Cannot be furloughed by new employer

Rycall

Hello. I need help and I'm not sure where to turn or who to ask. 

Back in December I was offered a position with a new company so I accepted the job and handed in my 4 weeks notice with my old employer. Unfortunately a week later the country went into yet another lockdown, my new employer contacted me to say they would not be able to furlough me and they suggested I ask my (at the time) current employer to extend my notice period so I could be furloughed until lockdown was over and I could start the new job however he refused to do so. On the 16th December I left my previous employment with no wage coming in. As a gesture of goodwill, my new employer agreed to pay me 50% of my salary and although I'm grateful for this it is simply not enough to survive on. 

I'm on under £20k a year and I have a wife and 4 kids to support. My wife doesn't work as she's a carer for our disabled son and she only receives the lowest rate disability allowance and tax credits. We also get child tax which amounts to £192pm. I was told I could apply for Universal Credit but when I called up and they did the check they said it wouldn't be beneficial as our tax credits would stop and we would need to reapply again once I was back to work. I am also in an IVA which was set up 18 months ago and I've had to ask then for a payment break in February for the first time and I simply cannot afford the repayment. 

I need to know what help I am entitled to as I'm in a bit of a bad situation.

Thank you for any advice. 

poppy12345

There's no other benefits you can claim other than Universal Credit in the situation and once you claim this you can't ever go back to Tax Credits.

The only other benefit is New style JSA which is based on your NI contributions in the previous 2 tax years BUT as you're receiving 50% of your wages from your previous employer then this will affect the JSA because earnings of more than £5 per week will reduce your JSA £1 for £1. For example, if you receive £80 per week from your employer then your JSA will reduce by £75 (per week) as NsJSA is £74.35 per week then it will be reduced to zero.

You can use a benefits calculator to check the figures for UC entitlement but i'd advise you to put your current 50% earnings in and your earnings as if you've returned to work so you can compare both.

Council tax reduction isn't part of UC and can be claimed from your local council.

Mrsn

I’m so sorry to hear of the situation you find yourself in. I can only echo Poppy’s very good advice, the calculators will definitely give you an idea whether you would be better off under UC or staying with the current tax credits.

Rycall

Mrsn said:

I’m so sorry to hear of the situation you find yourself in. I can only echo Poppy’s very good advice, the calculators will definitely give you an idea whether you would be better off under UC or staying with the current tax credits.

Thank you both. From what I gather after speaking to HMRC I may be a little better off on Universal Credit, but then when I do start work (which potentially could be in the next month or two) I would find myself worse off than if I hadn't applied. 

It's a horrible situation and it's got me regretting changing jobs. I wasn't happy in my old employment and I had to travel a lot, this new job is something I've wanted to do for years and is much closer to home so I took a gamble and its just been unfortunate timing.

Grumpy_chap

This is difficult timing, but your old employer seems to be acting reasonably / generously in the circumstances.
It is odd that they have chosen to pay you 50% though, as that must be from their bottom line.  If they had claimed furlough, then you would need to receive all of it.

noitsnotme

Grumpy_chap said:

This is difficult timing, but your old employer seems to be acting reasonably / generously in the circumstances.
It is odd that they have chosen to pay you 50% though, as that must be from their bottom line.  If they had claimed furlough, then you would need to receive all of it.

It’s their NEW employer that’s paying the 50%, not the old one.

Grumpy_chap

noitsnotme said:

Grumpy_chap said:

This is difficult timing, but your old employer seems to be acting reasonably / generously in the circumstances.
It is odd that they have chosen to pay you 50% though, as that must be from their bottom line.  If they had claimed furlough, then you would need to receive all of it.

It’s their NEW employer that’s paying the 50%, not the old one.

Thank you - I mis-read that.  Very generous of the new employer.

poppy12345

Rycall said:

Mrsn said:

I’m so sorry to hear of the situation you find yourself in. I can only echo Poppy’s very good advice, the calculators will definitely give you an idea whether you would be better off under UC or staying with the current tax credits.

Thank you both. From what I gather after speaking to HMRC I may be a little better off on Universal Credit,

HMRC wouldn't have know whether you would be better off or not on UC, without knowing your exact details, which they wouldn't have known from looking at a screen.

Some are better off, some are worse off. Remember UC and tax credits are 2 completely different benefits. Tax credits is based on your income in the previous tax year. UC is based on your earnings received during your monthly assessment period. You may well be better off at the moment on your current 50% earnings but this may well not be the case when you return to work.

The only way you'll know is to use a benefits calculator but you'll need to be 100% certain before claiming UC because once you submit that claim you can't ever go back to UC.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=01f7f1bb-4b0f-42b7-a5e6-c2abd9e22735

Rycall

Grumpy_chap said:

noitsnotme said:

Grumpy_chap said:

This is difficult timing, but your old employer seems to be acting reasonably / generously in the circumstances.
It is odd that they have chosen to pay you 50% though, as that must be from their bottom line.  If they had claimed furlough, then you would need to receive all of it.

It’s their NEW employer that’s paying the 50%, not the old one.

Thank you - I mis-read that.  Very generous of the new employer.

It is. My old employer is an odd fellow, he takes it very personally when people leave the business and his entire attitude changes. When I asked him if he would extend my notice and keep me furloughed he sharply said "No, ask your new employer. He knew they couldn't."

unholyangel

Rycall said:

Grumpy_chap said:

noitsnotme said:

Grumpy_chap said:

This is difficult timing, but your old employer seems to be acting reasonably / generously in the circumstances.
It is odd that they have chosen to pay you 50% though, as that must be from their bottom line.  If they had claimed furlough, then you would need to receive all of it.

It’s their NEW employer that’s paying the 50%, not the old one.

Thank you - I mis-read that.  Very generous of the new employer.

It is. My old employer is an odd fellow, he takes it very personally when people leave the business and his entire attitude changes. When I asked him if he would extend my notice and keep me furloughed he sharply said "No, ask your new employer. He knew they couldn't."

Your old employer didn't have any choice. Cjrs can't be used to claim during a notice period from December onwards

Grumpy_chap

unholyangel said:

Your old employer didn't have any choice. Cjrs can't be used to claim during a notice period from December onwards

Thanks @unholyangel - I had understood that issue about CJRS and notice periods was only not permitted in relation to redundancy, i.e. the company serving notice on the employee.  I didn't think it applied if it was the employee that served notice.