what benefits can i claim after voluntary redundancy?

crispeater

would i be allowed to pay off my credit cards from my lump some or would that be seen as a luxory item so to speak?

Scarlett1

crispeater wrote:

would i be allowed to pay off my credit cards from my lump some or would that be seen as a luxory item so to speak?

you will have to check but I think that will be classed as depreciation of capital

katie_boo

I'm in the same situation, I'm so glad I came accross this post. I've been offered voluntary redundancy and as I'm planning on going back to college in September anyway it'd be a godsend. My worry is that I won't be able to claim Jobseekers allowance, my mum called the Job Centre on my behalf and they told her that if you are made redundant you can register as being unemployed straight away but you won't receive any benefits until after the period that your redundancy money covers (I think its 10 weeks wages as standard, thats what I've been offered) has ended. I think the best thing to do is call up your local Job Centre and explain your situation and hopefully they'll be able to tell you what you're entitled to.

fbaggy

Regarding paying of your credit cards. The Decision Maker at Income Support will look to see whether you have done this to deprive yourself of capital in order to claim benefits. What this means is they will look to see if there was a need to pay of the credit cards immediately (e.g. they are threatening court action) or whether it would be reasonable to continue paying them as normal. If they decide that there was no actual need to pay of the credit cards they can decide that you have deprived yourself of the capital. They would then treat your capital as notional-in other words they pretend you still have the money.
With credit cards its a bit of a sticky issue due to the high interest rates-if they did decide you have deprived yourself of capital you do have the right of review and then right of appeal but this can take a while to sort out.
It is easier for the Decision Maker if it was a loan or mortgage you were trying to pay of because when these are taken out they are for a set period of time and normally these loans would run there course therefore if you paid these off you are virtually guaranteed to have a negative decision made.
You never mentioned how much redundancy you were looking at getting. For Income Support for every £250 you have over £6000.01 they would normally look at reducing your benefit by £1. This is upto the value of £16,000 when your capital would exceed the Income Support threshold.
The amount of Income Support you would get is £57.45. You would have to claim Tax Credits for your children as Income Support no longer pay for children.
There is also the questions regarding your housing costs. If you live in rented accomodation you would get Housing Benefit to cover your rent (or most of it). If your property is mortgaged then depending when you took out the mortgage would depend when Income Support could help you from.
Either way you would get your Council Tax paid just because you were on Income Support as this leads to the other passported benefits.
Please see this link for details on Income Support: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Incomesupport/index.html
The basic jobcentre site also has links for Tax Credits.
Good luck

crispeater

i have a feeling im going to be offered around 8k. i was considering paying my credit cards coz as you say the interest they charge.
thats answered quite a lot of my questions as i was concerned they would turn round and say 'well you made yourself jobless so deal with it' kind of thing.

anyone need any staff??

reelcrazy

The £2000 over the threshold, you could use to pay off all outstanding bills, overdraft (if you havent got one, get one now and use it) and pay chunks off credit cards.

fbaggy

For capital of £8000 this would equate to a Tariff Income of £8 per week (i.e capital of between £8000.01 and £8250) or £7 per week (capital of £7750-£8000.00).
This means that the £57.45 you would be entitled to (your applicable amount) would reduce by the £7 or £8 per week leaving £49.45 payable to you.
NOTE FOR EVERYONE: even though Income Support (and Job Seekers) will write out to you each year to check your capital you MUST inform them if your capital increases or decreases around the £250 mark. This is because Income Support will NOT pay arrears if your capital decreases (they will use the date notified as the date of change) but WILL go as far back as required to calculate the overpayment.

The main thing regarding paying of bills and deprivation of capital is that the Decision Maker will look at whatever agreement is in place to pay of the debt. With credit cards there is no agreement as long as you pay the minimum each month therefore I think if they did decide you had deprived yourself I think you would have grounds for the decision to be overturned at appeal.
Deprivation is VERY VERY hard to prove and nearly always falls down at appeal stage unless you actually put it in writing that you knew you would get more Income Support if you reduced your capital. (Even though ignorance of a materail fact is not as excuse).

muneyspider

An interesting one.
Someone was in the same position.
When they went to claim JSA they were told that they could not claim JSA as they had too much disposable income.
" But hang on, if for example I have been paid £20000.00 but I owe £15000.00 I only have in reality £5000.00 "

" No, you have £20000.00, you had no right to pay off the £15000.00 "

" It is my money and I can do as I like with it "

" No you cannot "

" You seem an educated person, if I have been given £20000.00 and I owe £15000.00 how much do I actually have ? "

" I will have to go and speak to a manager "

The person got their JSA.

It's always annoyed me that you can work for x amount of years paying into the system then get told what to do with the money that is yours after you've paid a tidy wedge to the treasury!

AnnaRogers

Hi,
I was offered voluntary redundancy (a kind of offer you can not refuse) before the start of my maternity leave. Got a redundancy package (6 months tax free wages) which stated redundancy pay, september salary and overtime. I was wondering if I am enttled to maternity allowance or not. My ex employer said that SMP was already included in my redundancy pack but i could not find an indication of it in my payslip or in my redundancy notification letter. Would appreciate any advice.
Thank you

mrcow

AnnaRogers wrote: »

Hi,
I was offered voluntary redundancy (a kind of offer you can not refuse) before the start of my maternity leave. Got a redundancy package (6 months tax free wages) which stated redundancy pay, september salary and overtime. I was wondering if I am enttled to maternity allowance or not. My ex employer said that SMP was already included in my redundancy pack but i could not find an indication of it in my payslip or in my redundancy notification letter. Would appreciate any advice.
Thank you

SMP can not be paid if you are not an employee of a company. They couldn't have paid you it as you have to be on the payroll as and when you get it. They may have 'included' it for calculation purposes, but you've not been paid it.