Redundancy Uncertainty

olddognewlife

I'm being made redundant @ end of July after 46 years of continuous employment in the printing trade.The wife has had to quit her job because her father passed away 2 weeks ago & her mother can't look after herself,she won't leave her home,she wishes to stay where she is.
We own our home,have very little savings,(redundancy £8000)+private pension of £250 per month.
I am 61,my wife 58,i have no experience of this situation,what benefits can we claim? will they insist on me going back to work @ my age (i suffer with hypertension)ie high blood pressure & colesterol.
Can the community help me?

Got2change

I wish I knew all the answers for you but know that someone more knowledgable than I will reply soon.....
But first thoughts off the top of my head are:
You should qualify for Contribution based JSA - but this will involve signing on and "actively seeking work". Not sure if your age is a factor in this - you might not have to, being over 60 and in not good health. However, your job has ended due to redundancy not illness, so not sure if Incapacaity Benefit might be an option.
Your redundancy payment will be seen as savings I think, so not sure how that will affect any benefits as I don't know the cut off point.
If your wife is looking after her Mum, there should be some knid of Carer's allowance that she should be entitled to; again, I'm not 100% on that either.
In fact, I guess I'm not much help at all........
But anyway, your Citizens Advice Bureau should be able to help - some will give all the necessary pointers over the phone;other than that, the Jobcentre Plus (website?) of your local Council's Welfare Benefits Advisor.
Take care.
G2c