Help please - Self Employed Builder, No Work

poppyred

Hi guys
I'm hoping someone on here can help, My husband (aged 53) has worked as a builder's labour most of his life, he went self employed 5 years ago and unfortunatley the work has dried up.

After going to the job centre to sign on he was told he can not claim anything due to his stamp being paid as self employed ?, seem daft really as he has paid stamp all his life both as self employed and as an employee. I was worried about his pension so we sent off for a forcast to discover he has paid up his stamp fully to qualify for a pension.

Anyway he can't claim anything as i work part time and earn £14k a year and work 28 hours a week, we have no mortgage and no children, but also no savings.

In a long shot he's loking for building or construction work but now needs qualifications to even drive a dumper truck, forklift, 360 degree machine etc.. we've enquired today and it will cost £2k for the course which we really can't afford.

Is there any funding out there for gaining qualifications if your out of work ?

Sorry for the war and peace but wanted to give you the full picture. any help would be great.

Tallaght

The job centre pays for things like forklift after he has been claiming for so long.I doubt they will pay for the others.

poppyred

Tallaght wrote: »

The job centre pays for things like forklift after he has been claiming for so long.I doubt they will pay for the others.

thanks but the job centre won't let him claim anything

Tallaght

Some private training companies have credit facilities so I would look for one.

saintjammyswine

If he is not claiming active benefits (JSA or ESA WRAG) then he will find funding for these types of qualifications hard to come by. Can he make a claim even if he doesnt get any money so he can qualify for fee remission at colleges or funding through ESF (European Social Fund) funded projects? These projects fund qualifications such as CSCS and CPCS (which is what he needs for plant work) which are not funded through goverment funding (i.e. like an NVQ or Diploma would be through a college). Might be worth speaking to a) his local FE College and b) National Careers Service (who are on these boards) about his options for training.

He could also contact CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) about what options he has.

poppyred

saintjammyswine wrote: »

If he is not claiming active benefits (JSA or ESA WRAG) then he will find funding for these types of qualifications hard to come by. Can he make a claim even if he doesnt get any money so he can qualify for fee remission at colleges or funding through ESF (European Social Fund) funded projects? These projects fund qualifications such as CSCS and CPCS (which is what he needs for plant work) which are not funded through goverment funding (i.e. like an NVQ or Diploma would be through a college). Might be worth speaking to a) his local FE College and b) National Careers Service (who are on these boards) about his options for training.

He could also contact CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) about what options he has.

thanks, he did try to do this through the local job centre but was told that to be considered for the help with training he needed to prove that he had a job to go to once the qualification completed, it's a catch 22 he needs the qualifications to apply, but can't get help with the qualifications until he has a job to go to.

marybelle01

Sometimes I am not a ray of sunshine, but please persevere with me! If he can't get funding for learning what he wants to do, all of which are connected to construction work which he has done all his life but isn't there any more - maybe this is time to think laterally. Hubbie isn't getting any younger (I can get away with that because I am a tad older than him), and construction work is outdoors, hard graft, and uncertain these days. I'll bet he has a few aches and pains in places - and if he doesn't, they'll likely start soon. Yes, I know - as I said, "ray of sunshine" but I am there and have the T shirt!

I honestly don't know a lot about building, and I am probably about to demonstrate that fact, but I assume that a builders labourer isn't highly qualified work (nowt wrong with that either).

Maybe it is time to think about a wider, and possibly more attractive range of jobs to coast to retirement in! I am not by any means saying that getting any job is easy these days. And they may not (or may!) pay like construction work. But there are attractions to shelf-filling at the supermarket (for example) - paid holidays, indoors, usually warm (avoid the freezer section!), if health deteriorates then employers are more likely to be having to make adjustments for that (remember - he has over ten years left until retirement just at the time when bones start creaking), SSP if not company sick pay when ill.... The pension is sorted, the mortgage paid off, and no kids to drain the bank account, and he is already out of work - if he is going to think about what he might be able to do from now until he retires (at 66 I think, isn't it?) then now is the time to do it.

He's already proven that he is a guy who can work hard, and that he is a reliable worker. There are employers who value those things. So I would say, don't stick to job searches just on what he does now, but what might begin to tide him towards his last decade of work. I know the pay not be up to the scratch that he is used to for unqualified jobs - but being an employee has attractions.

comeandgo

Was he trading as a Ltd Company? I think not as he would then have been an employee of his own Ltd Company. CITB is for employers to use as a grant aiding body for their employees, not for individuals to use. If he was to get employment with a construction company they can put him through training and get grants back from CITB but he cant do it himself.

poppyred

marybelle01 wrote: »

Sometimes I am not a ray of sunshine, but please persevere with me! If he can't get funding for learning what he wants to do, all of which are connected to construction work which he has done all his life but isn't there any more - maybe this is time to think laterally. Hubbie isn't getting any younger (I can get away with that because I am a tad older than him), and construction work is outdoors, hard graft, and uncertain these days. I'll bet he has a few aches and pains in places - and if he doesn't, they'll likely start soon. Yes, I know - as I said, "ray of sunshine" but I am there and have the T shirt!

I honestly don't know a lot about building, and I am probably about to demonstrate that fact, but I assume that a builders labourer isn't highly qualified work (nowt wrong with that either).

Maybe it is time to think about a wider, and possibly more attractive range of jobs to coast to retirement in! I am not by any means saying that getting any job is easy these days. And they may not (or may!) pay like construction work. But there are attractions to shelf-filling at the supermarket (for example) - paid holidays, indoors, usually warm (avoid the freezer section!), if health deteriorates then employers are more likely to be having to make adjustments for that (remember - he has over ten years left until retirement just at the time when bones start creaking), SSP if not company sick pay when ill.... The pension is sorted, the mortgage paid off, and no kids to drain the bank account, and he is already out of work - if he is going to think about what he might be able to do from now until he retires (at 66 I think, isn't it?) then now is the time to do it.

He's already proven that he is a guy who can work hard, and that he is a reliable worker. There are employers who value those things. So I would say, don't stick to job searches just on what he does now, but what might begin to tide him towards his last decade of work. I know the pay not be up to the scratch that he is used to for unqualified jobs - but being an employee has attractions.

Thank you, i know exactly what you mean, unfortunatley my hubby is definatley an outdoor person, won't even stop indoors at weekend, even goes walking in the rain !!, i suggested maybe a garden centre or national trust park, i guess its just a matter of finding the right job x

Savvy_Sue

I was going to suggest B&Q, who like to employ people who know one end of a spanner from the other! They do also have garden centre sections.

National Trust probably use more volunteers than anything else in their gardens.

Brassedoff

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I was going to suggest B&Q, who like to employ people who know one end of a spanner from the other! They do also have garden centre sections.

National Trust probably use more volunteers than anything else in their gardens.

Sue, I was going to suggest the exact same thing. If someone has many years building experience, they usually jump at the chance.

Most definitely worth a try.