Made redundant last Friday

Burlesque_Babe

I was made redundant last Friday. (although I got paid to the Sunday the 6th)

At the end of May I will get the 6 days salary, 3 days accrued holiday (less tax/NI) and £16,600 redundancy.

I have a mortgage, no dependents and although have a partner, live separately (he has his own house)

I don't have any insurances I can claim on. My mortgage is £777 a month (£123k)

I'm thinking of setting up my own business (possibly)

I work already self-employed for AQA (Any Questions Answered) which is a fee per answer service and going to do that until I decide exactly where I want to go next in life.

I am trying to find out what, if any benefits I may qualify for. I went to the entitled to calculator, but I'm not sure of my gross income for AQA as I've not been doing it long.

If I read it correctly, if I work less than 16 hours a week, and earn less than x amount, I could qualify?? Or is it different if you are self employed?

I'm looking to earn £50 a day before tax at the moment on AQA.

Any advice welcome!

mclaren_2

Since you have £16k i do not think you can get anything unfortunatly. IF you had under £6k, you could have claimed JSA but i do not think they will give you anything.

They willsee that you can pay your mortgage with the £16,600 as at £777 comes to £9324 in the year, leaving you with more than enough they say for food.

If you did get JSA you would get £59 per week, have to sign on every 2 weeks at the job centre, and have to be activly looking for a job (they do check this out aswell)

My advice (and please do not be annoyed) but is to look for another job. Claiming benifits is okay for short term, but it will not give you alot of money overall

rombomb

You'll get Contributions Based Job Seekers Allowance for up to 6 months, by signing on every 2 weeks.

Best to try really hard to get a new job, as £59 a week doesn't go far and you'll be through that Capital in no time.

Of course, as you eat into the capital you will become eligible for more means tested benefit such as income based JSA, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Hapless_2

If I were you, out of the £16,600 I would put enough aside to pay the mortgage for 12 months. at least then it would give you breathing space.

Burlesque_Babe

cheers all.

i'll already be doing AQA as part time self employed and I have some savings from back pay and reclaimed back pay that will mean I don't have to think about touching my redundancy money for a while.

i've applied for a couple of jobs already but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was entitled to.

Thankyou