Anyone for Tea?

Current mood - NOT HAPPY!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...........

posted by RichB @ Friday, August 25, 2006 3 comments

The law is an ass....

Permit me to ask a question. If I gave you £16,000 - and confiscated all your other money, do you think that you could make a return of £2,000 a year from it? - a return of 13% on your original investment?
(for reference - 6% is about the highest that you can obtain from most banks)

Well, apparently according to the UK government, that's the scale of the self-sufficiency expected of anyone who is unemployed, but has any savings in excess of £6,000. Any savings above the upper limit of £16,000 means that you get no government benefits at all, and instantly become inelligable for any further bursaries or low-income support that you might have otherwise qualified for.

Of course, good old Gordon Brown is aware of this - he raised the absolute cut-off limit from £6,000 to £16,000 in last April's budget, but why £16,000? Why not £32,000? Why not £100,000?

Oh, and if you're married, you've only got a total £16,000 limit to share between the two of you. And - for comparisons sake - the average house price in the UK is now nearing £200,000, and over £300,000 if you're anywhere in Greater London.... So, good luck out there...

posted by RichB @ Wednesday, August 09, 2006 2 comments