Benefits available etc - been made redundant

[Surfer01]

The company where I have worked for nearly 7 years has just gone into administration without any warning. I believe that when this happens, you do't get any sort of pay out / redundancy, company or government. Is this correct?

 

Secondly, we have recently become tenants in a council flat so do not yet have an assured tenancy. My wife earns about £230 per week but when you take into account the weekly rental, cost of utilities including telephone & TV licence, petrol for her to get to work, it does not leave one with very much left over. Unfortunately like a lot of other people we have loans which need to be repaid and if we continue to stay in the flat we will end up with financial problems unless we move into our caravan and live on a site.

 

I am registered disabled due to rheumatoid arthritis and back problems although I can do clerical work. Obviously anything manual or working outdoors is out of the question due to issue with hands.

 

I turn sixty in 10 months time which will make it even more difficult to obtain employment. What sort fo options / benefits are available to me? Obviously I would prefer to be in work but looking in the job pages of the local rag, they are few and far between in the Worcestershire area.

[pompeyfaith]

Hiya Surfer01,

 

As i understand it if your company cannot pay wages and or redundancy owed to you, you need to fill in form RP1 which your employer should give you so you can get the money.

 

There contact is:

 

Redundancy Payments Office

7th Floor, Hagley House

83-85 Hagley Road

Birmingham B16 8QG

Telephone 0121 456 4411

 

 

Ill also post a link that gives you more info on this:

 

 

Redundancy Help Employer has trouble making payments

 

How as for your Disabilities i would look into claiming DLA as that is worth £100 a week and is not means tested.

 

I hope the above is of help to you and it puts you in the right direction if you need any more help we are here.

 

Regards

 

Leon

[Surfer01]

Leon, thanks for the info. Very helpful as we were looking at a very bleak Xmas.

[pompeyfaith]

Your most welcome Surfer01 if you need anymore help just post here and i or someone else will be along to help you out.

 

If you feel i have been of help please do click my scales to the left.

 

Regards

 

Leon

[pompeyfaith]

Hiya Surfer01

 

Ok Ive found this site with regards to your rheumatoid arthritis this site is what the DWP use when assessing people for DLA im not sure how long or how bad you suffer from this condition but this site works on 3 levels i would suggest you go though it using the links to other pages on the left.

 

DWP - A-Z of medical conditions - Rheumatoid Arthritis - What is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)?

 

It will give you an idea if you would be entitled to the lower,middle or higher rate of DLA.

 

Is your doctor aware of your condition if so great as they will contact him to verify you condition.

 

Lastly the application is a bit dawning to say the least so i would seek help from a welfare officer or the CAB to fill it in.

 

But i must stress for £100 a week which is not means tested its well worth claiming.

 

OH one more thing if you are successful in getting this it opens the door to much more help.

 

Regards

 

Leon

[Surfer01]

Following on from the above, I have submitted a claim for return of bank charges which has been put on hold. Do you think it is now possible to plead hardship and get the case moving again even though I may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay and job seekers benefit.

Tried the DWP but even though I was on crutches and the condition is progressive no dice with them however doing it through CAB may help. Spent two worthwhile hours with them this morning regarding redundancy and Ii may also be entilted to a month's pay in lieu of notice in addition.

I am also going to try and refinance & get interest rates reduced on some debts in order to make it more viable to pay them.

[pompeyfaith]

You can indeed plead hardship, But i dont think it will make any differance to the bank charges fiasco as it is still stayed in a court of law.

 

Deffinetly get the CAB to help you with DLA though also contact the council about getting your council tax reduced.

 

And yes i will always stress to contact companies you owe money to asap as they will be more inclind to help you the earlier you contact them.

 

Do you get tax credits at all may be worth contacting them to see if they can help or if you are already getting credits it may well now go up.

 

there is a tax credits calculator here that will tell you if you are entitled.

 

HMRC Tax Credits - Do I qualify?, Do I qualify?

 

Regards

 

Leon

[poppynurse]

Definately plead financial hardship to the bank in relation to your charges. I got all my charges back (got to wait until the stay is lifted for the interest and costs).

 

If you go to the specific bank section of the forum you will be able to see how folk have gone about this.

[gizmo111]

Have a look here for what benefits you may be entitled to Start Calculation, you may be able to claim housing and council tax benefits as well as some tax credits based o nyour wifes sole income.

 

I am also going to try and refinance & get interest rates reduced on some debts in order to make it more viable to pay them.

 

These are not priority debts so do not refinance, but do an income and expenditure form and make offers based on what you are ABLE to pay, not what they demand, if you can only afford a token £1 per month then so be it, thats all they can have.

[Surfer01]

Due to an official mistake we were overpaid a benefit and we have been notified that they will be claiming back the overpayment out of our current benefit however we have very good grounds for disputing the overpayment and theri decision to claw back.

I am fairly sure we will win due to it being an error on their part but if they take it out of our current benefit, after our priority debts we are left with less than £50 to live on each week! We are a couple with no children. This error of theirs also left us with £597 rent arrears!

As we are disputing it on legal grounds, are they stll entitled to carry on taking back the overpayment from the current benefit while it is being disputed?

[Emma1973]

This was HB right? Have you already appealed? If so then no, they shouldnt be taking it back. Local authority guidance states that overpayments should not be taken whilst there is an appeal going on.

If they are doing this, then you should write and tell them to stop, write, email, go in the office and phone in order to make sure they get the message!

[Surfer01]

I have already appealed after consultation with CAB who also think that the agency made the mistake. I feel fairly certain that they will cave in eventually, however the concern at the moment is whether I should still be getting my full current benefit until the dispute is resolved otherwise this will place us under severe financial strain on priority debts alone not including other debts.?

[Emma1973]

Now you've done the appeal, then yes they have to stop until it is resolved!

[patrickq1]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/203121-intrum-justitia-dwp-2.html

if you can look at this one emma much appreciated

patrickq1

[Surfer01]

Thanks Emma. CAB have also advised the same.