Redundancy payments and Jobseeker's Allowance

[SJmacleod]

A friend who worked part time was made redundant at the end of March.
Her employer paid her her final month's salary and her redundancy money.

Because she was a part-time worker, she was already receiving �1 - 45p JSA or Income support per week.

She made her claim for the full JSA immediately after she had been made redundant, but because she had been paid �650:00, the DWP told the Jobcentre that she was not entitled to any money for six weeks, so she was left without money for six weeks, and had no money at all for three weeks because she was payng installments towards debts. the Jobcentre just told her that she was not entitled to money

Were the DWP acting legally in denying her any money for six weeks? Should she now be putting in a complaint? They did not write to her to inform her of the decision so she was left in limbo. The Jobcentre staff were worse than useless, giving her a different explanation every time, but were vague and waffly.

Any advice would be very welcome. Our MP was less than helpful.

[bednobs]

it would seem to make sense to me - if she has a redundancy payment she shouldn't be able to claim jsa at the same time because she is effectively being "paid" for those weeks of redundancy. TBH 1 pound 45 is neither here nor there
She was not left without money for six weeks - she had the redundancy money to live on didn't she?

[SJmacleod]

I found that answer less than helpful, especially as I asked for advice.

Please bear in mind that people are allowed to have �2,500 in savings before they lose JSA.

[mrs_overall]

I'm no expert but it doesn't sound right.
I know someone who had a much larger redundancy payout than that and was able to claim JSA straightaway.

Have you tried the Citizens Advice Bureau for help?

Good luck.

[Ethel]

You have not been very helpful in your question. Was she receiving job seekers' allowance or income support?

If it is job seekers' allowance is it contribution based or income based? The rules are different .

If it is income based:
Redundancy pay almost always counts as capital when working out entitlement to income-based JSA. However, redundancy pay in excess of the statutory amount can prevent you getting any JSA for a period.

Contribution based:
If you get redundancy pay in excess of the statutory amount, you will not get contribution-based JSA for the period covered by the extra payment. If you received holiday pay as part of your final wage, you cannot get contribution-based JSA for up to four weeks after your job ends

If it is income support:
The applicable amount will vary for each person according to his or her circumstances. The capital that a person has is also taken into account. This could also include severance payments.


As it was �1.45 it is obviously means tested - dependent on another income.

As she got �650 this has been taken into account when calculating her entitlements.

[bednobs]

oh dear, sorry that you found my answer less than helpful. As you said "ANY advice would be welcome" i took you at face value, i didnt realise you meant "any advice i agree with is welcome"
my advice (in case it wasn't clear in that first answer) is that it sounds right that she didn't get jsa for that time. You say she had no money at all, but i say she had 650 pounds, what she chose to do with it is her business, not the job centres. Has she found a job now? Is she getting the JSA?

[Bushwhacker]

Tell her to get a job !!!!

[themas]

If the payment she received was truly a redundancy payment then - for income based job seekers allowance and for income support - it counts as capital not as income. As the amount is far below the capital limit it should then have been ignored.

However, if any part of the payment was pay in lieu of notice or accrued holiday pay (& it is quite often the case that people being made redundant do not have the make up of their payment properly explained to them) then it would be correct that she could not get benefit for the number of weeks covered by those elements.