made redundant and had a heart attack

unknownforce

Good afternoon

I've had a pretty rough time of it over the last couple of months and need to look into the benefit options available and have no idea where to begin - any help will be hugely appreciated!

I was recently made redundant and one day after the official termination date of employment I had a heart attack. This was last weekend and I am still in hospital.

My past employer has contacted me and kindly offered to gift me a monthly payment for 6 months until I am back on my feet. My wife earns 18k a year and I have 2 dependent children under 9. My mortgage is £800 a month interest only, council tax £150'ish a month and I have under 4000 in savings.

Please can someone who is up on this minefield advise what I should do and what I may be entitled to receive either now or in the future.

Many thanks

NASA_2

You could claim ESA. It's a sickness benefit.

You will need to clarify what your employer is treating this 'gift' as though. If it is considered wages then this still has an effect on ESA Contributory. If it is considered sick pay then it has no effect. I would imagine that your employer might be reluctant to treat it as sick pay if they have a lot of people at the same level as you.

Why did they make you redundant? I take it that it has nothing to do with cost cutting?

unknownforce

Thanks

A whole department was closed and as such many were made redundant

I will contact them tomorrow and ask, but It is def not sick pay or wage. It will be classed as a goodwill payment each month and unrelated to any form of employment. So it would be the same as say a family member gifting me money each month.

I assume I will also get the dole?

MrsManda

unknownforce wrote: »

I assume I will also get the dole?

If you mean Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), you won't be able to receive Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and JSA at the same time.

You can claim JSA when you are well and looking for work.
ESA can be claimed when you are too unwell to work and are not receiving sick pay.

I hope you get better soon.
It may be worth putting your details into the direct.gov benefits advisor to see what else you and your wife may be able to claim
https://www.dwpe-services.direct.gov.uk/portal/page/portal/ba/lp?_piref278_36249_278_36248_36248.__ora_navig=

McKneff

I would like to understand why your past employer wants to gift you money, seems a bit fishy to me to be honest.

You may class it as a good will payment but it's unlikely to be classed as that by the powers that be, and you say that its like a family
member gifting you money, again, you are saying this, again, it may be thought of as different to this as far as the DWP is concerned.

It is, after all, unearned income, all Im saying is just be careful and declare everything.

bobajob_1966

I agree with McKneff, I cannot see the DWP viewing money 'gifted' from your (previous) employer to be anything but related to your employment. Put in a claim for Contributions based ESA, but you will need to declare the income and the DWP will decide how to treat it.

robus

If you have been made redundant, then you are without a job or a contract of employment.

On the day you were made redundant, all responsibilities of that of the employer and yourself ceased.

If then at a later date you EX- employer decided to make 'gifts' to help you out, I cannot see how these can in any way be attached or relate to a ceased contract of employment.

My opinion is that they are gifts out and out which is a very rare thing these days!

What is the difference between gifts from say a charity that looks after employees of that particular type of industry and what the EX boss is doing.

In the Civil Service even if you no longer work for them, you are still entitled to financial help from the Civil Service Benevolent Fund. Those are gifts too.

They would be treated as capital and not income if you were claiming a means tested benefit.

Good luck to you, at least it proves that there are some caring employers still around.

bobajob_1966

robus wrote: »

If you have been made redundant, then you are without a job or a contract of employment.

On the day you were made redundant, all responsibilities of that of the employer and yourself ceased.

If then at a later date you EX- employer decided to make 'gifts' to help you out, I cannot see how these can in any way be attached or relate to a ceased contract of employment.

My opinion is that they are gifts out and out which is a very rare thing these days!

What is the difference between gifts from say a charity that looks after employees of that particular type of industry and what the EX boss is doing.

In the Civil Service even if you no longer work for them, you are still entitled to financial help from the Civil Service Benevolent Fund. Those are gifts too.

They would be treated as capital and not income if you were claiming a means tested benefit.

Good luck to you, at least it proves that there are some caring employers still around.

The Regs make provision for specific benevolent funds. As this does not appear to be such a situation, the comparison is irrelevant, and the decision would be down to a DM.

(Why am I even humouring andyandflo? )

paddedjohn

OP, you make no mention of a redundancy payment, is that what the 'gift' is but spread over a number of months to reduce your capital?

NASA_2

Regular ongoing payments should be treated as income - if it isnt sick pay then I imagine it will be full taken into account even on an ESA(C) claim.

sleepless_saver

Are you getting child tax credit at the moment? If so, let them know of your change of circumstances. And it may be worth your wife claiming the tax credits if there is an entitlement to working tax credit due to lower household income.