anyone know what the dwp class enough money to live on if you got to live on your savings. I'm a bit worried.. any information would help.

Thanks in advance

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Jomph, welcome to the community. Sorry to hear you're feeling worried about your finances at the moment.

As far as I'm aware, the DWP don't have any guidelines about how much they think is enough to live on, as that will often be up to your own budget and personal circumstances.

Are you still claiming any benefits at the moment, and if so, which ones?

I hope I haven't misunderstood your question, but for most means tested benefits including Universal Credit (UC), payments will stop if you reach £16,000 in savings or capital. For UC, if you have between £6000 and £16,000, your benefits payments can continue, but will be adjusted depending on how much money you have.

So if you have capital above £16,000 they will usually expect you to use your savings until you are back within the range to be eligible for means tested benefits again.

Once your savings dip below £16,000, you can reclaim if you need to, but you will have reduced payments until you dip back below the £6000 limit. On UC, the reductions are £4.35 for each £250 you have between £6000 and £16,000.

You might find Scope's page about benefits useful:

Savings and benefits | Disability charity Scope UK

For benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that are not means tested, there are no limits to how much you can earn or have in your savings.

Benefits calculators can often be helpful to get an idea of what you might be entitled to if you're not sure:

Turn2us Benefits Calculator

I hope that's what you meant, but please let me know if not!