Severance pay does nephew claim universal credit or job seekers ??

[granadagirl]

Hi
The place where nephewworks is getting rid of people left right & centre
Ds as been there a while so thought rather than get made redundant he’ll try severance

He was accepted

So few questions for those that have some knowledge

He lives at home with disabled mum, not carer(sister is)
He has 1 child that doesn’t live with him, only stays weekends

Does he claim jsa or universal credit ?
How much are you allowed in savings and still get benefit?
Does he wait till finishing work date is given.
(Furloughed at moment) before putting claim in

Does everyone go on universal credit these days ?

Sorry for all questions, not a clue

Did he work full time for the last 2 full tax years? That's what JSA will be based on, if he's paid enough National insurance.

Otherwise it will be UC. He can't claim for a child that doesn't live with him. He can't claim housing costs unless he is named on the tenancy. Savings under 6000 are not taken into account on UC

New style JSA that should be. Lasts 6 months.

It's hard to get JSA in most cases now, so probably UC. Anything over £6000 in savings will be affected though, and I'm not sure if you can get it at all if you have over £16000. Hopefully some of our more knowledgeable posters will know the answer to this.

Yes, he will have to wait until he's finished work to claim either.

He works full time, been there 15 yrs

I thought everyone had to claim universal credit now too ?
Think it’s more than 6k but not sure it’s more than 16k
So what happens if in between?
Keep 6k , over that do you pay so much off it?

So as soon as he get a finished work date
He signs up

2 things. If he has paid enough ni in the last 2 years he can get new style JSA for 6 months. Then he would have to move in to universal credit. He won’t get that if he has over 16k. Deductions for any amount over 6k up to 16k xx

Like someone else said JSA is based on NI contributions, if he doesn't need to claim housing costs it's probably his best bet

His savings are not taken into account t with JSA but with UC is benefits would be reduced with savings between £6000 and £16000 and stop completely if he had more than £16000.

Any savings over 16k he cannot get Uc at all but could still claim new style JSA if he has paid sufficient NI contributions over the past 2-3 years. new style ( contributions based JSA would only last for 6 months though).
If he has savings between 6k and 16k then the amount of Uc he receives each month would reduce by £4.35 for each £250 above 6k.
Standard Uc for an over 25 is £409.89 per month. I'm not sure if he would be delayed from applying for a few months if he has voluntarily left a job. The current standard UC rate is currently increased by about £80 extra a month due to covid but this may well go down to normal rate next April.
It is possible to claim both together if he is eligible but the new style JSA would be deducted from the UC.

Just to add. He will not get a rent element unless he is on the tenancy. he definitely should not claim Uc until he has been paid his last full wage otherwise that wage will just wipe out any entitlement. Ideally he should have received his last pay and wait a few days to make sure his employer has reported his last wages to HMRC and then apply. So many people are caught out by this.

So new style jsa for 6 mths would be his best bet?

Only difference with UC is you get housing benefit (he won’t not on tenancy)

If he doesn’t get another job in 6 mths does he then go onto UC ?

Does anyone definitely know if you take severance
You don’t get any benefit?

Thanks everyone

He should claim both at the same time. The UC is pays a bit more because of the coronavirus increase and passports to things like free prescriptions. Although if he gets a large redundancy payout if could reduce the UC to nil. The new style JSA gives him class 1 national insurance contributions which can make it easier to claim contribution based benefits in the future. UC gives class 3 contributions which aren’t as useful (only counts to state pension entitlement)

As babyroobs says, he’ll not be better off financially claiming both because the JSA will be deducted from his UC but there are definite benefits to claiming them both at the same time.

He won’t be sanctioned for taking voluntary redundancy as long as it’s a true redundancy situation, this is stipulated in both the JSA and UC regs.

Just re-read and you’ve described his dismissal as ‘severance’ I’m assuming this is voluntary redundancy? As severance as a concept doesn’t really exist in the UK? Or is it a settlement agreement which is something different?

Yer sorry voluntary redundancy
In my day it was known as severance pay
The job was there no more or you could get transferred to another office