Jobseeker's Allowance 13 March at 10:32PM edited 13 March at 10:33PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 2 replies 167 views

SVts

After almost 35 years in the same job I resigned 29/07/2022. I planned to have a six month break as I felt mentally exhausted. Now almost eight months on I have applied for several positions but alas no joy so now I'm wondering if I should apply for Jobseeker's Allowance. Maybe I should of applied straight away but I'm unsure of how the system works.

Single man 56 years old, home owner, no debts, no dependents, 10k+ in savings.

Anyone know where I stand regarding any government support?

elsien

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/eligibility

 No reason  that you can’t apply if you hit the eligibility criteria. 

It’s an online application then they will send you an appointment to go in and see them.

Be aware that applying for “several positions” is not going to cut it. You will be expected to make a lot of applications for jobs and not be too picky about what you apply for in terms of either salary or job role.
When I signed on a few years ago they cut me a bit of slack for the first three months when I could apply for jobs that were equivalent to the one I’d been made redundant from. 

But as you’ve now been out of work since last July they may well consider that you should be looking at anything and everything.

 You could also potentially apply for universal credit but I’m not sure what the interplay between JSA and universal credit is. That might be one for the benefits part of the forum.
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/eligibility

TBagpuss

I  think you would be entitled to Contributions Based Job Seekers allwance, this is based on your NI record and is not means tested, so worth claiming.

Also - look into claiming for NI credits when unemployed - I believe that if you are receiving any benefits they should be credited automatically but if you are unemployed but not claiming anything you can register so you still get the credits 

You may get Universal Credit - your savings are relevant to that and will reduce how much you get - check via entitledto or turn2us to work out how much you might be able to claim .