Voluntary redundancy - Benefit entitlement?

Liliraine

We didn't leave the citizens advice until we were deffinatley sure about voluntary redundancy and being able to claim benefits, ..."dismissed then choose voluntary?....we didn't get this either but we got told by head of benefits at the CAB that they are now treated as equal (voluntary & dismissed).
We contacted jobcentre plus & direct.gov when we knew when my husband was leaving work this was after the visit to CAB and they said the same thing ,wait until your notice is up then he can claim JSA,the only thing jobcentre said differently is they would want to see how redundancy is paid, if it over £16,000 we will be unable to claim.
We contacted Citizens as after numerous calls to jobcentre they couldn't give us any information until my husband leaves work..no help there..we got told about different benefits we were eligible for from different people working at jobcentre ,we were getting really confused as to what we would be entitled to.
If no-one was to take voluntary redundancy at my husbands workplace then they would have to close part of the company down they were relying on people taking VR to save part of the company and those that wanted to stay.
My husband now has one deffinate/two possible jobs lined up in music and can hopefully start work in june.Hopefully we won't have to claim benefits at all now if these go well.

aj2703

Liliraine wrote: »

We didn't leave the citizens advice until we were deffinatley sure about voluntary redundancy and being able to claim benefits, ..."dismissed then choose voluntary?....we didn't get this either but we got told by head of benefits at the CAB that they are now treated as equal (voluntary & dismissed).
We contacted jobcentre plus & direct.gov when we knew when my husband was leaving work this was after the visit to CAB and they said the same thing ,wait until your notice is up then he can claim JSA,the only thing jobcentre said differently is they would want to see how redundancy is paid, if it over £16,000 we will be unable to claim.
We contacted Citizens as after numerous calls to jobcentre they couldn't give us any information until my husband leaves work..no help there..we got told about different benefits we were eligible for from different people working at jobcentre ,we were getting really confused as to what we would be entitled to.
If no-one was to take voluntary redundancy at my husbands workplace then they would have to close part of the company down they were relying on people taking VR to save part of the company and those that wanted to stay.
My husband now has one deffinate/two possible jobs lined up in music and can hopefully start work in june.Hopefully we won't have to claim benefits at all now if these go well.

Hi i really don't understand how they came to that conclusion, the bit about dismissed and voluntary. I thought that if you were dismissed then you can't claim jsa anyway, only hardship.... maybe that part has changed as i haven't claimed for ages.:D

LittleVoice

aj2703 wrote: »

. . . I thought that if you were dismissed then you can't claim jsa anyway, only hardship.... maybe that part has changed as i haven't claimed for ages.:D

"Dismissed" - doesn't mean there has to be any wrong doing/poor behaviour on the part of the employee. If your employer decides you have to go because of redundancy, you are dismissed (on the grounds of redundancy).

If someone is dismissed for gross misconduct, then eligibility for JSA would be in question.

Liliraine

Thanks everyone

mttylad

It may be worth him just having a little word in the ear of his employer and saying he would not object to redundancy but cannot volunteer for it.

That way he may just find that he is one of the chosen ones.

jtk174

Liliraine wrote: »

,the only thing jobcentre said differently is they would want to see how redundancy is paid, if it over £16,000 we will be unable to claim.
.

Do you know is this solely based on the redundancy payout? I had been told if you had more than £16000 in savings you would not receive any benefits and as a result didn't bother signing on for JSA.

Nosht

Liliraine wrote: »

Thanks everyone

Try not to use your credit cards in your situation, work out a budget & stick to it.
It's all too easy to postpone the day of reckoning but when it comes it doesn't come cheap.


Regards,


N.

psb

Liliraine wrote: »

We didn't leave the citizens advice until we were deffinatley sure about voluntary redundancy and being able to claim benefits, ..."dismissed then choose voluntary?....we didn't get this either but we got told by head of benefits at the CAB that they are now treated as equal (voluntary & dismissed).
We contacted jobcentre plus & direct.gov when we knew when my husband was leaving work this was after the visit to CAB and they said the same thing ,wait until your notice is up then he can claim JSA,the only thing jobcentre said differently is they would want to see how redundancy is paid, if it over £16,000 we will be unable to claim.
We contacted Citizens as after numerous calls to jobcentre they couldn't give us any information until my husband leaves work..no help there..we got told about different benefits we were eligible for from different people working at jobcentre ,we were getting really confused as to what we would be entitled to.
If no-one was to take voluntary redundancy at my husbands workplace then they would have to close part of the company down they were relying on people taking VR to save part of the company and those that wanted to stay.
My husband now has one deffinate/two possible jobs lined up in music and can hopefully start work in june.Hopefully we won't have to claim benefits at all now if these go well.

Good Luck to both you and your husband - this may be a blessing in disguise in the long run. And I too rang the jobcentre regarding my own husband taking VR and they said no problem in claiming JSA he would be treated the same as being made redundant .

jtuk_2

This recently happened to me. I took voluntary redundancy in April and was paid in leiu of notice until mid june but was able to claim contribution based JSA immediately even though i'd been paid til mid june (bar a 3 day waiting period). I didn't think I would be able too but they said there were no hard and fast rules re: VR and each cased was viewed individually. I've never claimed before so not sure if that had anything to do with it but they had my letter stating it was voluntary together with all info and final payslip showing breakdown of payments. I was surprised but wasn't going to say no!

passau91

jtk174 wrote: »

Do you know is this solely based on the redundancy payout? I had been told if you had more than £16000 in savings you would not receive any benefits and as a result didn't bother signing on for JSA.

You have to make the distinction between Job Seekers Allowance and Job Seekers Allowance based on Contributions - because they sound exactly the same, I get the impression that a lot of people (including the staff on the telephone lines) muddle them up. When I worked in the DHSS (as it was then), there was Income Support and Unemployment Benefit - the latter was solely dependent on whether you had paid enough in National Insurance and I believe this is now JSA Contribution - in other words, regardless of your level of savings, so long as you have paid the correct amount of NI and qualify under the other rules, you will be paid it. I'd advise you to go back to them. Even if you don't qualify because you don't have the right contributions, at least you will be 'paying your stamp' for NI contributions towards pension rights.