If you have just lost your job, you must be thinking about the benefits you can claim for the ease of survival.

Keeping yourself above the water is critical until you find the next employment opportunity. However, the benefits you can claim from your employer depend entirely on your job nature, your behaviour at work, and the tenure served with the employer.

Conversely, if your dismissal was genuinely unfair, you may take the employer to the employment tribunal to seek justice. Here are some signs that your dismissal was unfair:

• If you have been made redundant, the employer refused to renew your term or made you redundant.
• You were an employee without any guaranteed post or work.
• You have been dismissed for an unfair reason.
• Have you been sacked due to discrimination based on disability/colour/pregnancy/religion/ civil partnership/identity?

Identify Whether You Have the Money You Are Entitled To?

When you get the final paycheck from your employer, identify the following:

• You have got all the salaries or wages that you legally entitled to
• Compensation for a holiday package that you did not leverage as you were fired
• Any bonus or commission that you should get

Apart from that, if you had access to the company’s assets like a car or apartment, you would have to give these back to the company as you no longer are part of the company. If you do not work until the notice period or are laid off before your term, you must return it to the employer early.

Benefits And Tax Credits to Claim After Losing the Job / Sudden Unemployment

After losing your well-stable job, you do not have to consider yourself penniless.

The government of the UK provides grants for unemployed individuals. This help covers emergencies and child care until you get the new job.

1) Jobseekers Allowance

Anyone currently out of work but actively looking for employment opportunities can apply. You may get it even if you work less than 16 hours a week.

It is one prominent condition in claiming other benefits like Universal credit.

After qualifying, you may receive £59.20/ week if you are 24 or below in age. For individuals above 25 can claim £74.70/week.

You can only claim the amount or the benefit for 182 days of unemployment. To get further, you must provide legal proof that you are sincerely seeking job opportunities for a stable income soon.

These may help you counter minimal needs, but what if you encounter a somewhat bigger expense? What if you cannot delay it?

Here, you can rationalise flexibility by switching to guaranteed loans for the unemployed in the UK marketplace for your needs. These are no-obligation loans that eliminate any credit or income eligibility restrictions.

You can leverage these even if you earn the bare minimum and get up to £1500 as cash help. One should always have an external source to bridge any emergency without regrets.

2) Universal Credit

Any working individual with low or no income may qualify for Universal Credit. However, the authority examines the circumstances and the dependents before providing the credit. It impacts how much you get per month.

Although universal credit is simple and convenient to shop for, it may take 3 weeks on average to receive your first-ever payment. Right now, the amount you can leverage is £411.51.

One can request a higher sum if the family circumstances change. You would have to pay the advance after you resume your normal financial status.

To get universal credit, you must reveal proof of actively seeking employment, completing training classes, or making timely rental payments.

It primarily has two conditions for individuals to qualify:

• You are over 18 with a State Pension age
• You have less than £16000 in savings or other investments

There is no set amount that you may qualify for. It certainly depends on your circumstances. If you are sick or permanently disabled, you may get a higher amount in Universal Credit and no longer have to look for work.

3) Check whether you qualify for a Statutory Redundancy Pay

You can get redundancy pay if:

• You have been employed with your current employer for 2 years
• Have you lost your job due to a genuine layoff in your company

Keep one thing while leveraging statutory pay you can only leverage it if you have been a confirmed employee in the company.

The company may deem you as self-employed. In this case, you may not get one.

• A fixed-term contract for 2 years or more
• Shorter contracts

However, you would not get statutory pay if:

• You were employed for less than 2 years
• Are police-office or armed forces
• Are a share fisherperson
• Are domestic staff working for immediate family
• If you are an employee of a foreign government

Under this, the maximum amount you can get is- £571. It is regardless of whether you earn more per week.

• Individuals up to 22 years of age- get half week’s pay
• Individuals 22- 40 years of age- 1 week’s pay
• Individuals above 40 years of age- 1.5 week’s pay

Your length of service also helps determine how much you can get as statutory pay. Claim it if your employer pays only for 2 weeks, but you deserve 4 weeks of statutory payment.

4) Employment and Support Allowance

It is for individuals with static health conditions or disabilities that may impact their work tenure in a firm.

In uncertain times, if the disease worsens, the individual can use the payments received to bridge the payment gaps and sustain the lifestyle without much impact.

You can apply for the benefit if you are self-employed, employed, or unemployed.

It can take 13 additional weeks to get the income in your account finally. Until the authority verifies your account, you may get up to £59.20 (if you are 25) or £74.70 if you are above 24.

You get the amount per week.

5) Get tax credits

You can get tax credits if you have children or your partner is still working, and your total household income is below a certain amount.

You may get a tax credit weekly or every 4 weeks.

If you already get tax credits, you must check out the tax credit helpline to learn more about the tax credits you may qualify for and your job loss.

It may impact the amount you may get.

To qualify-

You must have cleared your previous employment dues

Have you worked for the right number of hours before you go on leave, or the gap happens

You would have the Statutory pay or an equivalent benefit if you were on sick leave

You may qualify for the basic amount under tax credit is- £2,070/year. The amount you get depends on your status. If you are applying as a couple, you may get £2,125/year.

While these are some ways to get through the unemployment phase without much cash troubles, you can save on energy costs too.

Check the companies/providers providing benefits on the same to save extra. Before approval, you may encounter an energy bill that you cannot delay, or you will face penalty costs. To counter this urgency, very bad credit loans with no guarantor benefit can help seal the deal. It is the simplest option to qualify at a minimal income for small cash needs.

Bottom line

You may be legally entitled to these primary benefits if unemployed or laid off from a company. The reason for the same should be genuine. These benefits will help you ensure the bare minimum in tough times.