My Redundancy Diary

Andyboy

Candy that is pants. We all take gambles some time in life and some we win.....

Give OH all the support you can muster at this stressful time. Believe that there is a reason for this and if you can cope until he is working again maybe look at your lives and find some benefits from a horrible position.

Andyboy

Loving the time spent with my family but being off (still officially on holiday) costs and there is a danger of having too much month left at the end of the money!! One week and 2 days to last payday :eek:

Next on agenda is to start a new budget for non-holiday weeks. We have a rough budget as a family but need to tighten it to take into account the new circumstances. When son goes back to school I will speed up but for now am continuing to enjoy the sun and a holiday at home.

Should have papers through for tax credits etc. soon. We never had any before due to income but it will be interesting to see what the difference will be with neither of us working nor claiming any JSA or other support.

I am still looking at local jobs requiring Nebosh qualification but nothing around as yet. I am not really looking to work for a while but old habits die hard......

MightyMythop

Hello again,

I received my notice details last week and I leave on July 7th which seems pretty soon given the Bank Holidays coming up. Infact, out of boredom at work today I counted up the exact number of working days left and as I don't work on Mondays there's only 37 left!!

I've decided just to keep my hand in with the plastering thing and continue to help friends & contacts out instead. It's not a trade I could realistically do unless I laboured for a while and learnt as I went. However, it's always there to pay for my football season ticket and beer tokens for away matches!

Therefore going to get the grey matter moving again and take an exam (I work within Financial Services) with the hope of enhancing my chances of finding a Sales Support or Paraplanning role with a local IFA firm. In the meantime, I'll keep all options open and today had a call from a good local business regarding my CV and they want me to attend for an aptitude test in a couple of weeks.

I've also got another couple of applications on the go and have also been approached to work for someone although that's in London so not going to happen but there is the possibility of some home working perhaps. So all in all a positive start and I feel hopeful without being arrogant that I could well get myself sorted with something shortly after my notice period ends.

Whether it's the job of my dreams or not remains to be seen but I'll be happy to take stock properly ideally with further money coming in.


In the meantime, with this good weather I'm jealous of anyone currently on "garden leave"!

Matt

daisyf_2

I finish nearly the same time as you in July and never got garden leave!! I turned down a job yesterday as it seemed that they wanted long hours and not much pay - so taking a gamble and going to do a part time job and go freelance..... Be interesting and exciting times xx

Andyboy

daisyf wrote: »

I finish nearly the same time as you in July and never got garden leave!! I turned down a job yesterday as it seemed that they wanted long hours and not much pay - so taking a gamble and going to do a part time job and go freelance..... Be interesting and exciting times xx

hi Daisyf. I think that garden leave is not very often used these days. It was talked about as a possible option for me but that came to nothing. I had time owed and leave that has enabled me to finish a few weeks earlier than the end of April.

Part time work sounds interesting to me but as the major bread winner for the past few years we need to look at this jointly. i have also seen a few jobs that i am interested in looking further at but still don't want to miss out on the chance of a lifetime (dramatic as it may sound but true) to spend the summer with my family.

Several people have suggested they may go freelance. What jobs do you do? I specialise in health safety and wellbeing and am currently applying for my Tech IOSH. i will keep all posted of my successes/challenges/failings!

beansy

This is a great thread, thank you to all for their contributions.

My OH has just been placed in a similar position so will be watching and learning as things develop.

Andyboy

beansy wrote: »

This is a great thread, thank you to all for their contributions.

My OH has just been placed in a similar position so will be watching and learning as things develop.

beansy, i haven't added many thoughts from OH so this may be an opportunity for some to be included by yourself and others. I have started and mean to keep as much positivity in this thread as possible but there are going to be times when there needs to be a balance with reality. The partner of the redundant party will be facing there own fears and challenges and it is very important for these to be shared IMO.

Easter is generally a time to get a few days off work and spend the first post Christmas break with the family. This is the first time in my life that I haven't had to think about how to use the time sparingly and wisely as i am not currently tied to employment. It's a fanatastic feeling despite the lingering fears of being unemployed at the end of the month.

i hope you all spend some time with loved ones and enjoy the unseaonably warm climate.

Andyboy

• Last day of school hols today

• appointment at bank tomorrow

• last payday Thursday

• official leaving date Saturday

• redundancy pay early next week

• Need to contact HMRC early next week

• to work or not to work?

I have had a great break with Family (weather has definitely helped!) and now the work bug is calling. In the meantime I am still sorting out our entitlements as well as levelling any debts possible. OH is still quite calm about the whole thing but I suspect that below the surface the legs are paddling frantically.

i will continue to look at jobs as well as consider what further courses in Health & Safety or other may be worth doing if I decide to continue with the year off.

Really looking forward to spending some quality time with OH starting Wednesday and a coastal walk is already planned. This is definitely the best part of the position i find myself in and after seeing a work colleague yesterday i am even more thankful to be given these opportunities.

i hope all your positives come through if you find yourself facing this and if they are not there yet they will just be hiding ready to be discovered. Keep sharing your stories to help yourself and others.

daisyf_2

I specialise in fundraising andy

You have to be positive and it takes a lot of planning when you are being made redundant I'm setting myself up as a freelancer - today I have a course at the inland revenue on how to become self employed. Already completed four business link courses which were really helpful. Now need to sort my website and marketing Exciting stuff and can put my house in order ready for when I leave......

Barnabylovesicecream

I was made redundant on 31st March. I am signing on- I feel that it is really important to be counted in the statistics. The £65 a week isn't worth the hassle but being a statistic makes it worth the trip to sign on.

The job centre also can't really cope with professionals - they don't know which box to put you in which makes them confused. The guy said - so you could do admin then - we have those jobs. I said well yes if it pays me 80k a year. Basically they have agreed to leave me alone for 3 months to find my own work as what I do is too specialised and jobs would never really be advertised.