Hello,

My situation is that I have been made redundant via voluntary redundancy. Does anyone know if this still allow me to claim Job Seekers Allowance, or the fact that I volunteered for the redundancy excludes me.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hello. This is the directgov website page and link to jobseekers information. Hope it helps a bit.

Jobseeker's Allowance

To find out about Jobseeker's Allowance, who can get it and how to claim online go to Jobseeker's Allowance.

• Jobseeker's Allowance
  

I could be wrong, but I'd say if you're redundant it may not make a difference if you've volunteered for it. But have a read of the website and someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon.

HB

Thanks again Honeybee!

Yeah, I had a look at it earlier. It does not seem to make any distinction with regards to redundant or voluntarily redundant. I guess maybe its all the same in their eyes. Lets see I guess.

This question doesnt really get a yes or no answer....it all depends on a few things.

Your advisor would look at a few things:

1. If you didnt accept redundancy under voluntary terms would it then have become compulsory redundancy?

2. Were the redundancies due to your employer moving the premises you work at to another part of the country that would be impossible to commute to?

3. Would you still have a job if you hadnt of accepted the redundancy?

Some advisors refer all of the claims that go through them to the decision maker for LV (leaving voluntarily) decisions and some advisors use a bit of discretion.

If the advisor refers your claim to the decision maker what happens is they send a form to your previous employer and one to you, you both answer the questions as to why and how the employment ended and the decision maker then decides if you have purposefully made yourself jobless. Again they use some discretion and it helps if you and your employer says the same thing.

It is always worth putting your claim in because this decision is not usually made until all the information is in which can take weeks. You will be paid (if you qualify) jobseekers allowance until the decision is made. If the decision maker finds in your favour then nothing changes. If you disagree with the decision you can always appeal against it providing further relevant evidence to back your argument.

If you do put your claim in and they stop your money after a couple of weeks you still get a couple of weeks of benefit that you wouldnt get if you didnt claim and also even when your money is stopped you can still get support from the jobcentre to find work or attend training courses if you want to retrain or try something different.

Hope that helps

Thanks Monx!

Any idea if sharing data with said advisers/decision makers would amount to a breach of the Compromise Agreement with my former employer.

Agreement makes exclusions for sharing data with:

- HRM Revenue and Customs

- Legal or Professional Advisers (providing the keep info confidential)

- Insurers

- Recruitment Consultant or Prospective Employer

I'm guessing said advisers/decision makers would fall in to the "Legal or Professional Advisers" category.

Cheers!

Hi BugBear4

A compromise agreement is different than redundancy under voluntary terms.

This used to have an impact because of the rules around accrued holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice as these used to affect when your claim would be paid but this is no longer the case.

I assume that your employer wanted to end your employment and as such rather than going through the redundancy route they paid you a lump sum, part of which was to compensate you for your "loss of office" which used to include said holiday pay and pilon payments..as they no longer affect the claim, as long as you bring a copy of the agreement to the initial claim interview where the salient points can be photocopied it shouldn't affect your JSA claim (as long as it is contribution based and not means tested income based). Your compromise agreement may say that you cannot share the info in it with a variety of offices but it is the only way your claim can be assessed and any employer who has gone down that line before would know this.

The jobcentre takes claims evey day that involve compromise agreements and there has been no problem before.

Hope this helps.