Benefits help

JULE5

Hello all, I am hoping some of you may be able to give me some sdvice.

On the 18th July I was officially made redundant with only 2 weeks notice of redundancy before this date. Since this time I have been searching thoroughly for a new job since this time but I have only had one job interview and was rejected due to lack of experience.

My partner is 7 months pregnant and works full time, we recently applied for Local Housing allowance and council tax benefit, and we were rejected outright as they believe £17K is enough for 2 people to live on even though our rent is £750 a month and our council tax is £170/month. She is expected to pay all this from her wage not including her debts as well as mine, or all our utilities and food.

I have also signed on at the job centre but have been told I am entitled to nothing as my NI contributions have not been significant. This has upset me as they have taken the year which I was at university into account when making their decision.

I graduated from uni in September 07 and began my new job straight away with a salary of £23K, I believe the amount of tax I paid monthly (£453 a month) is more than worthy to claim job seekers allowance. On my final pay with holiday owed to me, I had to pay 1k in tax and national insurance.

With only a few weeks left until our money officially runs out, I am having trouble trying to find a job with the same salary I was on and our future looks bleak, we aren’t going to have anywhere to live as my partner cannot pay all our rent and cover any other outgoings.

I will be going to citizen’s advice tomorrow morning for some help, but if anyone could give me any advice before I do this I would be grateful as i am completely lost, and with a baby due in November I really would like to have some stability.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers

Jules

briona

Hi JULE5

Welcome to MSE.

JULE5 wrote: »

I graduated from uni in September 07 and began my new job straight away with a salary of £23K, I believe the amount of tax I paid monthly (£453 a month) is more than worthy to claim job seekers allowance

Right, first things first: tax and national insurance are separate issues. Of the £453 tax you paid per month around £160 of that is your national insurance contributions and this is what determines your eligibility for JSA. As you have made contributions for less than a year it is quite conceivable you would not be eligible. (I encountered the same problem a number of years ago when made redundant from a job I'd been in for less than a year).

JULE5 wrote: »

On the 18th July I was officially made redundant with only 2 weeks notice of redundancy before this date. Since this time I have been searching thoroughly for a new job since this time but I have only had one job interview and was rejected due to lack of experience.

So you were rejected for ONE job for lack of experience – move on! You say you've only had one interview since July but there are plenty of jobs out there… If you can tell us what kind of jobs you're applying for and what qualifications you have, people may be able to advise on alternative employment for you or recommend agencies you could sign up with.

JULE5 wrote: »

With only a few weeks left until our money officially runs out, I am having trouble trying to find a job with the same salary I was on

Then you need to look for jobs with a lower salary. Just because they start low does not mean they’ll stay that way – my little sister took a job with a starting salary of 18K and now, 18 months later is earning 26.5K, soon to rise to 29K. Even if you have to take a job earning less than you were on, a 16K salary for example is better than no salary at all. 23K for a graduate, (even in London) is pretty good money – if you lower your expectations, you may find there are more opportunities open to you.

I don't know enough about the benefits system to be able to advise you accurately, suffice to say putting your partner's salary into http://www.entitledto.com/ might give you some idea of what you can claim. I would imagine that there would be more help available to you AFTER your baby's born though. Hopefully someone more in the know can correctly advise you.

Best of luck

Briona

JULE5

briona wrote: »

Hi JULE5

Welcome to MSE.



Right, first things first: tax and national insurance are separate issues. Of the £453 tax you paid per month around £160 of that is your national insurance contributions and this is what determines your eligibility for JSA. As you have made contributions for less than a year it is quite conceivable you would not be eligible. (I encountered the same problem a number of years ago when made redundant from a job I'd been in for less than a year).



So you were rejected for ONE job for lack of experience – move on! You say you've only had one interview since July but there are plenty of jobs out there… If you can tell us what kind of jobs you're applying for and what qualifications you have, people may be able to advise on alternative employment for you or recommend agencies you could sign up with.



Then you need to look for jobs with a lower salary. Just because they start low does not mean they’ll stay that way – my little sister took a job with a starting salary of 18K and now, 18 months later is earning 26.5K, soon to rise to 29K. Even if you have to take a job earning less than you were on, a 16K salary for example is better than no salary at all. 23K for a graduate, (even in London) is pretty good money – if you lower your expectations, you may find there are more opportunities open to you.

I don't know enough about the benefits system to be able to advise you accurately, suffice to say putting your partner's salary into http://www.entitledto.com/ might give you some idea of what you can claim. I would imagine that there would be more help available to you AFTER your baby's born though. Hopefully someone more in the know can correctly advise you.

Best of luck

Briona

hi Briona,

Thanks for the reply.

I understand your advice regarding taking a lower paid job. I am completely and utterly willing to take any job, but my worry is that this salary would not cover my outgoings every month.

I was working in the Civil engineering industry and due to the housing market drop everything seems to have gone downhill. The company i was working for was a small company and their main client was barratt homes, which i am sure you have heard has also cut thousands of jobs.

i have registered with 8 agencies and have been in contact with them every week since july and I have also been applying to companies directly. the main statement im getting is no one wants to hire a graduate as they cant afford to train them. I have broadened my search to nearly all areas around me, though my partner can only work from london so there is a restriction on that and she has a very good job which i dont want to take away from her if i have to move further north.

I am applying to join the RAF and have my filter interview in 2 weeks, the only problem is the process could take up to 6 months and if I could cover my self until I hopefully get through that would be great. but its just another what if!


Thanks again

briona

Hello again

You may find that for the line of work you're in and the level you're at, you need to go to specialist agencies rather than regular recruitment agencies. (Apologies if you have already done this!) A quick Google search has pulled up quite a few specialist agencies – I have picked out just three of them below...

http://www.icerecruit.com/
Welcome to icerecruit.com, the official civil engineering jobs site of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Search the site for a wide range of UK civil engineering jobs, graduate civil engineering jobs and international civil engineering vacancies.

http://www.justengineers.net/
a range of engineering jobs including graduate roles.

http://www.thegraduate.co.uk/Civil_Engineering_jobs.html
a site aimed at graduates! (A certain lack of experience is probably expected!)

I do believe that once you have your baby, you WILL be entitled to more help from the state. There's a SureStart maternity grant which I've seen mentioned on here more than once – a one off payment of £500 to enable you to buy cots/prams/other baby related stuff – which might be worth looking into. And if you haven't done so already, put your partner's details into the Entitled To website and see what it says. If you're earning nothing and she's on 17K with much of her wage going out on rent, I'd imagine you can get some help.

Briona

JULE5

briona wrote: »

Hello again

You may find that for the line of work you're in and the level you're at, you need to go to specialist agencies rather than regular recruitment agencies. (Apologies if you have already done this!) A quick Google search has pulled up quite a few specialist agencies – I have picked out just three of them below...

http://www.icerecruit.com/
Welcome to icerecruit.com, the official civil engineering jobs site of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Search the site for a wide range of UK civil engineering jobs, graduate civil engineering jobs and international civil engineering vacancies.

http://www.justengineers.net/
a range of engineering jobs including graduate roles.

http://www.thegraduate.co.uk/Civil_Engineering_jobs.html
a site aimed at graduates! (A certain lack of experience is probably expected!)

I do believe that once you have your baby, you WILL be entitled to more help from the state. There's a SureStart maternity grant which I've seen mentioned on here more than once – a one off payment of £500 to enable you to buy cots/prams/other baby related stuff – which might be worth looking into. And if you haven't done so already, put your partner's details into the Entitled To website and see what it says. If you're earning nothing and she's on 17K with much of her wage going out on rent, I'd imagine you can get some help.

Briona

Cheers for that briona.

Yeah I have registered will all those sites plus many more and all the specialist recruitment agencies. LOL

I think my best bet is to get as much info from the citizens advice and see how I go from there.

Thanks again.

dmg24

I am not sure what you want Citizens Advice to tell you?

Firstly, enter your details into www.entitledto.co.uk, this will tell you if you are eligible for any means tested benefits.

Second, go into your local McDonalds/ supermarket/ garage etc, and ask if they have vacancies. They may pay little more than minimum wage, but they will pay a great deal more than what you are getting at the moment.

JULE5

dmg24 wrote: »

I am not sure what you want Citizens Advice to tell you?

Firstly, enter your details into www.entitledto.co.uk, this will tell you if you are eligible for any means tested benefits.

Second, go into your local McDonalds/ supermarket/ garage etc, and ask if they have vacancies. They may pay little more than minimum wage, but they will pay a great deal more than what you are getting at the moment.

LOL!

I dont see how going into McDonalds will help really! Not the best bit of advice there really.I have a degree I have spent 4 years of my life and money to earn and working in McDonalds is not what i want to do.

As for entitledto I have done this and its saying we are only entitled to council tax benefit of £4 off a week, which isnt going to help.

My main annoyance with the benefits process is they are not taking into account my personal situation of how much debt I have. i am in a lot more than 10k, which I was paying off with my very good salary and getting a job of minimum wage isnt going to help cover minimum payments let alone paying anything else.

briona

JULE5 wrote: »

I dont see how going into McDonalds will help really! Not the best bit of advice there really. I have a degree I have spent 4 years of my life and money to earn and working in McDonalds is not what i want to do.

As for entitledto I have done this and its saying we are only entitled to council tax benefit of £4 off a week, which isnt going to help.

Actually, I disagree. I have a degree too and spent 4 years of my life getting it. However when made redundant and told I was not entitled to anything, I took a job in Starbucks on minimum wage (a BIG drop from the salary I had before I was made redundant). I'm a Graphic Designer and to be honest making the public coffee was NOT top of my list of ideal jobs, but the £600pm I took home was better than no money at all. I did that job for 6 weeks before I found a job in my field. And trust me, time spent in a low paid job inspires you to find a better paid one!

Assuming some of your debt is a Student Loan, you don't start to pay that off until you are earning something like 14K so a minimum wage job would bring in some money each month with none of it going out to the Student Loans Company.

Briona

Loopy_Girl

JULE5 wrote: »

LOL!

I dont see how going into McDonalds will help really! Not the best bit of advice there really.I have a degree I have spent 4 years of my life and money to earn and working in McDonalds is not what i want to do.

Going into McDonalds will help as it will take the pressure off your 7 month pregnant partner being the only breadwinner.

It's all smacking of a bit 'woe is me here'. You have lost your job like lots of people recently due to the credit crunch and need to find a way to get money in the home. No point having a degree and not eating eh?

Grow up and don't be so snobby about things. You were saying you would do anything and then pooh poohed DMG's advice. What you mean is you would do anything so long as it had a big wage and status in the industry. By your own admission your chosen career path is suffering in this financial market.

And I am bemused as to why you would think you would receive Government help for debts that you accrued? You have been working the sum total of less than a year and are already yelping about your contributions to the tax/NI system. If you are worried about your debts and how you are going to get a job then you need to drop the attitude and open your mind a little. What's wrong with office work in the meantime? You are about to become a father in 8 weeks and will have a teeny tiny baby looking to you to keep them safe and warm and fed. Your morals about having a degree and not wanting to lower yourself won't do that.

healy

JULE5 wrote: »

LOL!

I dont see how going into McDonalds will help really! Not the best bit of advice there really.I have a degree I have spent 4 years of my life and money to earn and working in McDonalds is not what i want to do.

As for entitledto I have done this and its saying we are only entitled to council tax benefit of £4 off a week, which isnt going to help.

My main annoyance with the benefits process is they are not taking into account my personal situation of how much debt I have. i am in a lot more than 10k, which I was paying off with my very good salary and getting a job of minimum wage isnt going to help cover minimum payments let alone paying anything else.

I am not going to advise you to work in McDonalds but surely if you want some income quickly you need to take a lower level job. Some income is better than no income. If you do not want to do a lower level job that is fair enough but you cannot really complain about having no money.

It would be impossible for the benefit system to take account of peoples personal debt as it would cost a fortune.

dmg24

JULE5 wrote: »

LOL!

I dont see how going into McDonalds will help really! Not the best bit of advice there really.I have a degree I have spent 4 years of my life and money to earn and working in McDonalds is not what i want to do.

As for entitledto I have done this and its saying we are only entitled to council tax benefit of £4 off a week, which isnt going to help.

My main annoyance with the benefits process is they are not taking into account my personal situation of how much debt I have. i am in a lot more than 10k, which I was paying off with my very good salary and getting a job of minimum wage isnt going to help cover minimum payments let alone paying anything else.

As others have said, if you are not willing to take any job, then you clearly are not that desperate. There is absolutely no shame in taking a low paid job, in fact I think it takes a great deal more pride than wanting to live off benefits until the right job comes along.

The benefits system is there to help those most in need. It is not there to cover your debts. If you cannot afford to pay your debts (assuming they are commercial debts, as opposed to student loans), then you need to speak to your creditors and come to some arrangement with them.

As you are entitled to no LHA, I can only assume that your rent is high for your area. Have you considered finding a cheaper property?