Just for the record:
sp suggested a *hypothetical* scheme whereby unemployment insurance was privately run. You pay premiums, just like car or house insurance and you claim for a allowance to sustain you, after job loss *which wasn't your fault* (topical, given Tata Steel story).
So I threw a spanner in the works by asking "what if someone had paid premiums for years and their workplace becomes so hostile, they have to leave?"
sp responded that it would be down to the (hypothetical) insurer to decide.
For a yardstick, we looked at current JSA rules, which you will find here:
http://www.urban75.com/Action/Jsa/jsa3.html
Bottom line: sp was right: 26 weeks' sanction if you walk out (made yourself "voluntarily unemployed")
divebuddy was also right: JSA immediate, if it is voluntary redundancy but this was besides the point under discussion, my "what if".
Basically, anyone "bullied out of their job" is already losing 6 month's benefits, on top of the loss of salary. Any insurance company would, based on historical behaviour, quibble over "evidence" of what made the person quit and, of course it would be predominantly "subjective" or "hearsay" or "no independent witnesses". So, likely, no payout. Not even in week 27.
So I was basically knocking the whole privatised benefits system idea.