Help - being made redundant 2 kids and a mortgage

Krasnoludek

Hi there

I found out (via email!) today that I am being made redundant after 2 years in my job. I dont know the specifics yet but I have a meeting on Thursday morning to discuss, I am 30 years old.

I have worked since leaving school and only ever had a month out of work.
My husband earns 15.5k he is currently seconded as an NHS student nurse. I have had a really good wage part time and this is going to hit us hard We own our own home and our mortgage is £770 per month.

My plan, if we can afford it is to cram in as much training as possible to help me find a new job. Our mortgage payment protection will pay 50% of our mortgage for up to 12 months.

We already claim Tax credits as our youngest (age 2 yrs - 3 in Sept) is in nursery and we pay about £520 a month in nursery fees, all the fees are covered by the tax credits and our oldest daughter is at school. My hours were arranged to drop off and collect her but she goes to holiday club now and again (she is 6 years old), this is all accounted for and averaged over the year with the tax credit claim. Will this continue as I look for a job or could I expect a rise in the amount I get seeing as my income is almost halved in the next few weeks, or would it go down, I dont really know much about this sorry.

I have made a list of things we might be entitled to but I confess I dont really know anything about Income Support or JSA having never claimed it, can anyone offer any advice please

I think we might be eligible for

Council tax credit as husband is student nurse and only 1 income
Free school meals ??
Healthy Start Vouchers
Help towards cost in local leisure centres
Dentist cost
Opticians cost
Prescriptions
Warm Front insulation
Educational courses

Cant think of anything else - any help appreciated

K xx

RAS

Hi

Is Hubby a student nurse or is he seconded? if he is the latter, he will be on about 16K salary, if the former about £6K plus allowances bursary.

Krasnoludek

He is seconded on a salary of £15,356 per annum, which is just under the Warm Front Grant allowance

Not sure about anything else though, our daughter has school dinners not sure if we can get those free now

K x

Krasnoludek

We also have a DMP of £195 per month

RAS

Thanks

In that case he is not a student and you cannot claim single person's CT allowance. because he is employed.

Can he do the odd shift when he is not on placement?

Krasnoludek

The Criteria offered or the definition of a student nurse wasnt defined by how they were funded but if they attended a place of study for 24 weeks or more a year

Could we claim CT benefit though if only living on one wage

K x

RAS

You could start by putting your circumstances into https://www.entitledto.com.

I suspect your DH could apply for WTC or CTC. See if you can get CTB as well?

Krasnoludek

We already get some tax credits to pay toward nursery and stuff, would we get any help with our mortgage does anyone know

Thanks

K x

earplugs

Hi there

If you have worked for 2 years or more for a company then you are entitled to a redundancy payment - there is a redundancy calculator on direct gov.uk (google it).

I'd also advise that you contact your DMP provider (you're not paying for the dmp are you?) and tell them of the change in circumstances so that they can inform the creditors and perhaps your monthly payment to the DMP provider will go down.

Also, after the thursday meeting, when you know what the situation is, I'd give your mortgage payment protection company a call to tell them what your circumstances are.