Sign on?

merlin68

Yes all well and good, but there will be a gap in his NI. So his pension will be lower for one and if he does need to sigh on when his savings have gone. he won't be able to.
There's no guarantee of finding a job before the savings run out.

outgoingzero

gastronomix wrote: »

If you have more than 16k you will be ineligible for most benefits if not all. Your mortgage/rent wont get paid for the first 3 months anyhow and you wouldnt qualify for council tax relief.
I'd suggest not bothering until your savings are at least below 16k and even then if you can do with out it for a while longer. If youve never signed on you may not appreciate what a demeaning and intrusive process it can be. Re above point, as long as you can say that you have been living off savings I doubt very much if you will be questioned any further.

Thanks to all and esp. to the above post which pretty much mirrors my thoughts.

In terms of state pension, I'm not due for it for like 35 years (assuming the age requirement doesn't raise in the meantime which it will). Under the current rules, I understand you need 30 years contribution which I have half of already, and another 35 years to get the other 15 (under current rules anyway).

Also, I appreciate that if I'm unable to get a job I'll have to go on benefits in a few years time. But if I can avoid it, so much the better. From posters above, it doesn't look like that if I've not paid NI for a few years but have <£6000 in savings I wouldn't be eligible for benefit? I'm just double checking this as if not I'll have to rethink this in case I don't get a job.

Now I've paid the mortgage off, I could even make do with part time if needed so hopefully the above won't be needed. But I like to plan for things going wrong just in case

merlin68

Everybody is eligible for the £67 JSA for six months. Which also protects your NI.
You need to have worked consectively for the last 2 tax years to qualify.
But I am sure you can make that money easy enough, even if you got a morning cleaning job, or a couple of shifts in Mcdonalds.

markandkate

my general rule is to sign on and claim and then you will sonn be told if you are not entitled