i left job voluntarily and have some money in bank ,,,

wendiewoo

I left work in December due to bullying, the HR officer is aware of circumstances and will back me up if job centre contact her, I have to wait if they will allow me any money or not after filling in all the deatils fo absentees due to shingles ulcer all stress related. NOW whlist this is going on we have 16,000 in the bank which is a bank loan to pay for new windows and extention to be done in March, will this class as savings??? and does anyone have any knowledge if they will allow me any money?

Thanks.

CIS

The money would be classed as savings, any money you have avialble is classes as money able to be spent on essentials.

You wouldn't get Income based JSA with savings, you may be bale to get contribution based JSA.

If you apply for JSA, you may get sanctioned for up to 13 weeks for leaving a job, when you apply a decision maker will make a call based on the evidence, although I wouldn't have thought you would get sanctioned under the cirumstances.

creditcardking_2

The sooner you get your bank balance below 3k the quicker you will qualify for benefits. Can you not give the money to a trusted relative to look after it until you have to pay for the windows.

CIS

If you move the money they can ask where it has gone and treat any suspicious movements as deprivation of capital.

If they suspect money has been 'disposed of' to increase a claim to benefits, they can and will investigate bank records.

birdmadgirl

hi wendiewoo,
ive just been through a similar situation with my JSA. I left work voluntarily (as in gave notice) however this was because of harrassment. initially i started getting JSA fine, however 3 months in they wrote to me and sanctioned it for 13 weeks (as in til JULY!!) I had to appeal against their decision and they have just reinstated it phew

if you have been working full time for the last few years then you'll qualify for contribution based JSA, based on your National Insurance. However any savings over £2500 may affect your entitlement / the amount as far as I understand. But bear in mind that they are only interested in your bank statements etc for the time up until you became unemployed, so if you got the loan afterwards that wont show....

Oh, also make sure you give the job centre the contact details of the HR person who will back you up - I worked for a large national company with central HR, when the job centre contacted them their computer screen just said i'd resigned without stating the circumstance...

If they do cancel any benefits though, I cant stress enough how worth it is to appeal as soon as possible, my JSA was literally reinstated the same week.

Hope it works out!!

Debt_Free_Chick

Wouldn't it be a good idea to put off the home improvements, until you know you have the income (from a future job) to make the repayments?

Justicia

creditcardking wrote:

The sooner you get your bank balance below 3k the quicker you will qualify for benefits. Can you not give the money to a trusted relative to look after it until you have to pay for the windows.

I love the smell of benefit fraud in the evening...

OP; I would urge you to take note of CIS' (among some others) excellent advice

creditcardking_2

Justicia wrote:

I love the smell of benefit fraud in the evening...

OP; I would urge you to take note of CIS' (among some others) excellent advice

I dont condone benefit fraud, but if you take out a 16k loan and then place that money in the bank ready to pay for the home improvements its not really yours it belongs to the bank and if the bank found out that you spent it on living expenses rather than the improvements they wouldn't be happy. The benefits agency should not count borrowed funds as savings. So if you are not allowed to pay back the loan (deprivation of capital) and you can't spend it on living expenses (breaching terms and conditions of the loan) what can they do, you can't win either way.

magicmaria

Hi

I hope you are also seeking legal advice looks like you will have a good case for Constructive Dismissal due to the bullying, especially if you have the backing of your HR department

CIS

DWP are not bothered about the semantics of who owns the money, if the money has been taken in your name and is avialble to spend, then it is a cash asset to use for iving expenses.

They deem the repayments as the least of your worrys when it comes to day to day essential living expenses.

Bogof_Babe

I'd be inclined to tell the bank about what has happened, and ask them to call in the loan immediately.

I don't see how the OP is expected to make repayments with interest, if that is his/her only source of income and has to be spent on living costs.

Edit: I'm usually the last person to advocate living on benefits, but in this situation it does seem like a rock and a hard place.