Short working/redundancy

lesleystrawson

Hello

I currently work 5 days a week, 4 hours every day and as a result pay Class 1 National Insurance. This is very important to me as currently my employer does not offer me a pension scheme. My current employer took on my contract from my previous employer, thus I have over 2 years continuous employment/payments.

Some months ago my boss mentioned that if bookings in our business did not improve by Christmas, he may be forced to cut our hours. Bookings have not improved, and he is coming down to our offices at the beginning of next week - it will be his only visit before the New Year, so I am anticipating a 'chat'.

I am concerned that if my days are cut to 3 or less, I know that my pay will not be sufficient for me to pay Class 1 NI automatically. I am in a dilemma as to what to do, so my questions are;

1. Can I claim any benefits if I work 12 hours a week or less? (Husband is in higher tax bracket and we are entitled to nothing other than child benefit).

2. Could I request my boss make me redundant and if he did, would I be entitled to contribution-based JSA? I know that if I am made redundant 'normally' I would be entitled, but am concerned that as I would be 'requesting' it, this may seem to be seen to be as good as resigning.

Thanks for your help

Lesley