EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

I would have to say that I wouldn't advocate dealing in either art or stamps unless you really know what you are doing. And I'd especially not use it to try and avoid declaring savings, you may well lose more than you would gain.

Having said all of the above, paying off debt with your savings is fine for benefits, so make sure you are debt free (or as close as you can be) before doing so, as you won't be allowed to offset debt vs savings. Also, if you have any large purchases you need to make (a car, or a bike), go ahead and do it, as long as you can show some evidence that you did it for $ReasonThatIsntToAllowYouToClaimBenefits. If you've done it just to decrease your capital to allow you to claim, then it can still be counted as capital. If you've done it for $OtherReasonableReason then that's OK.

--edit--

Don't take the above as absolute advice, it's been a good while since I was dabbling in benefits, and things may have moved on more than I think.

I think it may be a good idea, but as one commenter on theReg noted, it could lead to erosion of worker rights as if you get fired, well there's an income waiting anyway.

But it will still be peanuts, so unless it's done along with rent caps/social housing we might be worse off. Waiting to see what the data we are getting will tell us...