Urgent :Redundancy Help !!!

haribol_2 · 19 March 2005 at 6:56PM

Hi all

My mother-in-law has been asked to take voluntary redundancy after working there for more than 28 years continuous service. Otherwise forced redundancies will take place at her work.

Can someone give me some advise as to whether taking voluntary redundancy will effect her getting any redundancy payments from her company, effect her getting any benefits or is she better off waiting to see who is forced out.

I have been asked to put together a letter requesting VR but don't know where to start.

Any help advice would be much appreciated

Thank you all in advance

Fran · 19 March 2005 at 8:19PM

The ACAS Website has info.

haribol_2 · 19 March 2005 at 9:16PM

Thank you both for these suggestions. It's a great start and good info.

Many Thanks

YorkshireBoy · 20 March 2005 at 12:44AM

Can't give any definitive advice here, but I can relate what happened to me in similar circumstances:

I was made compulsorily redundant 2 years ago. The company offered to accept volunteers from other departments not directly affected, provided people could be re-trained/job-matched etc.

However, whilst the company agreed not to record the fact that people had "volunteered" on any paperwork generated, they stated that if they were contacted by (benefit) agencies and asked directly about the terms of severance they "WOULD NOT LIE"!

We were told during briefings that volunteering would seriously affect our entitlement to benefits, ie we would have put ourselves out of work deliberately.

Of course if its a small company, and everyone knows everyone else, it may be possible to drop a few hints without actually "formally" volunteering.

In my case, because I'd heard the rumours and secured myself another job outside the company, I was screaming (OK then - quietly whispering) "pick me, pick me", and it worked.

My new job was not due to start for 4 weeks, and being as I had paid into the state for 26 years non-stop, I thought I'd try and see what benefits were available to me (wife working part-time earning £10K, 3 kids all in education, interest only mortgage).

I quickly found out (through JobCentre Plus and CAB) that I was entitled to ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for 3 months because I'd been paid 3 months in lieu of notice. I would then be means tested after the 3 months were up, to see if I would qualify for other payments like JSA etc.

Because I'd received a £20K+ redundancy package (3 months in lieu element was around £7K), and had other "modest" savings, I was told that my chances of anything other than JSA in 3 months time could be summed up as "slim-to-none"!

I asked CAB if I paid off a large part of my mortgage with my now enlarged savings, would I then qualify for any benefits? From memory, the answer given was along the lines of "this could be classed as fraud and we would strongly urge you not to do it"!

In summary, the only "benefit" I managed to get was my NI stamp paid for the 4 weeks I was out of work.

HTH
YB

haribol_2 · 20 March 2005 at 3:14PM

Many thanks Yorkshire Boy

Info very relevant and useful.

thanks for your trouble.

krazyk · 20 March 2005 at 7:21PM

Good luck with sorting out the redundancy package.

I was made redundant right at the end of 2002. Not only was it bad timing for Xmas, but as we all went without being paid for 3 months before this (in the hope the firm got a new contract - which they didn't) my financial problems all started here and it's pretty much be downhill since then (I had to live off credit cards then and now paying the cost of that 2/3 years later).

As the firm didn't have any money I didn't get any redundancy pay or my last expenses paid. I did, eventually get 1.5 months pay, but I am still owed £1,000's of pounds.

The company was officially closed down last year and the creditors meeting came back saying they couldn't pay us as the company didn't have any money, so I've lost out there. :-(

I stupidly didn't sign on straight away (in the hope a new contract would still come through and that I could go back to work), so when I did eventually sign on the benefits office wouldn't give me any backdated pay, so a double whammy there, tsch (that was my fault though, the company didn't send me my P45 and I didn't know I could sign on without it - try explaining all this for the benefits office).

This was the second time in 3 years that I was made redundant, it can hit you hard - I was out of work for 10 months the second time - if this happens again I will have to claim myself bankrupt immediately.

Make sure your Mum gets as much off the company as she can. ;-)

K

Fran · 20 March 2005 at 7:26PM

Have you had a look at the Redundancy Threads which are found in FAQ's at the top of this board?

haribol_2 · 21 March 2005 at 4:56PM

Thank you krazyk for your input and time. Hope things brighten up for you and that you are now having a good year.

I have now written her a letter requesting voluntary redundancy from her company. They had unofficially suggested a redundancy payment which sounds good and going by what I have read in the last few days from responses and normal links available on this brilliant forum.

My hearty thanks to all of you who have helped me sort this little mess. it is a very difficult situation that I do not wish anyone to experience.

Thank you all for your caring approach. God bless you all.

haribol

WiseSteward_2 · 21 March 2005 at 6:03PM

Hi haribol

As your last post was only just over an hour ago, may I advise caution and a possible rethink?

Voluntary Redundancy may offer a higher settlement than the Stautory scheme, and that's obviously a factor to be taken into account.

However, there are potentially serious negatives as well, which need to be balanced against any extra payment.

1. All contributory (National Insurance contribution-based) and means-tested benefits can be refused, suspended or reduced on the grounds of making oneself voluntarily unemployed.
and
2. Here's the biggy - Payment Protection Insurance policies for mortgages, loans & credit cards etc usually exclude claims based on unemployment if redundancy was not compulsory

This needs careful consideration and the sums doing acurately.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes, Graham B

brendat · 8 February 2006 at 6:57PM

My husband of 57 (58) in September has been told he will be redundant in 90 days. He will have some redundance money about £10.000 amd 15 weeks pay. We still have £13.000 on our mortgage and a couple of loans. We do not know what to do. Pay some of mortgage/all of mortgage. pay off the loans?at his age he know jobs will not come easy and would like to just take a parttime job instead. His pension will be frozen with his company until he is 65. What should we do./ I cannot work as on incapacity benefit I also get a small works pension .Will we be entitled to any benifits.?

Primrose · 27 January 2008 at 4:36PM

If your M-i-L is paid money in lieu of notice (for a month, 3 months, whatever) she will not be able to claim any benefits during that period. Any redundancy payments under £30,000 are free of tax and if your M-I-L is likely to be getting a reasonable redundancy payment, she may want to investigate the option of sacrificing some of this and paying it into her company pension scheme, if she contributes. Volunteering for redundancy might affect her right to benefits. This is open to interpreting and depending on the Benefits Office, they might deem her to have given up her job voluntarily and therefore not be eligible for immediate benefits. And if she has any redundancy insurance, voluntary redundancy may eliminate her from claiming. As Wise Steward has said, this is not a decision to rush into, and with a recession forecast your M-I-L may well find that getting another job is not as easy as she anticipated. Many people sadly find they volunteer for redundancy and the money they receive doesn't last as long as they thought.

Urgent :Redundancy Help !!!

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