Reducing my savings to below threshold prior to applying for unemployment benefits

ZR

KxMx said:

Murphybear said:

ZR said:

I genuinely feel

poppy12345 said:

ZR said:

poppy12345 said:

ZR said:

The other option is I buy a nice sleeping bag, give away the rest of money and go live in the streets myself. Probably outside of the scope of this forum.

You have £40k in savings, i don't understand why you would want to do that. Take a look at calcotti's option.

I am going to look at Calcotti's option but I expect I don't qualify as I was out of work for much of the last two years. It's been a tough time recently. 

Then it's unlikely you'll qualify for either New Style ESA or JSA. You can check your NI contributions here.

Not looking great.

I don't know what to do, I am applying for jobs every day.

TI will miss my kids. 

Please don’t do that.  People who sleep rough tend to have more/worse mental health problems.  (I worked for a mental health charity and we funded a few projects on mental illness in the homeless).   You say your mother will be homeless if you don’t help her financially.  Have you thought about getting some practical help for her.  Are you paying her rent for example?  She may be entitled to help with rent and council tax.  There’s a few benefit checkers online and you will find Citizens Advice very helpful.  

OP's mum lives in South Africa, but he could still help her navigate the welfare system there. 

She's getting everything she is entitled to and I still have to contribute to her state subsidised accommodation.

JonVarnas

No offence, but if I had £40K in the bank I wouldn't want to have anything to do with the DWP whatsoever.

poppy12345

sammyjammy said:

Justto be clear the £16k limit is where income based benefits stop, they are reduced by £4.25 a month for every £500 you have over £6k

That's not correct. For every £250 or part there of over £6,000 there's a deduction of £4.35/month.

ZR

JonVarnas said:

No offence, but if I had £40K in the bank I wouldn't want to have anything to do with the DWP whatsoever.

I know, I get it. It is a strange problem to have.

sammyjammy

HillStreetBlues said:

sammyjammy said:

Justto be clear the £16k limit is where income based benefits stop, they are reduced by £4.25 a month for every £500 you have over £6k

Isn't it per £250 for working age benefits?

Yes it is, I've amended my post, head is in the shed today!

calcotti

sammyjammy said:

HillStreetBlues said:

sammyjammy said:

Justto be clear the £16k limit is where income based benefits stop, they are reduced by £4.25 a month for every £500 you have over £6k

Isn't it per £250 for working age benefits?

Yes it is, I've amended my post, head is in the shed today!

Hope it’s a nice shed! We all make errors at times - good thing is that somebody else usually picks them up.

justwhat

ZR said:

JonVarnas said:

No offence, but if I had £40K in the bank I wouldn't want to have anything to do with the DWP whatsoever.

I know, I get it. It is a strange problem to have.

have you got a mortgage or any debt?

Murphybear

KxMx said:

Murphybear said:

ZR said:

I genuinely feel

poppy12345 said:

ZR said:

poppy12345 said:

ZR said:

The other option is I buy a nice sleeping bag, give away the rest of money and go live in the streets myself. Probably outside of the scope of this forum.

You have £40k in savings, i don't understand why you would want to do that. Take a look at calcotti's option.

I am going to look at Calcotti's option but I expect I don't qualify as I was out of work for much of the last two years. It's been a tough time recently. 

Then it's unlikely you'll qualify for either New Style ESA or JSA. You can check your NI contributions here.

Not looking great.

I don't know what to do, I am applying for jobs every day.

TI will miss my kids. 

Please don’t do that.  People who sleep rough tend to have more/worse mental health problems.  (I worked for a mental health charity and we funded a few projects on mental illness in the homeless).   You say your mother will be homeless if you don’t help her financially.  Have you thought about getting some practical help for her.  Are you paying her rent for example?  She may be entitled to help with rent and council tax.  There’s a few benefit checkers online and you will find Citizens Advice very helpful.  

OP's mum lives in South Africa, but he could still help her navigate the welfare system there. 

Sorry, I missed that, thanks for pointing it out.  

ZR

justwhat said:

JonVarnas said:

No offence, but if I had £40K in the bank I wouldn't want to have anything to do with the DWP whatsoever.

free money lol

I know it's difficult to understand but I have gone from working in the city earning 55K a year and married with 2 kids and owning a home to being alone, quite serious mental health issues and unemployed for the last eight months and another large gap on my CV before that, I don't see the situation improving and am projecting the likely outcome which is I spend all this money and end up homeless when there are people who depend on me.

I applied for around 20 jobs yesterday and the rejection emails are already rolling in. I won't find a job, I won't be able to support my kids, I won't be able to support my mother who will also end up homeless. I am having to think outside of the box, if it offends people they can !!!!!!.

You will be grateful to know I will likely not take any of your hard earned tax money (God know how much money I have paid in to this rotten system over the years) as I am proactively looking to make myself homeless rather than spending my savings which I would rather go my family.

elsien

Your children have two parents. It is not just down to you to keep everyone afloat. What is your wife doing to maintain herself?
And I’m sorry if this is a statement of the obvious, but I found when I was applying for jobs which were below the management level I’d worked out previously  (redundancy) people didn’t want to employ me because they thought I’d be off as soon as a better paid job came up. I had to downgrade my CV slightly accordingly, for some jobs.
Do you have any ex colleagues you can network with? If you just need to bring some money in and aren’t so fussed about how, try Pubs Cafes and bars in person  – a fair few had signs on the door looking for staff not so long back.
I agree with an earlier poster he said once you’ve got your foot in the door somewhere it will get easier.
With regards to living on the streets, that will give you health problems, make you more depressed and more likely to turn to self medication in other ways.
If you have a long-standing mental health issues that affect your ability to care for yourself on a day-to-day basis, have you looked at claiming PIP which is non-means tested.