Unemployed but with savings

Ader1

As the title says, I'm currently out of work. In fact, I've been out of work for over a year. I sold a property and I'm in the process of down-sizing to an area which has more work. Where I live it's pretty rural with higher property prices than in town. So, I have quite a bit of money in the bank but no income and no NI contributions towards by retirement. I do think I'll be able to find work once I move into this new property which still requires some work to be done to it to make it habitable.

My question is......what should I be doing regarding my state pension contributions? I have too much savings to be able to claim for anything I believe. What is the threshold for having too much saved to be able to claim some kind of benefit? Do now just run down my savings until I get a job or failing that until I'm eligible to claim some kind of unemployment benefit? Thank you.

specialboy

You can still sign on for your ni conts even though you won't be eligible for any JSA.

Mojisola

Were you entitled to the six months of contribution based JSA?

jlawrence

Ader1 wrote: »

As the title says, I'm currently out of work. In fact, I've been out of work for over a year. I sold a property and I'm in the process of down-sizing to an area which has more work. Where I live it's pretty rural with higher property prices than in town. So, I have quite a bit of money in the bank but no income and no NI contributions towards by retirement. I do think I'll be able to find work once I move into this new property which still requires some work to be done to it to make it habitable.

My question is......what should I be doing regarding my state pension contributions? I have too much savings to be able to claim for anything I believe. What is the threshold for having too much saved to be able to claim some kind of benefit? Do now just run down my savings until I get a job or failing that until I'm eligible to claim some kind of unemployment benefit? Thank you.

Hello Ader, it seems so. If you have money then you have to use it to live off and can't claim means tested benefits. You could do something with a trust I think but others know more about that than I do.

Mojisola

jlawrence wrote: »

Hello Ader, it seems so. If you have money then you have to use it to live off and can't claim means tested benefits. You could do something with a trust I think but others know more about that than I do.

No, you couldn't.

Ader1

I left my job voluntarily to go abroad. I returned sooner than anticipated due to unforseen family circustances. As such, I don't think I was entitled to JSA or anything, I'm not familiar with these matters as I've always worked.

xylophone

Sign on so that your NI is paid and look for work?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181237/single-tier-pension-fact-sheet.pdf

tomterm8

Ader1 wrote: »

I left my job voluntarily to go abroad. I returned sooner than anticipated due to unforseen family circustances. As such, I don't think I was entitled to JSA or anything, I'm not familiar with these matters as I've always worked.

Worth going to the citizens advice bureau and asking them... you've been unemployed long enough ( a year) so leaving voluntarily won't be an issue. But you may not qualify for JSA contributions based unless you have enough contributions.

RAS

Ader1

It depends when you paid NI contributions as your current entitlement is based on what you paid in during 12/13 and 13/14 tax years I think.

The other complication may be that you may be hit by the new rules on people who have lived outside the UK claiming which became increasingly strict in January and March this year.

Check out the habitual residence test.

dippy3103

jlawrence wrote: »

Hello Ader, it seems so. If you have money then you have to use it to live off and can't claim means tested benefits. You could do something with a trust I think but others know more about that than I do.

You can't tie up money so that you can claim. It's called deprivation of capital.

jlawrence

dippy3103 wrote: »

You can't tie up money so that you can claim. It's called deprivation of capital.

Hi Dippy, you can, Rogerblack on here said to me that it is quite legal to hide your capital from the DWP as long as you put it in a trust.