OH being made redundant - not entitled to JSA, entitled to course funding?

melvis

Hi

My OH has been told that it is likely he will be made redundant. He has only been working for the company for a little over 2 years (feb 2009 - mar 2011) and was unemployed for a year before that so hasn't worked the right tax years to qualify for contribution based JSA and I work 35 hours a week so he can't claim Income Based JSA. We're not entitled to housing benefit (too many bedrooms) and can't claim WTC if he doesn't get JSA. Despite the lovely people at CAB convinced that we're entitled to all of the above, we're pretty certain we're not entitled to any benefits.

My question is, if OH is still signing on for N.I reasons but not entitled to JSA, will he be entitled to funding to do a college course/NVQ etc as he has no qualifications and would like to study mechanics (he's very good at this but has no qualifications on paper). We can't afford a course on our wages so if he's finds it difficult to find new work we thought if he can get free study, at least something good may come of the redundancy?

The people at CAB don't know the answer to this, just that OH might qualify for a £30 per week return to study payment but this won't be enough to pay the course fees and I'll have no spare wages after paying the rent & bills.

Thanks xx

Edit: also if OH hasn't worked the right tax years to qualify for JSA in 2011 and he's still unemployed come Jan 2012 when he will have worked the right tax years, can he claim then?

p00hsticks

melvis wrote: »

We're not entitled to housing benefit (too many bedrooms)

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't think the number of bedrooms is a reason for excluding you from Housing benefit - my understanding is that you qualify depending on your income, and the amount you get depends on your age and circumstances.

It may be that they reckon you should be able to live in a place with less bedrooms, but in that case you still get the amount they reckon you would need for a smaller place and you simply make up the difference if that's what you want.

full details on Housing Benefit here

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

ALIBOBSY

Council tax benefit can be claimed direct with the council based on low income. Without knowing a ball park figure for your income it is difficult to say what you can get. WTC is based on joint income not just his so if your wage is low enough you would qualify even if he didn't get JSA. However if your income is higher and you don't have kids you may well struggle to qualify for anything.

Good luck anyway

ali x

melvis

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Council tax benefit can be claimed direct with the council based on low income. Without knowing a ball park figure for your income it is difficult to say what you can get. WTC is based on joint income not just his so if your wage is low enough you would qualify even if he didn't get JSA. However if your income is higher and you don't have kids you may well struggle to qualify for anything.

Good luck anyway

ali x

That's what we thought last time OH was unemployed and we claimed WTC and we are now in an ongoing argument with HRMC who say we weren't entitled to WTC as OH wasn't entitled to JSA and are asking us to pay back £3000+ WTC.

I earn £15076 per year plus an annual bonus of approx £1200 gross.

melvis

p00hsticks wrote: »

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't think the number of bedrooms is a reason for excluding you from Housing benefit - my understanding is that you qualify depending on your income, and the amount you get depends on your age and circumstances.

It may be that they reckon you should be able to live in a place with less bedrooms, but in that case you still get the amount they reckon you would need for a smaller place and you simply make up the difference if that's what you want.

full details on Housing Benefit here

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

Thank you xx

We got told we that as there's just us we were allowed to claim for up to a 2 bedroomed house (our bedroom + 1), hopefully that was wrong x

Spendless

melvis wrote: »

That's what we thought last time OH was unemployed and we claimed WTC and we are now in an ongoing argument with HRMC who say we weren't entitled to WTC as OH wasn't entitled to JSA and are asking us to pay back £3000+ WTC.

I earn £15076 per year plus an annual bonus of approx £1200 gross.

This is what their own webiste says.

http://taxcredits.hmrc.gov.uk/Qualify/WhatAreTaxCredits.aspx

As far as I can see as long as you made it as a joint claim and it was asked to be paid to you as the one working, you should have qualified unless you earned too much at the time.

melvis wrote: »

Thank you xx

We got told we that as there's just us we were allowed to claim for up to a 2 bedroomed house (our bedroom + 1), hopefully that was wrong x

I was also under the impression that having more bedrooms than you need doesn't disqualify you from getting help, but it would be taken into account that you don't need as big a place when working out how much HB you may qualify for.

Who's advising you btw? The cast of the Muppet Show? :eek:

Oldernotwiser

College course fees are waived only if claiming means tested benefits, so that won't help. However, if your OH doesn't already have a level 2 qualification, he won't have to pay fees for his first course at this level.

sunshinejoclaire

We found ourself in that position last year. My Hubby is now nearly finished his first year of a degree.

As a mature student you don't always need to have three A Levels to get accepted onto a degree course - could he look into that? There is far more funding for Higher Education than college level. Mine didn't have the quals needed for his course - he was accepted on the basis of his working experience and his passion for the subject.

My hubby gets circa 7k a year in various grants and loans - obviously there is the student debt to consider, but we took the decision that it would vastly improve his earning potential for the future, and if it doesn't, well he was only earning around the repayment threshold before so it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

The other way we looked at it is that the funding would be secure for three years and the country's job situation may be a bit better than it was at the time by the time he finishes. It was diabolical round here - 100's of people competing for every call centre sales job..

p00hsticks

melvis wrote: »

Thank you xx

We got told we that as there's just us we were allowed to claim for up to a 2 bedroomed house (our bedroom + 1), hopefully that was wrong x

I suspect that it's right, but I don't think that means that you can't claim at all if you're in a three bedroom property - just that you will just get enough Benefit to cover the average 2-bed property, and you will nede to make up the difference.

Bryndis

p00hsticks wrote: »

I suspect that it's right, but I don't think that means that you can't claim at all if you're in a three bedroom property - just that you will just get enough Benefit to cover the average 2-bed property, and you will nede to make up the difference.

There is something seriously wrong if the housing benefits people did not explain this to the op and left them thinking they could not claim at all.

Xanthe14

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