Help advise appreciated - redundancy/benefits etc

Is this anyone's area of expertise work wise?

If so any chance of how it all works

 

How long you been there?

 

Hi CS. I got made redundant with a pension 3 years ago. I'd done over 38 years with the firm having joined straight from school and had never once in my life signed on.

When you first sign on you get job seekers (contributions based) for six months and you are expected to prove to them that you are actively trying to find work. Of course jobs here in Dundee are like hens teeth and when you tell them that you have to take some crap off some the people behind the desk. Some are worse than others. After 6 months you then go on to an income based job seekers. As I had a pension that is deemed an income and as such disallowed me any financial help. Also if you have more than 8k in the bank that counts against you and they will not entertain you until you have less than the said 8k.

Be prepared to be treated like a piece of dog's deposit. What's worse is the fact when you are signing on all the druggies and **** heads get treated like royalty as they are deemed vulnerable cases.

Good luck.

 

I'm facing in on 10 sept! I've done 8 full years and would come out with about £7k. That'd tide me over for 4-5 months
but ideal scenario would be to drop on a similar paid job ASAP?!?

I've found out about the 110 per fortnight I'd get. The £8k isn't a problem. I live to my means.

I currently spend £200 a month on fuel commuting and I'd take my car off road. It's ****ed anyway! So simply not commuting I'd be £300 saved. Cut mi cloth in case I'm out for a bit.

Does the job seeker lead to owt else like council tax help etc?

I was 40 in April and never claimed a penny either.

Bring it on........ there's always crime

 

It's not an easy time mate. Your circumstances are different from mine but from what you say maybe you could get help with your council tax and get other benefits.
I'd honestly have a word with citizens advice mate and get all the facts.
What you will find is they don't give a monkeys about you. You are on your own.

Just as well we have a caring government.

Good luck mate.

 

Part time. Feet up. Semi retirement. Cash in hand side jobs. I could get use to it!

Here's hoping!

Man with a van ere I come!

 

You are entitled to Jobseekers Allowance (Contribution based) for 6 months, irrespective of your capital. You have to be able to demonstrate that you are seeking work (nowt wrong wi that?) but that can be accomplished by searching on line through 'Universal Jobsearch' and allowing your 'Adviser' access to the online record you keep.

After 6 months you would have to claim Jobseekers Allowance (Income Based) for which your capital (and partner's income) is taken into account. It's only with the Income Based version that you can get help with other stuff (Council Tax, etc). JSA is £71 per week, discounted for any other income you may have.

The Jobcentre staff are absolutely fine - if you treat them with respect (and show you are not taking the p£ss) they will repay you with the same courtesy. For a general overview, and lots of good adcvice on this (and all other money issues) you can not do better than check out Moneysavingexpert.com. It's a freebie website run on an honest basis by Martin Lewis, and I'd barely take any financial decision without at least considering the advice it has to offer.

Hope this helps.

 

Ian is spot on, work hard all your life, pay a fortune in and never take a penny out and they will treat you like something they have trodden in. Good luck, you're going to need it. By the way it may sound like a daft question but have you thought about putting your money into a franchise? If you're careful and take some good advice then there are some good opportunities out there.

 

I was made redundant in December and went to the Job Centre in March to see about getting my NI paid whilst I wasn't working. They then told me I was entitled to jobseeker's allowance. I didn't think I would be, as our lass works. Nevertheless, like folk have said above, you have to show you are looking for work when you attend the office every fortnight, but I found the staff fine and my own key worker was a decent bloke. My line of work is quite specialist and there is no chance of getting a role I want in Barnsley. I also have some disability issues which would prevent a 9 to 5 office job, but they put no pressure on me and allowed me to use my own recruitment consultants (our industry is very London centric and I had moved back up here keeping my London job) and I have just found a job, albeit on a temp basis to start with (and on a much lower salary, but hey, it's a job!).

However, the job centre in Barnsley is not a nice place to have to visit, especially when I had my 3 year old son with me, but that is down to the customers more than anything. Having worked in a front line role in the past (A&E triage nurse), working with certain sections of the public can be very trying and it is difficult not to become cynical. I would imagine that the job centre staff are low paid, get a load of cr@p to deal with and have little chance of success with any of their clients, so they are bound to be demoralised. My advice would be, be reasonable with them, toe the line and they'll be fine with you. I wouldn't necessarily expect them to find you anything more than a basic role though, so you'll have to do your own work to get a job.

 

Yep - go in with a chip on your shoulder - say "I am the great I Am!". Assume they're out to get you. What a load of carp!

As I said, courtesy repays itself. Be proud of what you've done, be courteous with those you deal with, and they'll be right with you. To be fair, most of them wouldn't want to peddle the Government's agenda, but they have a living to make too.

 

I'm speaking from experience orsencrap and the way the system, not the staff, treated my Dad a few years ago. There's no chip at all, just resentment with a system that doesn't recognise a life time of hard work.

 

Cheers for the thoughts. Much food for.

I work with the general public face to face and appreciate the 'treat people how you'd want to be treat philosophy'

It's all new to me this. I do realise to maintain my standard of living I'll need to self fulfill my search. Although id seriously consider a total change of direction if the opportunity arose !

I'd love to work for myself and 'make it crack' but as a single dad I haven't the time and/or funds to even consider that option.

Cheers again

 

Be sure to check all avenues of benefits, the job centre work from scripts and won't tell you all you are necessarily eligible for.

 

On the occasions I've dealt with the Jobcentre, their staff have been as much use as a chocolate fireguard, totally unhelpful and did indeed talk to me like something they'd just stepped in.

The last time I was out of work - February to May this year - I didn't even bother signing on. Too much of a ball-ache for little in return. It left me and our lass on our arse for a while but I wouldn't have been entitled apparently anyway, because she earns too much. Aye, course she does. ******* idiots.

I've paid into the system for most of my adult life, and the first time you want help they find excuses not to help you. Yet, they'll pay junkies and alcoholics DLA which is a lot more than JSA.

My mate is unemployed, and they've got him on some job scheme. It entails him going to a building for an hour and using the internet to search for a job. No training schemes, courses or owt - no funding apparently. So he goes there, uses the internet for an hour and fcuks off.

Reight job scheme that is.


Although to be fair, there have been about 20 new starters at our place since I started there nearly 3 months back, and only 8 of them remain.

Some reight useless, lazy *******.



Good luck with the future plans, Cunning. I'm sure a man of your talents will prosper.

 

i had redundacy 3 years ago company pension+ lump sum told i could not claim job seakers and they could not help me with job searches -said i had to look on internet
after 36 years of work could not get any benifits -can claim for deependants but not for yourself as i am divorced and no dewpendants ---no help at all-now have 20 hr contract job

 

Ey up Andy, you might not know the answer but I'll ask anyway. My lad tells me he has been ringing the agency your place uses regularly and every time he calls they just fob him off. If you're losing staff so often you'd think they'd be offering him a chance so can you tell me if, in your opinion, he is pulling my chain and talking crap?

 

Yep.

 

Thought so, thanks mate.

 

They set a young kid on who looked like Penfold about a month ago. He's as thick as a tub of *****.

They expect you to be able to hit your target of picking 180 cases of food an hour. I regularly top 200 myself. Bossman's young un who started a few weeks after me hits well over 200 all the time but then he does run about the place like it's an Olympic event.

Anyway, the Penfold lookalike has never topped 140 an hour and is under constant scrutiny/review. Yet he's still here.


The only two to have been sacked or let go while I've been there are a young lad who cried off home most nights due to various ******** excuses. And a bloke in his 40's, who had the same physique as Rik Waller. He wasn't afraid of graft, but he just couldn't keep up with the pace and reach his targets, so they got shut after a month.


So if they are willing to set on a dipstick like Penfold, and a bloke the size of Waller, then yes, your kid ought to have been here by now.


It's a **** job, the money int fantastic, but it's a means to an end and better than dossing off the tax payers.

Personally, I'm looking for something closer to home, but giving it my all over there whilst there, and if you impress enough to get set on permanently you are looking at double the pay.


I'm no snob. I'll do owt, and have done. Hate not working.

And until NASA set me on for the return trip to the Moon I'll stick at it.

 

He's been out of work since ASOS laid him off in January (he was only there a couple of months) and it's just been excuse after excuse ever since. Anyway things came to a head recently and I had a right go at him which seemed to do the trick in fact he starts back at ASOS next week despite him hating it. The bit I don't like is that with a bit more focus and commitment he might have been starting at your place. I'll have a word with him again and tell him to stop pi55ing around and call the agency. I'll be using the Penfold example, not that he would know who I was talking about.