Parents of disabled children-Special needs forum support group

thought this might be interesting for some, sorry if in the wrong place

From July 2010, there will be a new government supported cash saving scheme called the 'Saving Gateway'. It's for people of working age who are on lower incomes, and aims to help kick-start a saving habit. The government will add 50 pence for each £1 saved into Saving Gateway accounts.

Who can get the new accounts?
You can open a Saving Gateway account if you get any of the following:

Income Support
Jobseeker's Allowance
Incapacity Benefit
Employment Support Allowance
Severe Disablement Allowance
Carer's Allowance - you must be getting the allowance not just have an entitlement
tax credits - but only if the final award for the 2009-10 tax year was based on a household income of less than £16,040
You must also be 'ordinarily resident' in the United Kingdom (UK).

To be ordinarily resident in the UK means that you usually live in the UK or are any of the following:

a citizen of another country in the European Economic Area (EEA) who works in the UK
a Crown Servant - this includes members of the armed forces posted outside of the UK
a partner of a Crown Servant who is posted outside of the UK
in the UK because of your removal from another country

Saving gateway information

oo thats good might have to get one of those

I need to read into this a little more.
It says the account needs to be open for two years and then they pay 50p for every £1.
So does this mean the money needs to be in the account for two years or could i for example leave the account open for 2 years and then pay in £1000 and they make it £1500 and then we withdraw it surely not
Off to read

from what i can make of it, you have to have it in for 2 years, it says you can withdraw money if you need to whenever you want, cant figure out if they just say whatever is in here on **this date** we will add too, but yeah doesnt sound right so not sure how they do it, going to give it a proper read up when i get time

tbh the amount of interest we get on savings at the moment it would be worth putting it in this and getting a lump sum in 2 years but still have the ability to draw it out if there is an emergency even if they will only give the interest on the amount that has stayed in there for 2 years
corinne