Please help, dh will be redundant after Christmas, need advice, ANY! re money / payouts / benefits

[JoyceDivision]

bugger bugger bugger x 100 million

Dh was advised that after Christmas he will be redundant. His salary is about £36k, and he'll get a redundancy pmnt of about £12k. I work p/t and earn about £9k.

We have savings of £9k that we have sat on our mortgage, and about £2k in an ISA. That's it.

We have a mortgage of about £98k, no loans, no car finance, but we have a couple of overdrafts totalling about £1.5k.

Our joint wages cover the general bills and usual groceries / petrol / general daily expenditure.

So waht do we do?? Should we shove the redundancy pmnt on the mortgage to lower a bill? if so, do we have to declare the redundancy payment as savings or as soon as dh leaves work are we classed as a household on one wage and start seeing what we can claim re WFTC and Child benefit?

Can we claim reduced council tax etc??

I know some people may read this and say we're not in the worst position, but our savings are keeping the mortgage payment low, and have a bit in the ISA for emergencies!

I'm totally lost with all this money lark and would really apprciate any help!

He should get contribution based jobseekers allowance of 71 pound a week for 6 months regardless of any savings. You should also be able to claim working tax credits if you work more than 24 hours (maybe not on that wage - could you up your hours?) He will have to say what he has had as a redundancy payout & savings of 6000 or more mean you wouldn't get full council tax benefit or any help with mortgage. There is still time before Christmas to find another job, don't panic yet. How many children do you have?

Joyce how long will the redundancy payment keep you afloat for? It is 4 months of your DH's salary, but of course you won't pay tax so will it keep you for 5 months alongside your salary? Bearing in mind that you will also get tax credits.

So actually, you will have enough cash to keep you going until May. What are your DH's prospects in terms of another job?

dh bless him is trying all contacts from work that left over the years, he works in a fairly small field so work isn't straightforward to find and often taken by freelancers because companies can avoid the pension /sick pay etc stuff, however at the momnt things are so competitive freelance work isn't going to be immediately, if at all, out there to take up. He is preparing his own promotion material to at least try any freelance options but would obv rather try to get back with an employer.

We have 2 dc at younger end of school years.

There will be cash to keep us afloat for about 4 or 5 months (dhs second hand little chug about had to go to garage last week and cost about £250!! Work that should mean its good to go for a while so...). I'm working on the principle of shoppiong at Aldi and topping up what I cvan't get at usual supermarket and leaving handbag at home so I can't fall into the trap of buying odd bts that suck up extra cash...

So are WFTC's prob the first port of call? but as i don't work anough hours is tere something in place of this?

Child tax credits if you don't qualify for working tax.

Your DH sounds on the ball and determined so fingers crossed he will find new work in some form. My DH got made redundant at Christmas last year, and with hindsight it has been the best thing ever. We set up our own business and he does freelance, and he has doubled his income.

It is a very frightening time though, I'm a SAHM so we had nothing coming in and there were days I could barely eat for the knot in my stomach.

Sending you lots of luck.

Save, save, save! You know the storm is coming, so thats some notice at least, so look to cut your outgoings as you can. Down-shift your supermarket or the brands you buy and try being more economical. Try and switch utilities if you havent recently so there is a little going out as poss. Look for hints and tips on moneysavingexpert.com and sign up for their newsletter if you dont already as they do great advice and tell you about money saving deals.
Unfortunately, their is a limit on how much savings you can have before it affects your benefits so check the limit on www.direct.gov.co.uk but I think its 18K. I also believe that you have to account for EVERY penny of your redundancy money so splash the cash on cars, holidays etc but it wont mean that you get benefits any sooner than they believe you should have if you'd lived on that amount for a certain period. So clearing some of the mortgage might be a whammy.
Theres plenty of adverts for "Ma" (Money Advice service) on the telly at the mo and its a good and free site with great info so check it out.
This neednt be the end of the world as you might find that you can have a good life on less, as its not the money you spend but what you do with it thats important. family and friends are worth their weight in gold!

Thank you every one for your replies

Fortunately I'm a cheerful tightwad so have already started to do as much shopping as poss at Aldi before 'topping up' with what I can't find at the supermarket. Am driving like a little old lady to minimise petrol usage

Arrggh!!! We've got lots of bloomin family birthdays in Oct and Nov, including dcs, so am geting those out of the way then will start gettin the proper fact and figures worked out...