I have just accepted voluntary redundancy. I will let freeman Jones know about this because of the lack of regular payslips. Will I be able to keep my very modest redundancy pay - equivalent to about 5 months salary? I am 58 and will find it diffficult to find another job.
I would think so yes as normally you would be allowed to keep about 6 months worth to cover living expenses while you look for another job. Let your IP know as soon as possible though
Sorry to hear that you’ve been made redundant - we realise this is a stressful time for anyone, and especially so for people in an IVA.
Depending on the exact details of your IVA there will be a number of options available and we’d be more than happy to chat them through. Clearly without knowing the details of your situation we can’t give you any detailed personal advice here.
You say that the redundancy money is “modest”. From this we take that it may not be enough to pay off your debts in full. If that isn’t an option it may be possible to offer the creditors a proportion of what you owe as a Full and Final settlement straight away. This means that the creditors agree to take a lower amount from you now as a lump sum and write off the rest of what you owe. Again this will depend on the amount of your redundancy, and how far through your IVA you are and so on. Whilst it may take all of your redundancy funds to do the Full & Final, you would then by debt free which might give you more flexibility and options either looking for work, or if you are unable to find a new job.
If this approach doesn’t work for you, there are other options. One is that half of the redundancy is paid into the IVA and the other half you keep. But in this case you’d need to continue to make payments each month, which of course might not be possible if you aren’t able to find another job.
Another possibility might be to use the redundancy sum to pay a lump sum equivalent of five months contributions into your IVA. You’d clearly need to have sufficient left to cover your living costs. If you do struggle to secure work you could then potentially take a payment holiday of up to six months to continue with your job search.
It really is hard to be specific on redundancy because we really do look at each case individually. As I said, please give us a call and your relationship manager can explore the options with you.
Do contact Ian as he has posted - I'm sure he'll be able to help you.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
