to think my brothers abusing the system

[bhgnrpusbpilates]

or is he entitled to do this.

I will cut a long story short my brother late 30s, volunteered redundancy end of last year ( completely voluntary, so chose to be unemployed) and went travelling for a bit, he came back recently and i overheard him telling someone now its the new tax year he is going to claim new JSA as he can for 6 months as its not means tested (ie redundancy payment wont be taken into account), and probably just go off travelling again.

We have always been raised in a household where you work end of , and my mum is first to call anyone else for abusing the system ( my brother is the favourite so perhaps i'm being a bit bitter)

but i don't agree with this at all, I wasn't massively happy with him for making himself redundant from a decent job just because he felt like it ( i too have a decent job but the R word terrifies me ) I think decent jobs are hard to come by these days , and its not like hes in his 50s, he graduated during the credit crunch so took him a while to get such a good opportunity.

My parents are annoying me by saying oh well good for him hes entitled to it etc etc but I just know if it was me doing it they would be going mad

sorry rant over and feel free to tell me i should get my head out my #### and live a little.

That's exactly what I said, it's the system not the individual.

Why are you so bothered, it's his life. JSA is peanuts as far as I'm aware and I think you have to show proof you are looking for work, and attend meetings, you can't claim it from outside the country. So I'm not sure what you are getting so worked up about, I'm sure he will return to work when his money runs low. Leave him to live his life.

No.

I also pay tax, and don’t give a fuck who applies and qualifies for welfare. I may need it at some point further in my life.

Well I do give a fuck about someone who consciously evades employment and expects me to work to pay the tax for their JSA. That isn’t need. It’s choice.

Erm, OP's DB took up voluntary redundancy. Look up what that means before you get your knickers in a twist.
And because he was working, he can claim NC JSA, which means he can be a billionare and still claim UC... but be aware that the UC claim is just about £100pw, and he will have to prove he is looking for work for the same hours as a full time worker.

.

If your brother claims JSA he would need to attend appointments. Some can be weekly.

Isn’t he intending to travel?
How does that fit in with
he will have to prove he is looking for work for the same hours as a full time worker.
?

Can I add, that you don’t actually need much evidence of jobs you’re looking for. Just say you’ve applied to x, y and z, and looked at Indeed website. When dh applied, he didn’t find it a difficult or demanding process, and he went from fortnightly to monthly meetings.

Taking redundancy and claiming JSA is pretty shit, whatever he says to sound positive and make himself feel better.

Op this is going to come back to bite him. Travelling is lovely but the money will run out and he may regret not trying harder to find another decent job. Like others have said I do not think job seekers allows for him to be out of the country he needs to be applying and interviewing for work. Your parents are a separate issue they treat you both differently and you know he is the favourite.

If he is claiming JSA he has to be in the UK - his claim would be closed even if he went out of the UK for a day (he could then reclaim on his return). He has to be available & prove he is looking for work & attend appointments at the Jobcentre in order to qualify for JSA / New Style JSA. If he doesn't let them know that he is not in the UK, then he could be prosecuted for committing benefit fraud. (& more in depth checks are being done these days).
(UC has different rules, & is means tested, you are allowed to go abroad for up to a month - but also different qualifying criteria, such as savings/ investments etc).

Thats not how voluntary redundancy happens, he didn't just get a random cushy resignation for no reason.

They were going to be making people redundant, he could have been one and was in the firing line, and if he was he would have got less. But he would been offered a bit more to make the process easier for the company.

Job seekers still requires job seeking, up to weekly appointments (sometimes 2 weeks), and work diaries, and all the rest. He isn’t getting anything while off travelling - well he could use up his two 7 day periods of sickness self certified and travel instead I suppose, but that's all you get per year so 14 days of not having to do anything and a holiday with small weekly payments.

It's not corrupt at all. If someone worked for years and paid into the system they should be entitled to something and its only like 90 fir 6 months.
Lods of people do fuck all their all life claiming UC , working cash in hand or pretending to be single mothers,never intending to work and then still get pension credit in retirement for doing nothing, well that is corrupt.

Let him go for it. Our politicians are the biggest benefit cheats/claimants going.
If they think screwing the system is ok, why can't he?

1. He’s won’t be entitled to it if it was voluntary redundancy. His employer will be contacted to verify the terms of the redundancy.
2. He can’t claim it if he’s overseas as he has to attend either weekly or fortnightly.
3. Even if he was back in the country he might not get it depending on how long he’s been out of the country. so basically he’s talking out of his arse and hadn’t done any research.

This! With bells and whistles on.

it really annoys me when people think that those working, particularly those on higher incomes, should be excluded from the very system they have supported with their tax. Further, for those outraged by someone with voluntary redundancy claiming this, this is perfectly allowable as long as they have made sufficient NI contributions in the relevant years as this isn’t a ‘benefit’ it is in effect getting your own money back! The other reason to claim is because it keeps your NI up to date - ok with women who are full time child carers in the home getting an unearned NI credit? Then why would you begrudge this to someone made redundant?

what the OP’s brother could do is travel for a period, then come back and claim and as long as his NI contributions are still recent enough, he could still claim. It’s not an open ended payment, it’s not given unless you have paid in so it’s not depriving other tax payers of anything.

You are incorrect. Voluntary redundancy is classed the same as compulsory redundancy. This is from the gov website: Benefits you could get
If you’ve lost your job, including through voluntary redundancy, you might be able to get:

• New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) if you’re under State Pension age, unemployed or are working less than 16 hours a week on average, and have made enough National Insurance contributions, usually over the last 2 to 3 years - your savings and partner’s income will not affect how much you get

Is it still JSA where you live? It's Universal Credit here. Has been for at least 3 years.

Its both..they run in parallel you can choose which to apply for. So if you have assets, JSA