New to benefits..any help appreciated!

Brock_and_Roll

Hi all,

There is a possiblity that I might lose my job fairly soon and whilst I would hope to get back into work asap, I need to plan for the worst just in case as have big mortgage, 3 kids etc. Having worked ever since leaving college 20 years ago, I have absolutely no idea about what if anything I might be entitled to.....

Summary

Currently higher rate tax payer, employed >30hrs pw
Married - wife p/t self employed but profit less than personal allowance
3 kids all under 16
mortgage over 200k
no other unusual factors eg DLA etc


What benefits do you think I would be entitled to?

Presumably, if I received a large redundancy payment (e.g. £50k) then this would be used in any means tested benefit calculations...

.....but what I dont understand is what would be the situation if I used the redundancy to pay off debts or part of the mortgage, or perhaps even a lump sum advance on school fees?

After all if you have a loan for £200k and £50k in the bank, you dont really have £50k in savings!

Cheers for any help.

dmg24

You will be entitled to JSA. Your savings will rule you out of receiving any means tested benefits.

Paying off debts in order to claim benefits would be seen as deprivation of capital, and you would be treated as still having the money.

Jowo_2

dmg24 wrote: »

Paying off debts in order to claim benefits would be seen as deprivation of capital, and you would be treated as still having the money.

I often see this advice posted here but another poster pasted in the actual DWP advice/rules to their advisors on what is an acceptable use for a lump sum that won't be seen as DofC.

Does anyone have this link?

[Deleted User]

the rules on dofc seem fairly fluid and open to interupretation by the DM`s,but a rule of thumb if you use capital for anything it might be seen as dofc if you have done so in order to obtain benefits(and rightly so)
As for the OP he can expect cont.based JSA for 6 months.

Brock_and_Roll

Thanks guys

I am guessing that paying off credit cards etc with redundancy payment might be ok, indeed be common sense. However, paying off capital on the mortgage or even paying school fees in advance sounds more like deliberately structuring and would not be allowed.

Presumably I would get no support with mortgage interest until my "savings" were below the £16k threshold as from what I can see SMI is linked to JSA/IS etc?