Reply to: Unemployed director

[Helios]

I think everyone has been there. I am certainly there at the moment. Rellying on ebay sales to pay for the beer and wine and JSA for the rent and food. This year seems really bad for us. Next year maybe the agencies will be fishing for contractors. I expect a lot of the paper MCSE's and CCNA's will give up contracting and go back to paye.
Companies doing interviews for lower rate short term contracts is a sign that there is not enough demand and too much supply.
Stick in there and one day you may have a buggatti veyron on your drive way. Im giving this industry another 12 months, then calling it quits if no success.

[Bitbucket]

Unemployed Director ? Resting darlings rest-ing

[TheMonkey]

Sorry "Score". Forgot my genuine cockney roots for a minute then.

[wendigo100]

I have about £3k rolled up in ponies. Last thing I want to do is have a REAL savings account

Ponies? Do you mean £25 notes?

Or do you mean rolled up and inserted into the @rse of a pony?

[TheMonkey]

I have about £3k rolled up in ponies. Last thing I want to do is have a REAL savings account

[sasguru]

I have just paid the inland revenue so I hae nothing in the account (and I have the paperwork to prove it).

Mrs Monkey is unemployed and unemployable as she's 30 weeks pregnant so that goes in our favour

I have a couple of large rolls of 20's to live off which is handy though

Such is life. I want to try and remain unemployed until after the baby has popped as it may end up being a c-section then (from previous history, a last minute emergency one) so I don't want a contract on at the time otherwise that would make life really difficult as I need to be a full time carer for both children and the wife for at least 3 weeks then. And that was a really long, badly punctuated sentence (for the pendants).

Pedants

Good luck with everything.

[xoggoth]

Means testing doesn't apply to basic jobseekers allowance that Hattra mentions, but anything above or beyond that, savings are a factor I believe.

[ASB]

But do you have any savings in bank account? AFAIK Brown made some changes which are basically there to discourage savings and shaft those who pay tax and think ahead - I am talking about means testing bullcrap.

JSA is not means tested. to get anything after JSA you have to spend most of your savings.

[AtW]

But do you have any savings in bank account? AFAIK Brown made some changes which are basically there to discourage savings and shaft those who pay tax and think ahead - I am talking about means testing bullcrap.

[TheMonkey]

You should be able to get Jobseekers. I did back in 2002 when the last downturn came along. I had to show them that I only had sufficient money left in the company to meet its tax liabilities etc (so the company couldn't still afford to pay me a wage) and that was about it (had to produce my own P45 as well). It helped that the bloke I was dealing with used to be in IT himself and knew how contracting worked.

Mind you - Mrs hattra was still working, so all I got was a measly £54 a week for 26 weeks - after that you're on your own. When that ran out, I asked if I could stay signed-on so I could get my NI stamps paid, they first said I couldn't do it, then realised I could, but they didn't have the form I needed - I never did get one either.

I have just paid the inland revenue so I hae nothing in the account (and I have the paperwork to prove it).

Mrs Monkey is unemployed and unemployable as she's 30 weeks pregnant so that goes in our favour

I have a couple of large rolls of 20's to live off which is handy though

Such is life. I want to try and remain unemployed until after the baby has popped as it may end up being a c-section then (from previous history, a last minute emergency one) so I don't want a contract on at the time otherwise that would make life really difficult as I need to be a full time carer for both children and the wife for at least 3 weeks then. And that was a really long, badly punctuated sentence (for the pendants).

[hattra]

You should be able to get Jobseekers. I did back in 2002 when the last downturn came along. I had to show them that I only had sufficient money left in the company to meet its tax liabilities etc (so the company couldn't still afford to pay me a wage) and that was about it (had to produce my own P45 as well). It helped that the bloke I was dealing with used to be in IT himself and knew how contracting worked.

Mind you - Mrs hattra was still working, so all I got was a measly £54 a week for 26 weeks - after that you're on your own. When that ran out, I asked if I could stay signed-on so I could get my NI stamps paid, they first said I couldn't do it, then realised I could, but they didn't have the form I needed - I never did get one either.

[TheMonkey]

Yeah I'm having a break until the end of September as the wife is about to pop and there is sod all else around to do. I was thinking about going onto jobseekers until then to reclaim a bit of that tax that I paid out last year

I'm always overqualified to do the jobs they have down the job center anyway so it's a bonus free coffee and natter session at job club (rant about the downturn in the markets etc).

[AtW]

I think its easy to be classed as unemployed (director or not), but claiming and getting benefits is actually another matter that Gordon Brown decided to bias in his favour.

[xoggoth]

Agree with BTheC on the legal point.

Why are you asking? If you can find no work, being a director does not disqualify you from claiming the jobseekers allowance or other benefit.

[TheMonkey]

Interesting ... I will do some research along those lines