made redundant yesterday

chili1496

well at the age of 52 and been employed for the last 12 years my position has been made redundant, a couple of other jobs were available but not really suitable (90 miles away) so i decided to take the money and run
got the following to come in decembers wage packet

7k redundancy
4.4k in wages ( 3 months notice not required to work it)
and i will have approx 14 days holiday to ba paid for.

at this moment i have no idea what i am going to do, will probably do nothing now till the new year.

worked all my life and have no idea how the benefit system works now, last 12 years been a team leader in the steel industry.

Takeaway_Addict

Its easy to say you won't do anything but I would warn against this, 1 month is a long time to get accustomed to doing nothing and getting out of a routine.

Plus, starting to look for a job its unlikely something pops up straight away and if it does then great.

getmore4less

I would start the process

sign on Monday to get contributions JSA and get into the job hunting mode get the CV straight and be on peoples books ready for any new year upturn.

Network localy to let people know you are available.

Consider seasonal work as a filler.

fannyadams

go here and fill out the form to claim JSA
do it now
the longer you leave it the longer it takes to get your benefit (they don't start straight away think it's 3 days or something)
OK now think about what you want to spend the money on - put loads in an ISA I think and maybe some other savings accounts too?
we used my redundancy money to pay off our mortgage.
If your work has a careers transition scheme then use that - a lot!
have a look on the enititled to website to see what other benefits you can claim
GOOD LUCK!

prowla

I can't help a lot, other than to say I hope things work out for you!

JOHNGARFIELD1066

Sorry this has happened (been there)
Claim jobseekers (from the date you were made redundant) as soon as you can, as the first 3 days don't count.They will want to know how much redundancy, holiday pay, savings etc you have - if I remember rightly they expect you to live off your redundancy before they start giving you any benefits.Use your redundancy wisely, maybe get ahead with your bills so you don't have arrears, and if anything needs paying off so you don't have any debts.

chili1496

the money will be used for monthly living, bills etc. i will be looking for work, the reason for the month wait is to give myself a mental push to look harder, also i am not sure if 12k will effect whatever i claim.
my wife is in part time work 7 hours per week but also recieves her state pension as she is retirement age (61) we live in housing association property so we have rent to pay and poll tax, uoto now we have paid for everything ourselves and have not had help with any benefits at all, we even got the child tax taken from us because of what i earned (24k a year if anyone is interested)

what i do need is a link to a good free cv template that i can fill out, this is one thing i have not had to do for many years, all the templates i find don't seem to fit the bill if you know what i mean.

thanks

pmlindyloo

As your wife is of State retirement age then you would be able to put in a joint claim for Pension Credit.

The reason I say this is because the savings limits are much more generous than for other benefits so that even if you were awarded a very small amount of guarantee Pension Credit then this would entitle you to full Housing Benefit (up to your local housing allowance for your council) and full Council Tax Benefit.

Because I don't know all your financial details I am unsure which 'route' you should be taking.

You could go to CAB and ask them to do a 'Better off' calculation or you could have a play around on the benefit calculator here:

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Rochdale_Guy

Hi, I too was made redundant yesterday after having worked for the last 15 years, the last 10 being with the local council.

I feel everything you're going through.

I applied for Jobseekers Allowance online this morning and submitted it. The questions are a little intrusive, especially re: income, redundancy payments etc but you CAN save it in stages and come back and finish it later, which helps. I had an email reply after completing it. You can also save a PDF of the questions and answers you gave.

I am quiet scared as to what is going to happen in the future, but I took a voluntary redundancy offer which states I must *NOT* start or accept an offer of employment within 28 days of my last working day (30/11/12), so I too will out of work over Xmas.

Good luck, stay calm and get your JSA claim done ASAP. I am awaiting a phone call Monday or Tuesday now for me to go in and have a face to face interview.

Rochdale_Guy

... from what I believe, redundancy payments under £30k are tax free, as are the first £6,000 of savings.
I hate the way they count redundancy pay as "savings"

:mad:

So anything above £6,001 upto £16,000 (the limit to be able to claim benefits) does affect what you'll get, but you're circumstances are different from mine. I need to claim housing benefit and also council tax benefit.

Rochdale_Guy

JOHNGARFIELD1066 wrote: »

- if I remember rightly they expect you to live off your redundancy before they start giving you any benefits.
Use your redundancy wisely, maybe get ahead with your bills so you don't have arrears, and if anything needs paying off so you don't have any debts.

That better NOT be true.

I have also read that I can't use my redudancy payout to clear £x amount off the £26k of debts I owe, something to do with "disposal of income".

It's not income (in my stubborn mind). I was made redundant. I have to live off that until I get another job.

Sorry, taking over this thread