Redundancy insurance am I covered?

immy1

Hi

I would appreciate some advice on my existing redundancy insurance policy I took out 9 years ago.  I am going to have to make a claim on this policy as I will shortly be made redundant.

On reading their T&Cs it states that I must be in receipt of Job Seekers allowance in order to claim.  On checking my entitlement to this I have discovered that I am not entitled as I am now in receipt of a state pension!  What is really confusing about this policy is that it also states I am covered until the age of 70. I would have thought that many people will be drawing a state pension before age 70?    I am very worried that they will turn me down as I am getting a state pension.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks

dunstonh

On reading their T&Cs it states that I must be in receipt of Job Seekers allowance in order to claim.  On checking my entitlement to this I have discovered that I am not entitled as I am now in receipt of a state pension!  

Normally, they require you to sign on and confirm and prove you are looking for new jobs.  If it says you must be in receipt of Job seekers allowance and covers you to age 70 then clearly there is a conflict as the policy could never pay out in that scenario.

I haven't seen any that say you must be in receipt of jobseekers allowance as a mandatory condition that must be met.  I have seen it as one of the qualifying conditions but there are others too.  i.e. if you meet the criteria of one of the other conditions then that is good enough without needing jobseekers allowance.

Are you sure its a mandatory requirement and not a possible qualifying requirement?

immy1

The polciy is Income Insurance. I am only covered for redundancy.  It state 'Benefit Duration - the end date or the date you retire'  Technically, I am being made redundant. It just so happens that I have just also reached state pension payable age at the same time. Regardless of this I still need to seek work for a few years yet.  It also states under What is covered for Involuntary Unemployment cover: - ' If you are not eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance, because you receive alternative support eg Income Support Benefit, or Widow's Pension or Single Parent Allowance, you must provide evidence of this alternative benefit and two pieces of satisfactory evidence for us to validate that you are seeking work'.   You must be under the age of 70 on the first day of your unemployment at the start of your claim.

Very confused and also on the bit about providing evidence that I am seeking work.  How am I supposed to have this evidence at this moment?  My present employer has said they will continue to seek an alternative role for me but this has not been forthcoming. I have prepared a CV and posted this off to a few employers who are advertising but have heard absolutely nothing back. Not even an unsuccesful letter. 

TELLIT01

Call your insurer for a definitive answer.  If they say you aren't covered because you are in receipt of State Pension request return of all payments since you started receiving pension.  If may be a case that they will continue to provide cover for people in employment over the age of 65 as long as they have deferred State pension.

immy1

Hi.  I checked on Job Seekers Allowance rules. It says even if you have deferred your state pension date you still can't claim as it goes on when state pension age is reached and not the date when you actually decide to claim the pension.  

elsien

dunstonh said:

On reading their T&Cs it states that I must be in receipt of Job Seekers allowance in order to claim.  On checking my entitlement to this I have discovered that I am not entitled as I am now in receipt of a state pension!  

Normally, they require you to sign on and confirm and prove you are looking for new jobs.  If it says you must be in receipt of Job seekers allowance and covers you to age 70 then clearly there is a conflict as the policy could never pay out in that scenario.

I haven't seen any that say you must be in receipt of jobseekers allowance as a mandatory condition that must be met.  I have seen it as one of the qualifying conditions but there are others too.  i.e. if you meet the criteria of one of the other conditions then that is good enough without needing jobseekers allowance.

Are you sure its a mandatory requirement and not a possible qualifying requirement?

It was a mandatory condition on mine when I made a claim 5 years ago. 

Aretnap

immy1 said:

 It also states under What is covered for Involuntary Unemployment cover: - ' If you are not eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance, because you receive alternative support eg Income Support Benefit, or Widow's Pension or Single Parent Allowance, you must provide evidence of this alternative benefit and two pieces of satisfactory evidence for us to validate that you are seeking work'.  

That looks reasonably clear to me - you are not eligible for JSA because you receive alternative support - in your case a state pension. So you can still claim, but you'll have to provide evidence that you receive state pension (should be easy enough) and also evidence that you are actually looking for work. You should ask the insurer what sort of evidence they will accept.

Unfortunately it's fairly common these days for employers only to reply to applications if they're offering you an interview so it would be unreasonable of the insurer to demand rejection letters as the only form of evidence they'd accept; perhaps copied of applications you've made would be sufficient.

Don't be perturbed by the fact that state pension is not on the list of alternative benefits listed in the policy terms - it says "eg" so it is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

immy1

Thank you. Hopefully things will go well and I will be able to claim whilst I seek a new position.