How we can help
If you or your colleagues are facing, or have already been made redundant, please contact a member of our welfare team today. We can help with advice, support and financial assistance, if you qualify.
Money & Debt
If you have limited or no savings to fall back on and need immediate or medium-term financial support, ABS may be able to help with a regular monthly grant to help both with basic living expenses and sustainable housing costs.
You may need advice and support with managing budgeting or current debts, and it is recommended you seek debt management advice as soon as possible.
Useful Links
Mental Health Support
The impact of redundancy is not just financial, and sometimes it can be hard to cope. If you’re struggling with the emotional effects of redundancy, perhaps suffering from sleepless nights, depression or anxiety, ABS can help by arranging a referral to our partner Anxiety UK. After a telephone assessment with Anxiety UK, should you and they feel it is appropriate, they can recommend and arrange a course of short-term therapeutic support with an accredited therapist. ABS will fund up to 8 sessions of therapy.
Getting back to work
It is important to start looking for a new job as soon as you can. ABS partners with Renovo, who can offer a Job Search Support Programme, giving you access to a personal job coach during a 3 month period.
Housing advice
ABS has a partnership with Shelter (England) and can arrange a fast track referral for case work advice and support if you are at risk of losing your rented or mortgaged home.
Dealing with Redundancy
For information about redundancy, your rights, and how to cope with redundancy, the following links are useful
Preparing for after redundancy
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Legal rights when facing redundancy
Find out more
Redundancy help
Find out more
Calculate your statutory redundancy pay
Find out moreState Support
To qualify for financial help from ABS you would be expected to claim any welfare benefit support you are entitled to. Financial support from ABS is intended to be in addition to state support, rather than replace it. Any regular financial support from a charity is disregarded for the purposes of means tested benefits, so any such help would not affect your state benefit entitlement.
It is likely that if you have recently become unemployed but are fit to work you would need to apply for either ‘new style’ (i.e. contribution based) Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and/or Universal Credit (UC).
When applying for Universal Credit there is a five-week period when, even if entitled to help, you will not get any financial support. Your claim starts from the date you first apply. If you can afford to wait, it sometimes makes sense to apply after you have received your final salary, as this income will affect your initial benefit payment. ABS can look at helping financially whilst you wait for an award to be made, if needed.
If you are thinking of applying for Universal Credit as a self-employed person, we would recommend that you speak to one of our Welfare Officers first as the way this benefit works for self-employed people is different.
For more information on benefits, jobseekers allowance, universal credit and how to calculate possible entitlement.
Benefits Advice
