OH has just been told he will be made redudant. Only been in job for 6 months. So no pay off as such. He has decided to go for his HGV license. It costs £1,ooo plus a medical which at our surgery is £85.
He will be working until the end of the month. He would like to try and get HGV started before finishing work. Do any of you know a way he could may be get some funding to cover some of the costs. I know it is only a grand but we have never ever claimed anything until he had to leave his job last year, (constructive dismissal case is a possibility). But even then he was only given £57 for jobseekers allowance. So if there is a way we would like to take advantage of it and get some of our tax money from the last 30 years back !!!

Any one who can offer any advise thanks in advance.

It would be worth checking out some of your local training agencies as I recall one near me that paid for people to get their HGV licence.  I think it might have been govt funded in some way but the job centre or careers centre would be able to help out with that info.

get a job as a bus driver, he would get his HGV and PCV license at the same time. IN my area they are crying out for bus drivers

He has has a friend on the buses who suggested that.

I agree with Freds mom, Bus driver, they train you and pay a basic rate of pay untill you pass. They may pay for the test at the job centre, but! I think you have to have been unemployed for 6 months, check.

Denese

I agree go for the buses, I know a few people who have done really well with our local bus firm.  They pay reasonably well, probably an occupation recession proof plus it's local & not the unsociable hours some HGV drivers end up doing. My dad is an HGV Driver & he used to be away loads when we were younger, saying that the pay was rewarding though (before EU working hours directive though so overtime not around as much now!)

He is already a driver just not HGV. A lot of agnecies in the area crying out for HGV..

Not sure if bus drivers are HGV licenced - I think it may be PSV licence (Public Service Vehicle).

>get some of our tax money from the last 30 years back !!!

Can't do that, our lovely government has already spent it else where rather then giving it back!

My OH got made redundant, earning more then alot of adults do (and therefore paying high tax rates) but got a pitiful Job seekers as under 25!!!!!  You don't pay less tax when your under 25 though do you!?  Oh yea and his my dependent when unemployeed as I'm supposed to look after him, as a full time student...Yea right!

Hmmmm sorry sore point.  Can't offer advise about HGV license but good luck on doing it :)

My daughter lives at home by choice. She earns a really good salary she has studied hard and worked hard for it. I have been told that not just mine, but HER salary would be taken in to account as she lives at home. I can see why mine is relevant.. just... but hers. I DONT THINK SO. The thing is we have never needed  to claim or look into anything like unemployment benefits we are complete innocents. Hopefully it will not happen but ~I want to get what we are entitled to and contributed to for 30 years if the time should come.
Any way that is a bridge to cross when and if we get to it and I understand your anger..

When she left the house in the morning, my daughter used to ask the single Mum next door, (who never went to school let alone work, kids by several different fathers, but none there to take responsibility. Lives in a beautiful private house paid for by the social .You know the type?), what she would like my daughters taxes to pay for today!!!!
It made her feel better!!!!
Thanks for responding..
Good Luck to you two as well.

> my daughter used to ask the single Mum next door, (who never went to school let alone work, kids by several different fathers, but none there to take responsibility. Lives in a beautiful private house paid for by the social .You know the type?), what she would like my daughters taxes to pay for today!!!!

:-(  Was that necessary?  Perhaps a spell on benefits might educate her in just how "easy" it is.

>I have been told that not just mine, but HER salary would be taken in to account as she lives at home.

We came up against this and queried it - but it's total household income that's taken into account, not just an individual's.

> Was that necessary?  Perhaps a spell on benefits might educate her in just how "easy" it is.

YOU WHAT ????????????

MY daughter is the most respectful person you could wish to meet. However like the vast majority of decent hard working WELL EDUCATED people, especially young ones, she is sick of supporting the type of person I described. I suspect, may be  the previous poster to me was as well. My daughter works voluntarily to help and support those that are genuinely unfortunate enough to be in such a postion.
There fore is WELL INFORMED about scroungers and those who do not help THEMSELVES.....

I'm sorry but I am really shocked that you think it is perfectly acceptable to verbally abuse a neighbour.  Facing difficult times ahead must surely make you more inclined to have a little empathy for those on similarly restricted incomes.

No. Maybe facing difficult times ahead  in a recession makes me realise that because I have worked hard all my life, invested and provided for my future and never TAKEN anything from any one I am still not exempt from mis fortune . By talking to lots of people who are now maybe facing the same problem , I am not alone in being angry that my taxes have been handed out to people who have done nothing to deserve it or contribute to society. While hard workers as the young man in the post prior to mine get hardly any thing. WHY???

Those that can't work deserve everything that they need and I will step back for them to take it first.
But those that WONT work>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Also you ASSUMED that it was said in an abusive manner, may be I should have said that the comment was always made in retort to  comments of the neighbours,"Please dont work too hard"  etc.Obviously the thought that any one would even think it could be abusive escaped my notice. But as I said I am an innocent and  a decent person and would never have thought any one could possibly, the exchange was any thing else "

BY the way Thank You JG for confirming that it is entire house hold income.

I am very grateful to all of you who have offered me some ideas.

It seems that the panic could be over as a new contract which is being tendered seems to have been won and things may work out OK. So we can carry on in our pink and fluffy world..

>But those that WONT work>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This sort of comment, together with "you know the type" was why I assumed but if you are saying it was part of an exchange of friendly banter then I appologise.
Not everyone has the same opportunities and advantages in life.  Personally I would never choose to fall into the poverty trap so I would never judge someone else to have done the same.

i for one totally symopathise with you and your daughters predicament. Unfortunately thats whats wrong with this county Bilbobagins

Thats good then Bilbo :-) At least thats taken the pressure off a bit now things have been sorted and your pink fluffy world is back to normal :-)

Sometimes people aren't able to work for reasons that are not obviously apparent to the eye - doesn't necessarily mean they choose not to work :-) Yes there are those who abuse the system but unless one has full details of a person's circumstances - which one very rarely does - it can be easy to assume that non-workers do so by choice.

Living on benefits is not always the easy life it can be perceived to be :-)

Those that can't work deserve everything that they need and I will step back for them to take it first.
But those that WONT work>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is no denying most of us know both  the former and the later.

Freds mum  Thanks. However pink fluffy cloud is very full of snow today the weather is awful but very pretty.

If you are a single parent work that pays sufficiently to get you out of the poverty trap is very hard to come by.  Women in part time work earn, on average, 37% less than a man in an equivalent job and as Lizzie says living on benefits is no picnic so no, I would not say I was one of those that know people who "WONT work"  I certainly would not wish to judge someone I did not know very, very well and all the circumstances that led them to be in this situation.

There is no denying most of us know both  the former and the later.

But that was my point - do we actually know the reasons why they are not working or do some of those people get stereotyped and are thus assumed to choose not to work. We survived on benefits for 5 years - we had previously both worked full time, had good jobs, our own house etc but this all came to a halt and my husband gave up work and I cut down to just 10 hours a week. From an outsiders point of view it was  more than likely that we looked as though we were making the most of our "free ride". We got a brand new car, we went out a lot, we would go away several times a year and it probably looked as though we were on to a good thing. After all we weren't working but we we seemed to be having a great time.

In reality my husband had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, our car was hired through the motability scheme, it wasn't a luxury it was a necessity for driving 120 miles every day for him to get his chemotherapy and we did this 28 days out of every 35 for a total of 18 months. We "went out a lot" for his treatments, we "went away" for stays in hospital for various surgery and treatments. It was only in the last year of his life that he actually began to look ill to people who didn't know him well and I know for a fact that some people we encountered assumed we were scrounging and could quite easily go out to work if we so chose. We didn't think it was anyone else's business - even talking about his illness with our loved ones was very hard some days and certainly didn't feel that we should have to explain to others why we were living on benefits.

As human beings we should not judge people by what we perceive to be the truth :-)