Time Out After Redundancy

Sweaty_Morph

Hi all, long time lurker on the boards but brand new poster!

Some advice from the experts please.

I have been made redundant, having finished up on Friday when my place of work closed. The timing of it has more or less coincided with my wife giving birth to our second child (she's 4 weeks old now) and, since I found out about the impending redundancy, it has always been my intention to take a couple of months out to enjoy the new addition to the family, as well as giving my wife some much needed support.

I have finances in place to cover expenses and effectively give me a "wage" while I'm not working but my wife has a niggle at the back of her mind that tells her I still need to register the fact I'm not working somewhere to cover my NI contributions. Is this right?

Obviously I won't be actively seeking work and won't be looking for any sort of hand outs or benefits, so can't see that the Job Centre would be particularly interested in my predicament. I have had a search online but I haven't found anything helpful.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks in advance.

McKneff

Yes, you need to go and 'sign on' and let the Job Centre know.


For future benefits and we are not psychics you must get your NI credit.
If you need to apply for benefits in say a couple of years time you need to have 2 full years on your record.


Congratulations on Junior x


Annie

Sweaty_Morph

McKneff wrote: »

Yes, you need to go and 'sign on' and let the Job Centre know.


For future benefits and we are not psychics you must get your NI credit.
If you need to apply for benefits in say a couple of years time you need to have 2 full years on your record.


Congratulations on Junior x


Annie

Many thanks for the quick reply.

Turns out the wife is right then? I'll never live this down!! :rotfl:

getmore4less

The issue is to get the NI credits you have to be looking for work just signing on is not enough.

p00hsticks

McKneff wrote: »

Yes, you need to go and 'sign on' and let the Job Centre know.

Just to reiterate getmore4less's point, you can't just go and sign on once a fortnight to get your credits and leave it at that - you will be signing on for Jon Seekers Allowance or Universal Credit (depending on where you live) and are therefore committing yourself to spending a large part of your week actively job seeking. If you have no intention of looking for work during this period you can't legitimately sign on.

Podge52

Just as a point of interest if you were to sign on but not comply with the agreement, would you still receive your ni credits while sanctioned?

Sweaty_Morph

So, in summation...

I need to sign on to keep up my NI credits but I can't sign on unless I am actively seeking work.

I have an appointment at the Job Centre on Friday anyway, but thanks all for the advice. Much appreciated.

LittleMax

McKneff wrote: »

If you need to apply for benefits in say a couple of years time you need to have 2 full years on your record.


Annie

To qualify for contribution based benefits 2 full years are not required. They look at the previous 2 benefit years (Jan to Jan) during which you only need to have worked for 26 weeks in one of the years and paid class 1 contributions in both years amounting to 50 times the lower earnings limit (currently £112 per week).

So taking 2 months off will not affect a future claim. If OP does find himself seeking work after the 2 months he will still be able to claim JSA and will then get NI contributions paid.

brewerdave

May be too late for OP but.....I registered with Job Centre 3 times after redundancies over the space of 10 years. As a reasonably senior Manager, they couldn't offer me anything significant themselves and lacked the knowledge to further my job search...I found that they were happy that a) I had an updated CV b) I listed a number of sources that I was perusing eg newspapers,websites,agencies etc and c) that I had sent my CV to a number of firms in a similar business...never any real pressure on taking a job, certainly not in the 6 months I was registered on the last occasion. Never looked for actual proof ie replies from unsuccessful applications because they know that many Companies don't reply unless inviting for interview.
2 months is a very short time to be unemployed in the modern world !!

getmore4less

As above, depends on the positions how much effort it will really take to satisfy the JC.

if only taking a couple of months out you really need to be looking anyway, tweeking the CV, checking the market and seeing if that "perfect" job is out there.

That could be a couple of hours->full days but not a full week.

no point waiting 2 months and eneding up with a 1hr comute when a job next door is available but won't be in 2 months

motorguy

p00hsticks wrote: »

Just to reiterate getmore4less's point, you can't just go and sign on once a fortnight to get your credits and leave it at that - you will be signing on for Jon Seekers Allowance or Universal Credit (depending on where you live) and are therefore committing yourself to spending a large part of your week actively job seeking. If you have no intention of looking for work during this period you can't legitimately sign on.

Large part of your week actively jobseeking? :rotfl:

Fifteen mins a day would cover it.