Husband redundant and my employer going bust

ClubMan

Registered User
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Need some practical advice please. My husband was made redundant a couple of weeks ago and it now looks as if my company is going down the tubes. Desperate situation. Is there any practical stuff we can do re. mortgage, claiming tax back, entitlements. Has anyone been in this situation and how did you cope financially? There are probably lots of questions I should be asking but can't think clearly.
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

MABS would be a good starting point for help.
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

Yes - trite as it may sound try not to panic and consider contacting MABS as suggested. If you have specific questions - or a whole bunch of them - you might like to post them here to get some feedback.
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

Eagle,
Repeating with the others have said, you have some time on your hands to take control of things.

Dont bury your head in the sand and hope it will all work out.
The quicker you can start sorting out your financial matters the less stress you will feel and the easier the next weeks/months will be until you are both in new jobs :D

Best of luck
S
 
Advice

We have no debts apart from mortgage.
Monthly outgoings are standard utility bills, SSIAs, Car Insurance, Food and general living expenses.
If my company is in dire straits and I see the writing on the wall - should I look to be made redundant? They won't be able to pay me off but is it correct that I can get statutory redundancy from Government - I am here 10 years so that would be about €10k [pittance after all I have put in but anyway!].
We owe about €80k on mortgage - should we talk to provider about paying interest only for say 6 months?
Are we both entitled to claim back our tax for the year to date?
Are there any extra allowances that we would be entitled to if we are both unemployed. We have one child.
Any practical advice welcome?!
 
Re: Advice

Eagle,
If as you believe your company is going to go bust why would you decide to leave voluntarily(unless you are taking up a position in another company).
To me it would make more sense holding on and claiming whatever redundancy payments are going.


You can claim back tax on a month by month basis.
My sister-in-law did this, perhaps a call to the revenue or visit at www.revenue may be able to help here.

A lot of what you can do depends on things like prospects for getting new jobs, redundancy amounts, savings, loan repayments,etc....

S
 
Re: Advice

Are we both entitled to claim back our tax for the year to date?

It depends on whether you work again for the remainder of the tax year (up to Dec 31). Your tax for the year to date was calculated on the assumption that you would continue working for the full year. If you have e.g. 3 months with no income, that you have probably overpaid your tax, so you will be entitled to a partial refund.
 
Advice

What if I know there is def. no chance of redundancy payment?
Prospects for getting new jobs - who knows - we are both 'middle management' and were earning say €100k between us ........ little did we know what was around the corner.
We have no loan repayments - apart from mortgage of €600 per month.
Husband cleared €10k redundancy - we had put this aside for rainy day and were going to live off my salary! We have no other savings apart from SSIAs - both contributing full whack at the moment - would be very relucant to let these go.
 
Re: Advice

What if I know there is def. no chance of redundancy payment?
I can't see what advantage you would get by leaving before the company closes (unless of course you get another job). If the company fails, you will get the minimum statuatory redundancy from the Govt when it fails. But the Govt won't step in to pay while the company is still running.

We have no other savings apart from SSIAs - both contributing full whack at the moment - would be very relucant to let these go.
I understand your attachment to the SSIA's as the return available is unbeatable, but if your income drops significantly, you are going to have to face up to reducing your outgoings significantly too - IMHO if is a choice between food on the table or SSIA's, they may well have to be eliminated or cut back.
 
Re: Advice

Eagle

Can I clarify what you mean by "my company"? On first reading, I assumed that it was your company and that you were a director. Now I am not so sure.

If you own the shares in the company or if you are a director, then you should be very careful about trading while insolvent.

If you are not a director, you don't need to worry.

If you are still getting paid, you should hang on. You will get statutory redundancy and the Government may also pay company's share of it, though I am not sure of this.

Talk to your lender long before any mortgage repayment bounces. If you are unable to meet a repayment make sure that they cancel it or else they charge you more for a bounced direct debit.

I would probably continue with the SSIA and remortgage the house to meet your living expenses. If you get really stuck for cash at some stage, you can cash the SSIA. The penalty is more or less equal to the Government top up.

Brendan
 
Re: Advice

A few points:
<!--EZCODE LIST START--><ul><li>Do you have mortgage payment protection? This may be relevant if either or both of you lose your jobs. I personally don't think it's good value or merited in most cases but if you do have it then it obviously makes sense to take advantage of it if at all possible!</li><li>For some information on the sort of "unemployment tax reclaim" that Savy mentions see . I've been there too... :| </li><li>The might give you a heads up on some of the issues and entitlements. In particular the summarises your entitlements in this area. If the company cannot pay redundancy then the DETE redundancy payments section can explain their role in paying (possibly partial) redundancy entitlements. The DETE are very responsive and helpful and you should call/email them with your queries directly if necessary and they will help you out.</li><li>If you do decide to give your lender forewarning of your situation then just make sure that they don't take the opportunity to screw you by selling you some additional financial products, extending the term of your loan or applying additional charges unnecessarily! If you owe €80K then I presume that you own a reasonable amount of equity in the property yourselves which puts you in a stronger bargaining position than somebody who is only a year or two into their mortgage.</li><li>Use the [broken link removed] to calculate your outgoings and get an idea of the minimum income that would cover these.</li><li>Once again - don't panic, it's not the end of the world even if it may seem like it!</li></ul><!--EZCODE LIST END-->
Hope this helps.
 
Advice

Thanks everyone - some solid advice.

Brendan - it's not my company - I'm an employee. We are still getting paid - in a fashion e.g. 50% of each of our salaries was paid today with 50% to follow early next week. No reason 'at the moment' to believe that it won't follow. A lot of nervous people in here.
 
Re: Advice

"Husband cleared €10k redundancy - we had put this aside for rainy day"

Jeez Rainyday - You don't come cheap do You

ninsaga
 
Ha Ha!

Ninsaga - if I wasn't so uptight at the moment I'd think that was very funny ...... really!
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

Eagle

Given your circumstances moving job before you are pushed seems like a very good idea to me. It takes time to find a new job and it is far easier to get one when you are in employment than not (from personal experience). Continuity of income is surely more important than the relatively small amount of statutory redundancy. Your post seem to suggest that your husband is stiil not working? If so is this by choice or lack of available employment?

Nogser
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

Hi Ninsaga - But you don't know what 'services' were provided for the €10k, do you? ;)
 
Re: Husband redundant and my company going bust

it's not my company - I'm an employee

I've changed the title of the topic to reflect this so.
 
Advice

Husband just coming to end of 3rd week of unemployment - def. not by choice! August was very quiet but hopefully things will pick up dramatically in September ... I have started looking too - reckon I'd be mad not to!
 
Re: Advice

Check out the unemployment tax reclaim stuff above in case it's of relevance in this situation. When I availed of it I was cohabiting but not yet married in case that makes any odds. Make sure that you are getting the "best" arrangement in terms of [broken link removed] (usually joint/aggregated assessment - separate assessment is similar but may leave tax to be reclaimed at year end - assessment as two single persons is often the least favourable due to certain credits/allowances being non-transferrable). Make sure that your husband is claiming any available welfare benefits in particular [broken link removed] (PRSI linked not means tested). I personally wouldn't hang on mainly/purely in the hope of a redundancy payout either. However if you are there if/when it goes belly up then obviously you should stake your claim for your entitlements. Hope this helps.
 
Re: Advice

Eagle,
My advise would to to take up another job if You could & not to wait for any possible redundancy package.

Its a lingering death situation & You obviously could do without the stress for what could be a drawn out period.

You need to secure income & not have to think about whether teh paycheck will come through this week or not.

Having said that I do appreciate that its not easy out there at the moment on the job market.

Ninsaga
 
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