My Polish girlfriend has been made redundant

spiritus

She only came to the UK once she had been offered a job and now the company have closed it's offices due to the downturn in the economy.

She was only there two months !!

I was paying full council tax as I am fully employed but I wondered would I be entitled to some reduction now that I am the only worker in the household ?

Advice much appreciated

spiritus

Forgot to mention I also have around £ 20k of savings. I guess this will have an influence

kje_2

I don't think that you will be entitled to anything. More information can be found at :

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/benefits/help_with_your_council_tax_council_tax_benefit.htm

spiritus

Thanks for your sympathetic response everyone.

Merry Christmas.

purple12

I, for one, can't offer any advice apart from heading to the CAB or Job Centre Plus but I cannot believe how unpleasant the people answering this board are. It borders on blind prejudice and is worse than sickening.

I wish you and your girlfriend all the best. I am sorry that I can't offer any more concrete suggestions

a11waysindebt

spiritus wrote: »

She only came to the UK once she had been offered a job and now the company have closed it's offices due to the downturn in the economy.

She was only there two months !!

I was paying full council tax as I am fully employed but I wondered would I be entitled to some reduction now that I am the only worker in the household ?

Advice much appreciated

Hi.

I don't believe you will be entitled to anything with the savings you have.

The link provided by kje is your best bet.

pandaonmyshoulder

ebsay2000 wrote: »

We have a Romanian woman selling Big Issues here.......

She stands on the street waving it in your face pleading 'BIG ISSUE! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!'

Quite unnecessary and frightening!

Judging by the size of her.........shes hardly starving either!!!!!!!!!!

Not the one that stands outside Woolworths is it????:eek:

badmumof1

listen mate you said you have 20k in savings
do you really honestly think you are going to get help when you have that amount tucked away when we have hard working families on here that cant even get a basic benefit.
you are not going to get any sympathetic replies when you make daft statements like that.

cw18

Over £16k of savings means you're entitled to nothing that's means tested.

And as she's only been working in this country for 2 months, she won't have the required NI history for Contributions based JSA (even without knowing how being a foreign national would impact on it).

((hugs)) to you both though.... it's not nice for anyone to be made redundant at any time, but especially in the run-up to Christmas. Full credit to her for not moving over here until she had a job though, but it must be extra hard on her to lose it so quickly having done so

seven-day-weekend

Hi there

If you are co-habiting you will have to apply for any benefits as a couple and your £20k will stop you getting any means-tested benefits.

Sorry people have not answered in the most sympathetic manner, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Please folks be aware that this board is to help people, not judge them. Martin has put a sticky note on the board to this effect:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=365935

zappster1966

There is an agreement between the UK & the rest of the European Economic Area when it comes to importing/exporting social security entitlements. If your girlfriend doesn't qualify for JSA here she might be able to import the equivalent Polish unemployment benefit & have it paid to her by the Jobcentre here via Pensions & Overseas Directorate at Newcastle.

Here's a wee link which hopefully explains the general principles.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/international/sa29/