To resign and claim benefits

[NearlySpring]

Posting for my colleague here at work as I have no idea what advice to give her and Ive told her you're all very knowledeable. :)

She works with me, full time, claims tax credits, pays her own rent on her council house. She has a 8 yr old son and has a childminder for before and after school care.

She has lots of debt which she has managed to arrange payment plans for and is paying back. However, her finances don't work out for her. Even with tax credits help with childcare she is getting more and more overdrawn each month. She has no family to help and receives no child support for her child as her partner (son's father) died 6 mths ago :(

She has been looking for work for ages, either better hours so less childcare costs or same hours and more money. She has finally found a job that pays more, and been offered the job but it doesn't start til March. I suggested perhaps she resigns and claims benefits using the next few months to spend time with her son and have a break and relax (she's had a tough time due to the death of her partner). Plus looking online she is actually no worse off on income support (taking a break from her debt payback arrangements due to being out of work) than she is working full time, paying childcare etc. She's not been out of work before so it's not like she's workshy or anything.

AIBU to have suggested this to her? It's only for 4 months after all. Would she be able to claim inome support or jobseekers even though he resigned as she has a valid reason (childcare costs) to do so?

I think that is good advice to have given, good for her for having got a better job

uh. I don't think you can get JSA if you've resigned - even if you have a "good reason" I might be wrong about that though.

If you resign from a job you're not allowed any benefits.

she would get income support though so its different

childcare costs isn't a valid reason to resign. we have fucking childcare costs. does that mean we are all entitled not to work?

And no ch
ildcare costs wouldn't be a valid reason

When I was a student at uni I worked 2 days a week. My degree finished, I also had to leave my uni digs. So I moved 300 miles to come back home and live with parents. I wasn't allowed to claim JSA as I was deemed to have intentionally made myself unemployed. It went to an appeal panel and everything but they said I should have stayed 300 miles from home with no house and a 2 day a week job.

actally i've decided. you are on the wind-up. that post is to inflammatory not to be.

No she wouldn't shooby. It all changed and you only get IS until your child is 7 (and isn't that dropping to 5 soon, or did I dream that?)

She would not get IS as her child is over 5

It would have to be JSA

This is terrible advice, six month sanction for leaving voluntarily, anyone?

that should be we all have fucking childcare costs.

you dont get benefits if you resign, only if fired/made redundant

I'm wondering what a "valid reason" would be actually. Constructive dismissal maybe.

Err Booeyhoo, bit harsh. I'm not an idiot because I know nothing about the ins and outs of benefits! I assumed because she was struggling financially and had a child she could claim benefits. We just read online that people with children over 7 but under 12 need to claim jsa not income support and are allowed o restrict their job seeking search to school hours only, so I assumed as she'd attempted to work 9-6 and it did t work out for childcare reasons she'd be entitled to fall under the same
rules. Guess not.

so you all think her getting in to further debt for the next 4 months while she does a job she cant afford to do is the better option?

I don't think constructivfe dismissal would be a reason either. Anyone can whimper and say someone was so mean to them they had to leave, etc.

I think you need to have been fired or being made redundent.

It's this sort of attitude that has led to the huge welfare changes peachy's thread was worried about. There are people all over the country who have reduced their hours knowing the taxpayer would pick up the slack. Although I don't blame someone for wanting to do it, it is wrong to have a system that enables people to.

If she is in debt presumably that was her own doing?

Maybe I should have commuted a 600 mile round trip for a minimum wage shop job

no, not a bit harsh at all. she has a job starting in 4 months so that should mean she quits her current job til then? in what world is that sensible advice? 4 months is not long to have to wait to start a new job when you already have an income coming in.

No shooby - we're saying that she is not entitled to benefits so will effectively, fucked, if she resigns.

oh ok, I will go back to sleep now

I wouldnt because alot can happen between now and MArch and although she has been offered the job, it could be withdrawn between now and then, and then she has nothing.

In theory however, given her circumstances I would have no problem with her doing this. She has paid in far more than she would take out and has been working hard to get a better job.

The "scrounger" type comments are typical of a certain type of person who assumes that anyone who gives up their job for whatever reason is a scrounger.

I once left a job three months before another one started in order to spend time with dd. But I saved up enough so I could afford to do it. No way would I have ever thought it was fair that other peoples' taxes should pay for me to sit on my arse.

Oh and yes Im aware we all have childcare costs but we don't all make the mistake of trying to work and realising it's putting us further into debt at a time where we have just had our partner drop dead unexpectedly. I work and pay a fortune for childcare as a single parent so I certainly don't believe anyone with a child has the right to not work.

Thanks all for your advice. :)

"so you all think her getting in to further debt for the next 4 months while she does a job she cant afford to do is the better option?"

better than having NO MONEY coming in at all for the next 14 of 16 weeks? er yeah!