The Great 'What to do in the event of redundancy' Hunt

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

There is a statutory minimum if your with the same company for two years - we were conned because the company changed hands during that time and we had a choice to stay on old terms at our old low rate of pay or take the new terms with a pay increase and many other benefits. None the less we all agreed on the new terms.

I am not conning the system as i have done this after seeking advise from the benefit places. I am terrified of conning the system because if i did and got caught i would be so much worse off. That is something not worth risking, especially with a young baby.

If I could have kept my job i would have, believe me - i even asked to be considered for another site down on the coast - Which would have made me and my daughter have to move away from my partner anyway, but this got refused.

I was not put in this position by choice! I'm just trying to make the most of a bad situation by getting what i am entitled to. Believe it or not I actually enjoyed my job!

And to clarify, my partner pay's for things for my daughter sometimes - not for me! He still has to pay his own rent remember! He gives me money for her keep as according to what is required by the child support agency. It is his choice, not mine, to save money for me when i finish college and it is no money that is in my control - he could easily change his mind, but he has done this out of kindness as i was by far the main earner before - (he is not that far off of minimum wage).

And he only stays some weekends, not all, or she stays with him.

It is not a situation i would like to be in as he only just about gets to see his little girl grow up - no where near as much as he would if he were living with us. I do not intend for this to continue for very long as it is not a long term solution. Just until i am able to get back on my feet - for god sake i'm still suposed to be on maternity leave and i only get a measley amount of government maternity pay (due to being made redundant).

When yor rent is so high and your income drops to that of those on income support - what do you do? Our only other choice was apply for council and in the mean time me and baby would have had to go into bed & breakfast and dad have to find his own place as they will not house the man. I have known of quite a few people who have done this in the past (under my local council) and been in a B&B for over two years - living in one room with a toddler for that long? I don't think that is very healthy, do you? So personally i chose to stay where i am.

I have worked since i was 14, full time since i was 16 - and i love going to work so i am not someone out to abuse the system!!! I intend to get back to work as soon as i can but it is not easy when you not long ago given birth!!!

Very sorry for the rant - I just feel my situation needs to be understanded a little better!

Pauper_Princess

I found out 3 weeks ago that the firm I work for is up for sale. It's an accountancy practice and it seems likely that any buyer will only want the fees, not the staff

And I've only been with them 18 months so I'm not even entitled to any redundancy pay

AND I actually enjoy working here, it's the best job I've ever had and I'm gutted that I may lose it!!!

Trying really hard to stay positive, have just signed up with a local recruitment agency to see what they can come up with. It's just hard to stay positive - especially with loads of debt, and this close to Christmas *sigh*

Just wanted to get that off my chest, sorry

Uncle_Cuddles

I know I am going to be made redundant at the end of this year. We are a small UK company wholly owned by a Finnish company with 10 employees in the UK. A new company is starting up as the UK distributor for our product (which we currently import from our Finnish parent company). This new company is a lot smaller and cannot afford the overhead, and so this obviously involves making people redundant, although the employees that go to work for the new company will not be made redundant, they will have to resign (four out of the ten are being made redundant). To be honest, being made redundant does not bother me - I am bored with the job and was looking to move anyway, so this could be the best thing ever for me. The package looks like it is going to be good, and there may be some additional work the parent company want me to do after the redundancy. I obviously want to make this package as good for me as possible, so can anyone offer any advice on the following:-

Pay in lieu of notice (PILON) - I have a clause in my contract regarding termination of employment and it says "The Company may, at its discretion pay monies in lieu of required notice periods" - does this automatically make PILON taxable? If it does, can they structure my redundancy payment in such a way as to pay me the equivalent PILON but not call it that so that it is tax free? So for example, if my redundancy pay was £3500 (one months pay) and Pilon £10500 (three months pay), couldn't they just say my redundancy pay is £14000 with no PILON and say I worked my notice? I am a 40% taxpayer so the tax on the PILON is worth quite a lot to me.

Linked to the above, does the company have to explain to the Inland Revenue how the redundancy pay has been calculated and does it have to be consistent between employees? For example, can it give one employee a week's pay for every year of employment, and another employee a month's pay for every year of employment? I am a manager and the most senior person being made redundant so could it use this as an excuse to differentiate if one is needed?

I have a company car which has one year remaining on the lease. Can they give me the car for the balance of the lease as part of the redundancy package, and is tax payable on it or is it covered by the £30000 exemption? Also, how is the value of it calculated (is it the remaining lease payments?)?

Finally, I would like the company to compensate me for the pension contributions on the PILON - can I just ask them to pay a lump sum into my pension equivalent to the pension contributions on the PILON and what are the tax implications of this?

As an aside, the parent company want to employ me directly in the new year on a temporary contract just to tie up some loose ends for them, so I am in a fairly strong position to negotiate the terms of my redundancy, which is why i obviously want to maximise it!!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

supergranny_2

I have just been made redundant from my part time job after 30+ years. Another part timer who I shared my job with has been allowed to increase their hours to nearly full time to cover my work. Can anyone advise me whether I would have sufficient grounds for appeal to an Employment Tribunal.

ukpobrien31

Afternoon All,

I thought that I would give an update to my original post on 04/10.

Well, I am now officially unemployed and have been since 31/10. I rang the Department of work and pensions (as I believe it is called now) as I was instructed to do so in a previous call to them, only on the very first day of unemployment. They spent about 30 mins taking many details over the phone and then informed me that someone would call me the following day between 08.00 and 12.00 to go through more questions and details. This they did and asked for absolutely everything bar a stool sample!!!
I can see why many people think that the process is humiliating as you have to give a complete stranger all your most private details!!!

Anyway, once finished I was told that all the paperwork would be posted to me to check and sign and then they arranged a date for an interview to go and see someone at the department of work and pensions to go through everything AGAIN!!!. This was booked for the 13/11 as I informed them that I was going to Ireland to visit the folks. I had decided this many weeks previously as I really needed a break. Not having been unemployed before, it was a chance for me to wind down and take it easy for a few days!!!

It must be noted at this point, and if you have read my previous post on this subject, that I eventually walked away from my previous job with a few pounds of redundancy money in my back pocket. However, if it wasn't for the fact that I am making a claim against my PPI and that they need information from the department of work and pensions in order to substantiate a claim, then I wouldn't be bothering them in the first place. This was met with mild anger form my other half, as she pointed out that I have been paying my way since I started to work and am more than entitled to make a claim.

Anyway, I went to my appointment and the first 20 minutes were spent checking my paperwork and the required documents that I was requested to bring with me. I was then told that the next 30 mins or so would be spent with someone else in order to fill out more paperwork, be given my sign on book, sign the job seekers agreement and various other bits and pieces.

I had brought with me a particular piece of paper that needed to be filled out by them in order to send off with the dozen or so others bit of paperwork required to make a claim against my PPI. I was told that they couldn't fill it out until my claim paperwork had been sent off, reviewed and then details of what I am entitled to sent to me in writing.

So here I am, 21st of October, and three weeks into unemployment. Nothing yet received form the department of works and pensions about my claim and I am due to sign on for the first time on Thursday morning. Even when they do process my claim and eventually complete the PPI form for me, I then need to send it off and then wait for them to hopefully get in touch in order to pay me the premium for which I have been paying for via direct debit for the last 10 years or so. Even then and as per the T&C's, I have to wait for 30 days before anything even happens.

It just beggars belief all the rigmarole you have to go through. Will the PPI Company even eventually payout on the claim after hearing various stories in the press and TV about these types of policies.

Well fingers crossed!!!

Regards,

Pat.

ukpobrien31

Morning All -- It's me gain!!!

Well I have just contacted them again in order to find out where my claim is at, only to be told that I may be waiting up to 8 or 9 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely outrageous!!! What are people meant to do in the mean time? What if I hadn't walked away with a few quid redundancy in my back pocket? I dare say I'd be going massively overdrawn -- what with bills and a mortgage to pay!!!!

And I can't do a single thing about claiming against my PPI until my claim is processed by these eejits!!!

So frustrating..............

Pat.

peter999

ukpobrien31 wrote:

Well I have just contacted them again in order to find out where my claim is at, only to be told that I may be waiting up to 8 or 9 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely outrageous!!! What are people meant to do in the mean time? What if I hadn't walked away with a few quid redundancy in my back pocket? I dare say I'd be going massively overdrawn -- what with bills and a mortgage to pay!!!!

And I can't do a single thing about claiming against my PPI until my claim is processed by these eejits!!!

So frustrating....

What are you claiming for, Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) (not clear from your post)??
Has anyone said why it may take 8-9 weeks to process, on top of 3 weeks you have been registered unemployed already ??

And take a deep breath !!

Usually when I have been warned a benefits claim may take weeks/months, it has been processed much quicker & efficiently without any problem.

At least with benefits it's more certain you'll get them, than any fixed period PPI scheme, where they use any weasly words to get out of paying out.

peter999

ukpobrien31

peter999 wrote:

What are you claiming for, Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) (not clear from your post)??
Has anyone said why it may take 8-9 weeks to process, on top of 3 weeks you have been registered unemployed already ??

And take a deep breath !!

Usually when I have been warned a benefits claim may take weeks/months, it has been processed much quicker & efficiently without any problem.

At least with benefits it's more certain you'll get them, than any fixed period PPI scheme, where they use any weasly words to get out of paying out.

peter999

Hi Peter,

Apologies for the delay -- I'm trying to get back on the work ladder, I had several interviews last week and a second with the same company last Friday, so I should hear something in the next day or so!!!

To answer your questions -- yes I'm trying to claim JSA, stress the word 'trying' because I'm in a rage as I sit here typing this!!!

I just called my local office AGAIN to find out where my claim is at. Again I was told that it takes 6 to 8 weeks as all my details are with the processing centre and I was also informed that that is a normal amount of time for a new claim. The computer wasn't working (how many times have I heard that in the last couple of weeks!!) and the best he could do was to give me the main claims number (0845 608 8648) which low and behold is an automated number. “Press '2' if claiming Job seekers allowance” comes the message (amongst others of course), except it either rings out followed by a busy message or it says that the other person has cleared therefore you get cutoff – Arrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!

To be honest, I’m AM getting more joy with my PPI claim than I am with these halfwits at the department of work and pensions – no wonder this country is going down the pan!!! The people at the PPI Company have been amazing. I’ve sent in all the documents that they asked for so far, but I’m still waiting on the numpties at the DWP as they need to fill out the important form that confirms that I am out of work and claiming JSA. I’ve said it before, but if wasn’t for that fact that I need this form filling out by these plebs, I wouldn’t have bothered making a claim with them in the first place. But then of course you get the ‘why shouldn’t you claim, you’ve paid your way all your life, you are entitled to it….’ speech.

As the famous man once said ‘Oh I could crush a grape!’

So, since making my claim, two lots of bills and mortgage payments have come out of my account – totaling approx. £2k. This was stressed to the dimwit at the DWP who just couldn’t have cared less when I asked him what am I meant to do with no salary coming in!!!

You’ll have to excuse the diatribe I’m afraid, but I think I have managed to sufficiently vent my spleen enough for today.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has been having problems – surely I can’t be the only person currently unemployed with a new claim that has had an easier time than I?

Kind Regards,

Patrick.

ukpobrien31

I may as well turn this into a mini blog of my own I guess seeing as I'm updating so often -- so welcome to poblog.com :rotfl:

Anyway, I signed on again for the second time this morning, and guess what? Still no further forward than I was the first time I signed on two weeks ago.

And to top it all I had a trainee!!!! He had to ask assistance on more than one occasion, which wasn't the worst experience in the world I guess. So I explained my situation once AGAIN concerning my PPI claim and the 0845 number I had been given to chase my claim with these numpties and the fact that I had more chance of finding shergar than I did of getting through on that number!!!

He tried the number also in order to see where my claim was at -- and guess what? You got it!!! First he got cutoff and the second it just rang out.

At this point he called for assistance again. And at this point my patience was wearing very thin indeed. I explained again to the woman that came over but she just spoke over me. The third time she did it, well that was it!!! I let her have it big time. Explaining my situation once again but this time in a louder tone so as to get it through to her. She just couldn't care less. She told me again that 6 weeks would be a record and that I would be looking at more like 8 to 10 weeks.

It just beggars belief!!! To say I am fuming is a masterpiece of understatement!!!

Why do we just sit back and take it up the proverbial -- the point is that it gets you nowhere whatsoever -- and that's what's wrong with the whole system in this country!!! It is just so frustrating when you have bills and a mortgage to pay!! Its people’s lives that they are messing with here and they just couldn’t give a monkeys.

Rant over…………until the next time!!!

Regards,

Patrick O’Brien.

lollyb84

Hi,

My OH found out yesterday that he is being made redundant on the 6th April. He works for a large company (naming no names) but is a contractor to another (very) large company. The company he works for have lost the contract for the other large company and we are concerned that this affects his redundancy pay. I don't think it does but he was given very little information - they basically took less than 20 mins to tell 144 people they were being made redundant. In many ways we are in a fortunate as I pay my own rent and bills (he still lives with his parents and pays very little), so there is no risk of us losing our home. He does however, have a large(ish) loan and although he payment protection, neither of us has any idea how this works. I have advised him to contact his bank, and ACAS to find out his statutory rights, as well as request a copy of his contract (which he has no recollection of signing). Apart from this we are both quite naive and fairly clueless about redundancy and what needs to be done. I would like to thank all those people who have posted advice on here, I will print much of it off and show it to him. Also, if anyone else has any advice I'd be grateful (particularly about redundancy for contract workers). My OH is 23 and so I'm sure he'll find another job very quickly (I hope anyway!) but I will be making him budget, just in case.
Once again, thanks.

Wendy