It's ALL going wrong...

dory22

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Uhh? ...............

companies pay you to advertise on your car, its known as car wrapping its in the up your income thread, i think they pay you quarterly.

Rochdale_Guy

Oh, thanks! As long at it's not for some National Erectile Dysfunctional organisation.... lol

asparagus1968

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Oh, thanks! As long at it's not for some National Erectile Dysfunctional organisation.... lol

good to see the sense of humour is still there!
unless that was irony?

Upsidedown_Bear

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I have just read this which is worrying me now:

"For those benefits which are affected by savings, the basic rule is that if you have savings above the upper savings limit, which is currently £16,000, you will not be eligible to receive any benefit. If you have savings below the lower savings limit, currently £6000, your benefits will be unaffected. (Note that these values can change over time, so you will need to check for the latest values.)
For savings in between the two limits, your savings are assumed to yield a weekly “tariff income” of £1 for every £250 of savings. This equates to an assumed annual tariff income of approximately £50 for every £250 of savings, equivalent to an interest rate of 20%, which is clearly absurd and unattainable in the real world. Nonetheless, this is the basis the government uses for their calculations. The benefit payments you receive each week will be reduced by your assumed tariff income.

So, if the lower limit is £6000, and you have £10,000 saved, £4000 of that will be counted.
£4000 divided by 250 is 16, so you will get £16 less per week in benefits."

taken from: http://www.redundancyexpert.co.uk/your-savings-benefits.html

What if my redundancy lump sum was between £6-£9k then?
I get less per week in benefits then?

This is such a minefield...

Hello Rochdale Guy.

Yep, I agree - it's a bit of a minefield.

There are two types of Jobseekers Allowance - contribution based and income based.

Some info here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_benefits_in_work_or_looking_for_work_ew/benefits_for_people_looking_for_work.htm

Growurown

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

What if my redundancy lump sum was between £6-£9k then?
I get less per week in benefits then?

This is such a minefield...

Definitely a minefield and it is hard to second guess what you will get until you actually apply.

Assuming you live on your own and are fit for work you will be entitled to housing benefit (if you rent your home) and jobseekers allowance. Housing benefit may not cover your rent, depends on how much your rent is and what the local housing allowance is. You can call housing benefit and ask. I usually find them quite helpful. The housing benefit rules change next April and the benefit will be reduced if you live in a house with under occupied bedrooms. You will be expected to make up the short fall yourself. If I remember rightly you rent a three bed flat?

Job seekers allowance is about £67 a week but there is an element of NI contributions taken into consideration. If you get more than 6K I am assuming that it will affect what you get in jobseekers until that amount goes below 6K, based on the info in your post. However I must stress that this is general info and you can't be sure what you are entitled to until you apply.

It is also worth asking what else is available to you. There may be schemes, programs etc. to help you get back on your feet.

Rochdale_Guy

Upsidedown_Bear wrote: »

Hello Rochdale Guy.

Yep, I agree - it's a bit of a minefield.

There are two types of Jobseekers Allowance - contribution based and income based.

Some info here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_benefits_in_work_or_looking_for_work_ew/benefits_for_people_looking_for_work.htm

Thanks for that, a little light reading before I hit the sack....

I also found this site:

http://www.redundancyexpert.co.uk/how-your-redundancy-package-can-affect-your-benefits.html

How your Redundancy Package can Affect your Benefits
When you’re made redundant, you may have to live on benefits for a while. So how does your redundancy package affect your eligibility?

Voluntary Redundancy and Benefits Entitlement
If you leave your job voluntarily, unemployment benefits are normally not payable (for six months). People who are made redundant should not be affected by this. However, people sometimes wonder how accepting voluntary redundancy accepts their eligibility for benefits. It does not. The resulting unemployment is still considered involuntary and those affected should be able to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance without any problems.
Occasionally, however, people have been known to encounter some difficulties in relation to this question because of poorly-informed clerical staff at the Jobcentre. If it comes to that, you may need to appeal a wrongful decision. In the end, though, you should win. Omitting the word voluntary from the description of why your last job ended is sometimes said to help avoid these kinds of misunderstanding.

Redundancy Payments and Benefits
Provided you have two years of continuous service with your employer, you should receive a redundancy payment when you leave. Although statutory redundancy payments tend not to be very high, if you have a more generous contractual arrangement, or if you have been with your employer for a long time, the amount involved may be substantial.
Many state benefits are means tested, although not all. Unless you immediately spend your redundancy lump sum, for example by paying down debt you have, for the purposes of means assessment, it will count as savings. Large savings may reduce the amount of benefit you get or even mean that you won’t get any. This subject is explored more fully in a separate article so will not be dealt with further here.

Redundancy and Benefits – Conclusion
If you’re facing redundancy, the harsh reality is that you may be dependent on benefits until you find another job, so it’s important to how the choices you make, and the redundancy package you get, can affect your entitlement.

Rochdale_Guy

Growurown wrote: »

Definitely a minefield and it is hard to second guess what you will get until you actually apply.

Assuming you live on your own and are fit for work you will be entitled to housing benefit (if you rent your home) and jobseekers allowance. Housing benefit may not cover your rent, depends on how much your rent is and what the local housing allowance is. You can call housing benefit and ask. I usually find them quite helpful. The housing benefit rules change next April and the benefit will be reduced if you live in a house with under occupied bedrooms. You will be expected to make up the short fall yourself. If I remember rightly you rent a three bed flat?

Yes, 3 bed flat.

Job seekers allowance is about £67 a week but there is an element of NI contributions taken into consideration. If you get more than 6K I am assuming that it will affect what you get in jobseekers until that amount goes below 6K, based on the info in your post. However I must stress that this is general info and you can't be sure what you are entitled to until you apply.

It is also worth asking what else is available to you. There may be schemes, programs etc. to help you get back on your feet.

Thanks.

My rent is £335 paid in advance for 4 weeks.

Rochdale_Guy

Well, I am now redundant and unemployed.

Things are so looking up......

Rochdale_Guy

Also, CCCS (StepChange) reduced my monthly payment to them from £126 down to £35 for December, but a letter that has just arrived says it will go back up to £126 in January.... !!!!!!?

patman99

RG if it helps, I got made redundant in 2010 when the company I had worked for for just over 16 years relocated to France.
In the following 2 years, I was diagnosed with cataracts, asthma & depression. I also went from the longest job I had ever had to the shortest job (Acoustica, who advertised their jobs at £7.50 - £9.50 p/h, but really paid £6.37) and finally to the longest Agency role I have ever had (started April 2011 & still there waiting for a permanent contract).
I went from a £16k p/a job to a £12.6k p/a one and finally landed on a £19k job after the agency asked if I wanted them to send my CV in for a job I had no experience in (I landed an interview which lasted 45 minutes and had been given a start-date before I even got home).
Like you, I left work with a debt (approx. £14k inc. overdraft). My redundancy pay cleared my o/d, but I had a job explaining where £1300 had gone when claiming JSA (a bit of advice, even if you got PILON, make sure the first thing you do on Monday is to start the JSA claim rolling. You will need 3 months worth of statements for all your bank accounts handy, so get these printed-off in preparation).
Yes, the Jobcentre is a soul-destroying place to be in, but signing-on is something you need to do to keep a roof above your head.

Also, there are 2 sites I found useful for job searches. Joodis & indeed. Between them, they search EVERY jobsite in the UK so save you having to visit multiple sites when job-hunting.

I will disagree with the posters who call for you to get rid of your car. I can get to work in my new role by train, but it would cost me £27 per week as opposed to under £20 by car. Having a car at your disposal means that job wise, you can get almost anywhere. If you decide to go BR, then the OR should be more sympathetic to your need to keep a car going as it is an aid to job hunting (along with the net). Btw, when the Jobcentre explain about the fact you need to hunt for work within 1 hours travel, they are talking about by public transport and include the time taken to walk to the bus stop/train station and then from the stop/station to work. Do NOT tell them you have a car. That is irrelevant.

Above all, try to keep yourself occupied or you will go insane. Spending the day doing online surveys or creating Hubpages or a Wordpress/Blogspot/Blogger blog about your experiences with trying to fight debt and find a job will help relieve the stress (and earn some money through 'Google AdSense' or 'Skimlinks').

Keep your chin up and let us all know how things are going.