some advice please

hopeneeded

hello

My partner has been given notice her office will be closing and has applied for VR, she works for a bank part-time for last 23 years. But they have been told they will get confirmation of VR until Sept 1st. and the office will close Dec 1st. Obviously there is a long time to go til then but would she be entitled to unemployment beneifit, housing beneift etc etc. Her redundancy will be £30k plus and we expect this becomes 'savings' and therefore will not be entitled to any beneifts. The reason we ask is not so much for claiming money but the fact that she is know considering going back into full time education (retraining) and their applications forms are asking will be claiming any benefits so we can work out fees!

any advice welcome

Redundolita

Hello

Sorry to hear of your partner's situation.

She will be entitled to up to 6 months contribution based Job seekers allowance, the princely sum of £67.50 per week, provided that her national insurance contributions are up to date. This is paid regardless of one's financial situation, so long as she can state that she's actively seeking and availabe for work.

So if she starts a training course which is going on for a long time, potentially she wouldn't then be entitled to this allowance. Most other benefits are effectively means tested and would depend on what other income was coming into your household and the level of savings held. £30k will provide a cushion though, don't you think ? Redundancy pay is there for a reason and having found myself in this situation, it is a fortunate thing that there's a wedge of cash with your P45, especially when your partner's had such long service.

There is another forum called benefits and tax credits with some really useful information in threads called "sticky" that are always the first posts you see. Do have a look.There are lots of people who may be better versed than I at helping you out on the benefits forum; just ignore the spittle flecked ranters whom you might also find lurking there.

I wish your partner joy in her new endeavour - the fortunate things is that at the moment, she has lots of time to consider her options and refine her plan, maybe save hard also, for what lies ahead. Good luck

Kimitatsu

hopeneeded wrote: »

hello

My partner has been given notice her office will be closing and has applied for VR, she works for a bank part-time for last 23 years. But they have been told they will get confirmation of VR until Sept 1st. and the office will close Dec 1st. Obviously there is a long time to go til then but would she be entitled to unemployment beneifit, housing beneift etc etc. Her redundancy will be £30k plus and we expect this becomes 'savings' and therefore will not be entitled to any beneifts. The reason we ask is not so much for claiming money but the fact that she is know considering going back into full time education (retraining) and their applications forms are asking will be claiming any benefits so we can work out fees!

any advice welcome

Hi

If she has £30k in savings then she will not be entitled to any means tested benefits at all, over £16k then she is expected to pay her own way. She will be entitled to contribution based JSA for 26 weeks and then if she has not gone back into education or employment as long as she keeps signing on they will pay her NI contributions for her.

HAve you checked out the grant finder though? If she is retraining or is going back into education for a first time degree there are a lot of grants and burseries available.