There are several things to do immediately you are made redundant., but the first thing you need to do – obviously – is to sign on for Job Seekers Allowance.

Jobseekers Allowance is for people who are available for, and actively seeking, work. There are two types of allowance:

• A contribution-based allowance (JSA-C) which you can get for up to 26 weeks if you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. This allowance is not affected by redundancy or severance payments, but if you receive a pension from work the allowance is reduced by any amount over £50 a week.
• An income-based allowance (JSA-I) which you may be able to get if your income and capital are below certain limits. You cannot claim this allowance if you have a partner who works 24 or more hours a week or you have capital (savings) of more than £16,000. NOTE: A statutory redundancy payment counts as capital, but contractual redundancy or severance pay only count as capital up to the amount of the statutory redundancy payment you would be entitled to. You can work out the statutory redundancy payment you are entitled to by going to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills website and using their ready reckoner.

As you have not left your job voluntarily, you should be allowed to claim a form of Job Seekers Allowance straight away.

Once you have sorted out your Job Seekers Allowance, investigate the whole benefits system thoroughly.

The benefits system is very complicated, and it’s in your own best interests to make yourself aware of exactly what you are entitled to claim – or what other people in your household might be entitled to claim. Investigate in particular:

• Housing Benefit
• Council Tax Benefit
• Mortgage Assistance (you may get help with the interest part of your mortgage payments if you claim income related Job Seekers Allowance)
• Education Maintenance Allowance (young adults over 16 may be able to claim this allowance).

But don't stop there. Your local Citizens Advice Bureau will be able to help you find out what you and other members of your family may be entitled to claim, tell you where to get the appropriate forms, explain what documentary evidence you need to provide, and direct you to the right Government Department to make your claim.

Checking out the benefits system can be time-consuming, boring and depressing. You might need to fill in a lot of forms, gather together a lot of information, visit a lot of government offices, and answer a great many (actually quite intrusive) questions – but the results will be worthwhile because they will help you to find out exactly where you stand financially and come up with a reasonable survival plan.

Once you get your benefits sorted out, you will have some money coming in - it could be a derisory amount, but it's still money. And you might be able to stop worrying quite so much about how you are going to pay your mortgage or your rent or your council tax, or how you are going to manage to keep one or more of your children on at school...

Benefits aren't great – certainly no honest person is going to get rich on them - but they're better than nothing. And don’t forget! You are entitled to benefit. You've paid in – probably for years; there’s no need to feel bad about trying to get some of your own money back.

If you've already signed on and have not investigated what other benefits you might be entitled to apart from Job Seekers Allowance - make plans to it as soon as possible. What, for example, is the point of struggling to pay rent or interest on a mortgage if you don't need to?

Geoff

Exercise is Important

Before you decide that exercise is the last thing that's going to help you get back into mainstream employment, read this:

Exercise:

• helps you to relax
• helps you sleep better
• makes you more alert
• improves mental concentration
• may improve your intellectual capacity
• increases productivity
• generates vitality and confidence
• regulates your appetite
• improves digestion
• encourages and maintains a good erect posture
• tones up muscles and improves the figure
• increases physical strength
• keeps the joints supple
• improves your resistance to stress and disease
• is known to help asthmatics
• lessens the likelihood of sedentary diseases - arthritis, rheumatism, diabetes, backache
• prevents coronary heart disease
• increases cardiovascular activity
• reduces high blood pressure
• balances body and mind and promotes mental and spiritual development
• expands your social network

Everybody needs all of those things - and regular supervised exercise need not cost very much. Bog-standard municipal leisure centres are cheap, have just as much to offer as expensive private 'clubs', are often friendlier and nicer (albeit a lot less swish!) places to be, and the advice and help that you get there and the 'keep-fit', aerobic and yoga classes they give are just as good. And municipal leisure centres nearly always have bigger and better swimming pools and tend to offer swimming lessons and water aerobic classes more often than private 'clubs' - and that can be important if exercising in water is your best option.

Important things to think about:

• Choose a suitable activity for your age and ability that you think you'll enjoy - and that won't involve you buying equipment you don't already have! -and either join classes where you can get expert advice, or get books from the library that will give you relevant information.


• Decide where you are going to fit your exercise sessions into your day - and stick to it. Aim to exercise three to five times a week.


• Start slowly - and don't compare yourself with other people. What other people can do is immaterial; it's what you can do for yourself that matters.
  
• Don't forget that walking is actually wonderful exercise. Ask yourself whether you really need the car or the bus to get where you need to go - and if it's too far to walk, try to ride part-way and walk part-way. Try to walk somewhere every day anyway - even if it's only round the block or a quick tour of your local park or recreation ground - and think of it as part of your exercise program.

If you don't exercise, muscles atrophy, joints stiffen, circulation becomes sluggish, you can become short of breath at the slightest exertion - and you can get depressed. On top of everything else, you really don't need that. Exercise is as important to your health and well-being as food, water and sunshine. Make sure that you get some!

SAFETY FIRST: If you have never done any exercise, haven't exercised for some time, or if you are overweight, have high blood pressure, any heart condition, any chest complaint like asthma or bronchitis, or if you suffer from arthritis or back pain or any other problem that you believe could be adversely affected by taking exercise, you should consult your doctor before embarking on any exercise program. Your doctor will be able to advise you as to what you can and should do to improve your physical health and your resistance to stress and disease.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Positive Things to Do

Being made redundant has a lot of unpleasant mental and physical side effects - and over the last few months Emily and I have had plenty of opportunity to listen to people, learn how redundancy has effected them, and try to come up with some workable solutions.

Over a period, we developed a system of sorts to deal with the most common problems - loss of confidence; lack of motivation; negative thoughts and attitudes; feelings of worthlessness; vague (and usually entirely stress-related) symptoms of malaise; irrational feelings of guilt, and the fear that people experience when they believe that they've lost control of their lives and the secure future they've worked and planned for. It isn't a perfect system, but - as systems go, and given the evironment we're all having to work with - it isn't bad.

Over past posts we've talked about the system briefly, explained some of the basic causes of the problems people experience when they suddenly find themselves out of work, and given suggestions as what can be done to make those problems go away - or at least become molehills rather than mountains.

If you haven't read those posts, then the place to start is (obviously!) at the beginning, but the most useful one to read (or re-read) at the moment is 'Attitude Matters' because it explains why imposing a structure on your life makes it easier to stay motivated and positive and focused, and how important it is to think of yourself as 'self-employed' rather than 'unemployed' and to try to continue to live your life much as you used to, or as as most other people do - working from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.

That section is particularly important at the moment, because Geoffrey is going to be taking over from us for a while very shortly, and he's going to be suggesting that you do quite a lot of work. Sticking to a standard working week, and accepting that being out of work involves thinking and acting like a self-employed person and working hard to make things happen will help you to get the best out of what Geoffrey has to say - and to stick to the system if things don't happen as quickly as you hoped they would.

Before I go away, there are a couple things that I'd like you to think about - and preferably do! - before Geoffrey starts filling your life with places to go, things to read, letters to write, and people to speak to:

Clean and organise your workspace, and either put away everything that relates to your old job, or get rid of it altogether. It isn't useful or particularly healthy to have things around your workspace that remind you of old job. The past is gone, and thinking about it won't change it. Focus on the future and dump the past in the bin. Keeping the detritus of the past hanging around where you can see or fall over it only encourages brooding and bitterness, and clouds the future. Your workspace is where you are going to work to make a future. Cleaning it up will help you to see it as a positive space that will help you achieve your goals.

Think about where in your day you can fit in two vital activities - exercise and positive relaxation. Emily will be talking tomorrow why you need to fit those things in, and what you can expect to get out of them.

Begin to use 'positive thinking' - and please don't tell me it went out with the ark. It didn't. It just got re-labelled and reincarnated as various new, fashionable (and very expensive!) therapautic systems. You don't need new, fashionable or expensive. You can DIY with something tried, trusted and free. Here's how:

Positive affirmations can take several forms, but right now you should concentrate on the on the three types of ‘I’ statement that are statements of self-belief:

• ‘I am’ statements are statements of who you are; positive affirmations of real traits or abilities that exist in you. For example: I am competent, I am strong, I am intelligent, I am talented, I am energetic, I am a good person, I am caring.


• I can’ statements are statements of your belief in your potential to change, grow and help yourself. For example: I can gain self-confidence, I can be strong, I can be assertive, I can be positive, I can change, I can heal, I can be a problem solver.


• 'I will’ statements are statements of positive change - ‘success prophesies’ or positive affirmations of things you want to achieve. For example: I will smile more today, I will take care of me today, I will feel good about me today, I will like myself better each day, I will take on only what I can handle today.

Choose a statement for yourself - 'I will succeed' would be a good place to start - and work with it for at least a week. Make it your first thought when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you think before you go to sleep. Think of it when you sit down to eat, when you take a shower, when you go for a walk, and when you sit down to relax. Repeat it as often as possible during the day. When you're done with that statement start on another one that's relevant to what you want to achieve at the time.

Don't think of positive thinking as being 'silly' or a waste of time. It works - and if you work with it, it will work for you.
Bill - http://www.therapypartnership.com/