Redundancy followed by claiming UC

Hi denby

Your question is outside the remit of the forum, I will try and answer it but I would advise your friend to seek help from their local Welfare Rights Organisation, who will be able to take all their circumstances into consideration.

The lump sum would be classed as savings, normal rules would apply, over £16k not eligible to claim UC.

They should consider delaying their claim if they finish work and they are due to receive their last wage or holiday pay. These are taken into account in the universal credit calculation and will therefore reduce the amount that they get for the first month. However, if they claim universal credit the day after they have received these payments, they will not be taken into account.

My advice would be to claim NS ESA initially as savings are not taken into account or their partners income, if they have one.

Gary

Hi denby,

Slightly similar thing happened to me - After many years in local government, I had a breakdown due to the pressures of work, and staff sickness and low morale, and ended up on long term sick myself, and was eventually forced out as Occ Health seen me more as a problem due to clashes with members of staff and my deteriorating health. I was awarded a pay out, and decided to live on that for a few months before claiming UC, as I had absolutely no experience of the benefits system at that time, and I'm only going back just under 4 years ago. I did find other employment, but it failed to work out on a number of occasions, so I ended up claiming UC. I then found out that I may be eligible for PIP due to my declining health - tried myself a couple of times, but then turned to help, and was then awarded standard at both D/L and Mob with a backpayment. I never realised that I had to spend the backpayment within a year, and put it into bonds and ISA's for a year, which gained interest, but then it just so happened that within a couple of months after the payout, DWP requested my bank statements for 4 months. They'd seen that I had over the £6,000 limit in my bank, due to the payouts showing in and out for the ISA's and Bonds, and I informed them about it being a PIP backdated payment, to which I was then told about the "year to spend rule" - and they requested a full 12 months of my bank statements, so they could see proof of the PIP backpayment also. Because it was in depth too, as I had Help to Save scheme also, I had to send them my bank statements, ISA's, Bonds and Help to Save statements for 12 months too - long story short, this resulted in my UC being cut by nearly £100 per month, and still is to this date.

They didn't ask me about why I finished work, or why I didn't claim immediately, but I was very open and honest with them about what happened in the workplace, so they knew what I had been going through, and I was lucky enough to have a really nice work coach, who supported me all the way. I've had several since then, as they either move to a new job, or leave.

I hope this information helps you a bit, but any further Q/s, just holla back, and I'll be happy to try answer for you.

Regards, Chris.