Unemployment Cover VS Voluntary Redundnancy

Habib2342

Hello,


I have been working for the same firm for coming up to five years now and have had an unemployment only policy taken out in July 2013 for which i have been paying £30 a month for the last three years.
Coincidentally at the time I took the policy out, the company announced they were making redundancies which would have meant the policy would have been invalid as I had just begun the policy.


The policy states that I will only be able to make a succesful claim if one of the following occurs;


1. my employment ends unexpectedly and the circumstances of your employment are beyond my control 2. I stop work to become a full time carer for a member of my immediate family 3.my income is reduced to your employer tempoararily reducing your contractual working time
However I remember at the the time , the company offered staff members a voluntary redundancy package which equated to about two months pay based on age and length of service.


Were they to announce redundancies in the future, am I right in assuming I can only claim of either the unemployment policy or the firms redundancy package ? A redundancy pay out wouldn't last that long and I would prefer to make a claim under the unemployment cover as that would pay out for 12 months and would be sufficient to cover my living costs and give me enough time to look for another job ?




Thanks,


Habib.

lincroft1710

There is actually no such thing as "voluntary redundancy" as jobs become redundant not people. A more accurate term would be "voluntary early severance".

I would have thought that genuine redundancy (there is no longer a job for you to do) was covered by "1. my employment ends unexpectedly and the circumstances of your employment are beyond my control".

However I would suggest that you confirm this with the provider of the policy.