Any reason to sign on as unemployed?
Discussion
I got laid off work in the oil field a year ago, at 55, and seeing as company pension is available from that age I took retirement. I'm not exactly rolling in spare cash but at the moment I don't need to work.
I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
King Herald said:
I got laid off work in the oil field a year ago, at 55, and seeing as company pension is available from that age I took retirement. I'm not exactly rolling in spare cash but at the moment I don't need to work.
I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
unless you are actively looking for work, you cant.I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
King Herald said:
I got laid off work in the oil field a year ago, at 55, and seeing as company pension is available from that age I took retirement. I'm not exactly rolling in spare cash but at the moment I don't need to work.
I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
You may want to check on whether you have enough contributions into the state pension scheme to claim the maximum when you reach retirement age. I think if you sign on your NI contributions are paid for you.I have no intentions of claiming Dole or whatever it is called nowadays, but it has been pointed out to me that I should register as unemployed. What is the reasoning behind this, and is it worthwhile or beneficial?
Having said that, my experience of Job Centre staff is that you are set up to fall, the impression that I obtained is that the priority is not finding you appropriate work but to ensure that you fail their criteria and come off benefits.
I only paid NI for the first 15 years of my working life, then I went off abroad.
What you say about the job centre is similar to my experience; they appear to exist solely to keep the habitually unemployed in benefits. I visited many years ago, they could do nothing for me, made no attempt to help me find employ, could offer no kore than 'ask them yourself', but seemed to focus purely on the tattooed pierced clowns who were pretending to seek work, and who needed their book signing every fortnight to keep their cheque coming in.
When it came to finding work for people, the whole establishment could have been replaced with a list of employers numbers pinned to the wall and a toll free phone.
What you say about the job centre is similar to my experience; they appear to exist solely to keep the habitually unemployed in benefits. I visited many years ago, they could do nothing for me, made no attempt to help me find employ, could offer no kore than 'ask them yourself', but seemed to focus purely on the tattooed pierced clowns who were pretending to seek work, and who needed their book signing every fortnight to keep their cheque coming in.
When it came to finding work for people, the whole establishment could have been replaced with a list of employers numbers pinned to the wall and a toll free phone.
King Herald said:
I only paid NI for the first 15 years of my working life, then I went off abroad.
What you say about the job centre is similar to my experience; they appear to exist solely to keep the habitually unemployed in benefits. I visited many years ago, they could do nothing for me, made no attempt to help me find employ, could offer no kore than 'ask them yourself', but seemed to focus purely on the tattooed pierced clowns who were pretending to seek work, and who needed their book signing every fortnight to keep their cheque coming in.
When it came to finding work for people, the whole establishment could have been replaced with a list of employers numbers pinned to the wall and a toll free phone.
My experience as well, the one time I ventured into one....What you say about the job centre is similar to my experience; they appear to exist solely to keep the habitually unemployed in benefits. I visited many years ago, they could do nothing for me, made no attempt to help me find employ, could offer no kore than 'ask them yourself', but seemed to focus purely on the tattooed pierced clowns who were pretending to seek work, and who needed their book signing every fortnight to keep their cheque coming in.
When it came to finding work for people, the whole establishment could have been replaced with a list of employers numbers pinned to the wall and a toll free phone.
Like you I was laid off from the O+G game and ended up out of work for 8 months or so, didn't bother registering anywhere, just didn't seem worth it.
Don't forget you can also make voluntary NI contributions going back 6 years to cover lack of payments.
I got laid off at the end of Feb at age 54. No intention of working for some time, if at all, so no point going to the unemployment centre or whatever its called. As others have said, unless you are actively searching for work there is nothing to be gained.
I got laid off at the end of Feb at age 54. No intention of working for some time, if at all, so no point going to the unemployment centre or whatever its called. As others have said, unless you are actively searching for work there is nothing to be gained.
You can check your likely state pension at: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
ive had a few years on dole, (self employed then recovering after an operation.) . now officially retired. jobcentre staff are robots, dont try talking logic or common sense, waste of time. you play their game. apply for three jobs a week on the internet and keep a log, go to any CV building course they want, ( cant tell the truth on a CV , all bull ) check your pension though. you might be surprised how they get out off paying you the full amount.
Totally soul-destroying experience designed to relieve you of all your morale as far as I can tell ...
The OH claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for a while a few years ago. They do silly things like make you have three separate appointments on different days to cover different things rather than put them all together so you only have to make one trip, 'cause their attitude is that you're unemployed so you clearly have nothing better do do with your time. It's clearly lost on them that you can ill afford the transport costs for three separate trips when you have no income.
I once went to the centre with my OH to see what it was all about. The woman on the desk looked at me like I was something she'd just stepped in and helpfully informed me that I didn't need to be there ... like she believed that I was so stupid that I thought I did need to be there. Clearly they're used to dealing with a number of career cretins and therefore treat everyone like one by default.
When my brother was once dealing with them he went to the centre, queued for over an hour to speak with someone, and was then told, by the person that he actually needed to speak to, that he was supposed to phone them up and speak to them on the phone. He was there, at the desk, in front of the person he needed to speak to, but he wasn't allowed to speak to them. He had to go home and phone them up.
Utter, utter, utter bureaucracy designed to waste as much of your time as possible on the basis that you're unemployed so you have tons of spare time, all of which is worthless, and you can be made to jump through hoops for the sake of it.
When I was made redundant last year I didn't bother with it. I was over the moon being given a big pile of cash to walk away from a place where I'd been treated like crap so the last thing I wanted was my morale destroying by a bunch of small minded non-jobbers.
The OH claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for a while a few years ago. They do silly things like make you have three separate appointments on different days to cover different things rather than put them all together so you only have to make one trip, 'cause their attitude is that you're unemployed so you clearly have nothing better do do with your time. It's clearly lost on them that you can ill afford the transport costs for three separate trips when you have no income.
I once went to the centre with my OH to see what it was all about. The woman on the desk looked at me like I was something she'd just stepped in and helpfully informed me that I didn't need to be there ... like she believed that I was so stupid that I thought I did need to be there. Clearly they're used to dealing with a number of career cretins and therefore treat everyone like one by default.
When my brother was once dealing with them he went to the centre, queued for over an hour to speak with someone, and was then told, by the person that he actually needed to speak to, that he was supposed to phone them up and speak to them on the phone. He was there, at the desk, in front of the person he needed to speak to, but he wasn't allowed to speak to them. He had to go home and phone them up.
Utter, utter, utter bureaucracy designed to waste as much of your time as possible on the basis that you're unemployed so you have tons of spare time, all of which is worthless, and you can be made to jump through hoops for the sake of it.
When I was made redundant last year I didn't bother with it. I was over the moon being given a big pile of cash to walk away from a place where I'd been treated like crap so the last thing I wanted was my morale destroying by a bunch of small minded non-jobbers.
In contrast, I thought the job centre staff were ok, gave heads upon local employers recruiting, gave suggestions on CV, a few websites I hadn't considered and support when I was overqualfied and not getting much traction. Ok there were a few odd looking people you might not have immediately gave a job, but the n'dr do wells are all on the sick not queueing at a job centre.
I see plenty of barriers to taking a job, I see plenty of people taking the piss out of the jobless, but I really hate our society denigrating the unemployed more than they already (unfortunately) do to themselves.
Even if you can afford not to claim, if you are actively looking we need to keep the government in their toes on the numbers of unemployed and under employers.
I see plenty of barriers to taking a job, I see plenty of people taking the piss out of the jobless, but I really hate our society denigrating the unemployed more than they already (unfortunately) do to themselves.
Even if you can afford not to claim, if you are actively looking we need to keep the government in their toes on the numbers of unemployed and under employers.
mr_spock said:
Claim. You'll get your NI contributions, and possibly things like council tax benefits etc. You can always give it back to HMRC if you feel bad about it, but the NI contribs are worth it.
Claiming depends on savings, so if you've been careful with your money you'll get diddly (maybe some job seekers allowance at most).At the risk of stating the obvious, any benefit is taxed, along with any private pension income, investments, savings interest etc.
So you will get £73.10 gross and you will be involved in costs in justifying the reason why the benefit should continue to be paid.
And many Job Centre staff will want you to jump through hoops to please them.
I took early retirement and listened to one of the money box type programs on the radio, they said that it could be in my best interest for state pensions, in the case of the OP that is not a factor.
So you will get £73.10 gross and you will be involved in costs in justifying the reason why the benefit should continue to be paid.
And many Job Centre staff will want you to jump through hoops to please them.
I took early retirement and listened to one of the money box type programs on the radio, they said that it could be in my best interest for state pensions, in the case of the OP that is not a factor.
I used to work in offices looking down on a job centre, quite a lot of people signing on used to have reasonably flash cars and this was a while back before pcp and other leasing deals.
MitchT said:
Totally soul-destroying experience designed to relieve you of all your morale as far as I can tell ...
The OH claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for a while a few years ago. They do silly things like make you have three separate appointments on different days to cover different things rather than put them all together so you only have to make one trip, 'cause their attitude is that you're unemployed so you clearly have nothing better do do with your time. It's clearly lost on them that you can ill afford the transport costs for three separate trips when you have no income.
I think the reasoning behind spreading the appointments over multiple days is to prevent people doing cash in hand jobs on the sly.The OH claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for a while a few years ago. They do silly things like make you have three separate appointments on different days to cover different things rather than put them all together so you only have to make one trip, 'cause their attitude is that you're unemployed so you clearly have nothing better do do with your time. It's clearly lost on them that you can ill afford the transport costs for three separate trips when you have no income.
Robbo 27 said:
At the risk of stating the obvious, any benefit is taxed, along with any private pension income, investments, savings interest etc.
So you will get £73.10 gross and you will be involved in costs in justifying the reason why the benefit should continue to be paid.
And many Job Centre staff will want you to jump through hoops to please them.
I took early retirement and listened to one of the money box type programs on the radio, they said that it could be in my best interest for state pensions, in the case of the OP that is not a factor.
I may be having a slow brain day but have read this 3 times and still cannot work out what you're saying/implying. Any chance of clarifying please?So you will get £73.10 gross and you will be involved in costs in justifying the reason why the benefit should continue to be paid.
And many Job Centre staff will want you to jump through hoops to please them.
I took early retirement and listened to one of the money box type programs on the radio, they said that it could be in my best interest for state pensions, in the case of the OP that is not a factor.
By the sounds of it, it could be an adventure in frustration, if they expect me to go to the job centre and liase with jobsworths. Might be worth a punt, maybe an interesting job will turn up for me.
I am actually already claiming Child Benefit for my daughter at present, so I heard somewhere that that covers my NI payments? However, she is soon to be 16, though she will be in education for a couple more years at least.
Does one have to go to the job centre to register, or is it done elsewhere? I've never actually been on the dole before.
I am actually already claiming Child Benefit for my daughter at present, so I heard somewhere that that covers my NI payments? However, she is soon to be 16, though she will be in education for a couple more years at least.
Does one have to go to the job centre to register, or is it done elsewhere? I've never actually been on the dole before.
King Herald said:
By the sounds of it, it could be an adventure in frustration, if they expect me to go to the job centre and liase with jobsworths. Might be worth a punt, maybe an interesting job will turn up for me.
I am actually already claiming Child Benefit for my daughter at present, so I heard somewhere that that covers my NI payments? However, she is soon to be 16, though she will be in education for a couple more years at least.
Does one have to go to the job centre to register, or is it done elsewhere? I've never actually been on the dole before.
you can register on line, but you will still need to bring your docs to your nearest centre for proof.I am actually already claiming Child Benefit for my daughter at present, so I heard somewhere that that covers my NI payments? However, she is soon to be 16, though she will be in education for a couple more years at least.
Does one have to go to the job centre to register, or is it done elsewhere? I've never actually been on the dole before.
Also, if you eventually get work, you will have to pay back the UB benefit claimed through your tax code. So it's not actually an income but a loan
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff