voluntary Redundancy and benefits..

jasper27

Help!!

I need some urgent advice, please.

I have worked in this job for 12 years and have been told this week that my job is being deleted, and some others too.

Basically there is a re-structure and there will be a job very similar to my current post... same duties, wage etc.

I have been offered VR .. worked out as:

Annual Salary -£16815
Age 46
continious service 12 yrs

entitlement 14.5 wks pay at £323.36 per wee.
In addition if my application is accepted i would be entitled to 4 months pay in lieu (PILON) = £5605

The estimated Voluntary Severance payment is £10,293.72


Questions..

1. would i be entitled to benefits.. JSA etc?
2. I am thinking of paying 12 months mortgage upfront ( £385 x 12 = £4,620, paying off debt £1,800 in bank overdraft/charges incurred... leaving £3,873, supposing I don't get a job for a while, would i be able to manage on JSA to pay all my DD's? Insurance, water, etc (gas and electric on meters) My son, 25 lives with me, pays for the tokens for those, he is on ESA,, i think?!? gets about £68 a fortnight
3. pension? how will this affect my pension?
4. the fact that they are offering me an identical job...will that affect my rights to benefits? ie because i am making myself unemployed?

I really want to leave now..and have a change in career.. in 12 yrs i feel i havent moved up at all, although i have gained a hell of a lot of experience and various training.

Please could any advice given be in laymans terms..as my heads a shed ..and I can't cope with technicalities

Thanks in anticipation xx

lynne1307

Hi
I don't have all the answers but this is what I know

If you are being made redundant you are entitled to JSA. Don't think it'd pay all the bills though!

Why pay mortgage up front? I agree about paying debts off though.

Change sounds good, if you are ready for it. do you have any idea what you are going to do?

If its another job its a new contract of employment but won't affect your rights as its same company. same goes for pension. If you are made redundant yr pension contributions stop obviously.

take care hope you find the right choice for you

DuWolf

If you leave your job voluntarily, unemployment benefits are normally not payable (for six months). People who are made redundant should not be affected by this. However, people sometimes wonder how accepting voluntary redundancy accepts their eligibility for benefits. It does not. The resulting unemployment is still considered involuntary and those affected should be able to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance without any problems. Occasionally, however, people have been known to encounter some difficulties in relation to this question because of poorly-informed clerical staff at the Jobcentre. If it comes to that, you may need to appeal a wrongful decision. In the end, though, you should win. Omitting the word voluntary from the description of why your last job ended is sometimes said to help avoid these kinds of misunderstanding.


Hope it helps

jasper27

Hi
thanks for your replies.

I have spoken to the HMRC and my HR dept and I will not be taxed on any of the payment, including the PILON.

lynne1307 - I thought that paying my mortgage up front or at least putting 12months mortgage into a seperate account to be paid monthly was a sensible idea, at lease ensuring I have a roof over my head )

I have accepted the offer now, so no going back. I expect I will be in/out of MSE quite alot over the next couple of months.
Thanks again for your help and advice x

nimbo

i was under the impression that if as part of a redundancy process they offered you suitable alternative employment, then you would't in fact get the payment - just the nice feeling of having a job to get up for in the morning....

jasper27

nimbo wrote: »

i was under the impression that if as part of a redundancy process they offered you suitable alternative employment, then you would't in fact get the payment - just the nice feeling of having a job to get up for in the morning....

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with the above statement?

I would not automatically be given the job, indeed my colleagues who have chosen not to take the redundancy route ( and yes all our posts were made redundant ) have just been through their interviews today, and still don't know if they have been successful. If they haven't then they will be in a worse position than me.

Like I said ...I really want to leave now..and have a change in career.. in 12 yrs i feel i havent moved up at all,
I personally wanted to get out of this place.

I know I have a very daunting task ahead of me, but that's life.


Sorry but I don't feel very good about it at the moment:(

nimbo

Questions..

1. would i be entitled to benefits.. JSA etc?

yes you would be entitled to benefits - they do not treat VR in the same way that they do if you have just quit... i looked into this just last week.

1. I am thinking of paying 12 months mortgage upfront ( £385 x 12 = £4,620, paying off debt £1,800 in bank overdraft/charges incurred... leaving £3,873, supposing I don't get a job for a while, would i be able to manage on JSA to pay all my DD's? Insurance, water, etc (gas and electric on meters) My son, 25 lives with me, pays for the tokens for those, he is on ESA,, i think?!? gets about £68 a fortnight

you would have to look into this, as there are rules about levels of savings, and purposefully spending them to be below the threshold to receive benefits....

1. pension? how will this affect my pension?

you would have to know what type of pension this was EG is it an NHS / Local authority one, or a private pension - i would contact the provider.... NHS pensions get frozen, but this is something you will need to ask your work - or even better the pension people direct.

1. the fact that they are offering me an identical job...will that affect my rights to benefits? ie because i am making myself unemployed?

haven't got a clue about that one....

sorry i took the job thing to mean you had been offered, and then were going to have the VR also....