Redundancy & claiming benefits

wisewordsneeded

My husband was made redundant 2 months ago & has received £11,000 redundancy. He was hoping that he would find a job quickly - but to date has found nothing.
He has now gone though the procedure to claim job seekers allowance etc - but it looks unlikely as we have too much money!!
We have a £12,000 mortgage & £6000 in savings.
Should we pay some of the mortgage off? (We pay £350 a month which should finish in 2012).
Or do we have to spend all our capitol just surviving?
We have a son at school & I work part time (taking home around £500 a month).
Whats our best move?

Mrs_P_Pincher

Is your husband not entitled to contribution based benefit for 26 weeks - last time I looked it was about £60 per week, but at least you get your stamp paid...

Job Centre may not volunteer this information - my ex was told the same when he tried to claim - you've got too much money. Not correct

Mrs P P

jfpeeps

My OH was just made redundant and we were told we were entitled to 6 months benifit regardless of savings. After that you are means tested.

hairy_g

you will get contribution based jsa, but i would be inclined to get rid of the mortgage. probably use those savings for training/college and maybe increase job prospects.