Out of work

grendizer

Dear all,

I am truly sorry to annoy you with this, but I am really frustrated and reached a stage I don't know what to do or where to turn.

I worked for a public sector for over 10 years. I dedicated my life to my work and serving the community. You all know what is going now with public sector now with the cuts.

2 years my organisation refused to accept my voluntary redundancy and reallocate me to different area far from home. I accepted that as I need to work. 9 months ago they also refused my voluntary redundancy and reallocated me again to a further place which put me great difficulty. Working up soooo early and arrive home sooo late and hardly see my wife and my child which created a gap with my wife. under all this I had to chose between my family and my wife and child, so I had to resign hoping to find some alternative work.

Almost 9 months on, I couldn't find anything, I have spent all my savings and accumulated some CC debts. my wife also doesn't work as she looks after our child which made the situation a lot worse.

I have never claimed benefit in my all entire life, and I have no clue what I am entitle to. I feel so sad to ask this but I dont know what else to do as I am now only accumulate more and more debts.

Can anyone please enlighten me of what kind of benefit me and my family we are entitle to, and what is the best way to approach it.

I tried to understand DWP website, but its so complicated, I need simple plain way to have some help.

Honestly, I reached a stage of depression and frustration and on the edge of suicide. Please forgive me saying that.

Kind regards, and many thanks for all your support.

xylophone

Try your local CAB?

princessdon

Ok, firstly claim JSA - they may apply a sanction (but too sure on this as it was over 6 months ago).

Next - inform tax credits of your new income.

Do you rent or own your home?

Inform the council for council tax relief.

Also it may be best for your wife to look for work too as you will be home to care for your child.

Debts are never taken into account with benefits, so post on the debt boards for advice on how to minimise those payments when out of work.

grendizer

princessdon wrote: »

Ok, firstly claim JSA - they may apply a sanction (but too sure on this as it was over 6 months ago).

Next - inform tax credits of your new income.

Do you rent or own your home?

Inform the council for council tax relief.

Also it may be best for your wife to look for work too as you will be home to care for your child.

Debts are never taken into account with benefits, so post on the debt boards for advice on how to minimise those payments when out of work.

Dear princessdon,

Many thanks for your kind reply.

You mentioned 6 months!! what is the relevance?
Referring to your questions:
I am a housing tenant
My wife cant work as she is in a spouse visa and she is not allowed to work until she has her nationality

Torry_Quine

grendizer wrote: »

Dear princessdon,

Many thanks for your kind reply.

You mentioned 6 months!! what is the relevance?
Referring to your questions:
I am a housing tenant
My wife cant work as she is in a spouse visa and she is not allowed to work until she has her nationality

The relevance is that you can be sanctioned for up to six months for leaving a job but there may be none as it was over 6 months you left.

princessdon

grendizer wrote: »

Dear princessdon,

Many thanks for your kind reply.

You mentioned 6 months!! what is the relevance?
Referring to your questions:
I am a housing tenant
My wife cant work as she is in a spouse visa and she is not allowed to work until she has her nationality

Ok - apply for housing benefit immediately

Re the 6 months as explained below you left your job without cause. My hubby works very long hours, many do with long commutes and its not good reason to leave a job. This means you *may* be sanctioned for upto 6 months. It's an individual thing between the job centre decision maker and your circumstances, so no one can predict. BUT as it was over 6 months ago, I don't know if they apply from JSA claiming date or when eligible to claim JSA. Someone else may know better.

So apply for local council for housing and council tax

HMRC for child tax

mountainofdebt

Whilst I can understand that you may have found the long commute hard, at what point did you think that leaving a job without anything to go to was a better plan?

grendizer

Many thanks to you all for your kind reply

I am not sure how correct the following is:
A friend of mine told me an hour ago that he had same situation last year and his wife as a resident came on a spouse visa like my wife she claimed on her name and they granted her many types of different benefits??

How accurate is that and what type of benefits she is entitle to??

FBaby

She won't be entitled to any benefit in her own right. You are married and therefore your claim will be as a couple. What you can claim is JSA. Unfortunately, you failed to register with them immediately. Although they most likely would have put a sanction on your claim -because you gave up work voluntarily-, you would still have accrued NI and the 6 months sanction would have started there and then. As you haven't done that, they might decide that the sanction starts from when you sign on. Hopefully not, but you can't be sure.

Otherwise, you've been told already which benefits you can claim as a couple.

sammyjammy

If it's over six months since OP left his job no sanction for this will apply assuming he doesn't attempt to backdate his claim. The six month max sanction would go from the day after he left his job.

grendizer

FBaby wrote: »

She won't be entitled to any benefit in her own right. You are married and therefore your claim will be as a couple. What you can claim is JSA. Unfortunately, you failed to register with them immediately. Although they most likely would have put a sanction on your claim -because you gave up work voluntarily-, you would still have accrued NI and the 6 months sanction would have started there and then. As you haven't done that, they might decide that the sanction starts from when you sign on. Hopefully not, but you can't be sure.

Otherwise, you've been told already which benefits you can claim as a couple.

Dear FBaby,
Many thanks for your kind reply, its really informative.
Please forgive my ignorance, do you mind just enlighten me with the following:
- Can my wife claim in her name for the family!!
- I dont exactly know which type of benefits I cam claim for the family, do you mind just tell me what I might be entitle!!