Optimum Salary - 2011/12

[KackAttack]

I always get confused with salaries /LEL / personal allowance / primary threshold.

I have recently returned to contacting after being made redundant - to my dismay I could not claim any JSA due to insuffient contributions.

What is the optimum level of salary, which pays no / limited income tax & NI whilst retaining entitlement to JSA?

If I pay 7475 I am assuming no income tax or NI is due, but is this enough to claim benefits at a future date?

[Clippy]

Check this recent thread to see if it has the info you are looking for.

How come, as a permie, you made insufficient contributions to entitle you to JSA?

[cojak]

I suspect it was the 'return to contracting' pre-permie time that caused the problem.

[KackAttack]

Thanks, that is what I was looking for.

I was only a permie for 7 months, prior to that was contracting - hence the gap in contributions.

Ironically got made redundant from the permie position which was shorter than all contracts I have worked on

[MrRobin]

I didn't realise there was a minimum you had to pay in before you could start claiming benefits??

How do these people who have never worked a day in their lives do it?

[Clare@InTouch]

I didn't realise there was a minimum you had to pay in before you could start claiming benefits??

How do these people who have never worked a day in their lives do it?

I think you get credit for your NI if you're claiming certain benefits. It would sometimes seem that the less you work the more help you get!

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I didn't realise there was a minimum you had to pay in before you could start claiming benefits??

How do these people who have never worked a day in their lives do it?

There are two versions of Job Seekers - one is available automatically as of right if you have the contributions - but doesn't last for ever. The other is means tested.

Apart from workshy tossers, there are other people who haven't worked because they are unemployable (severely disabled or chronically sick for example) - we pay them money so they can eat. HTH

[monobrow]

If you (or you and your partner if you are married) have cash assests over 16k then you will get nothing/nada/zip = means tested

If you have assets over 16k then you COULD be eligable for jobseekers (but not housing benefit etc) if you have paid the "minimum NIC contributions" over the last 2 "qualifying years". a benefit year is not calendar year (of course) it's the tax year; apr-march.

So basically, thank you for all your contributions in the past 20+ years, but if you didn't contribute in the last 2, you get **** all, especially if you have been prudent and have some savings. I had this situation when I took a career break a while back. went travelling, came back, foolishly had more than 16k in my bank and got zero support.

if you want to benefit in this country. live live to the max & have zero savings = Win!

oh and heres a nice kicker, when I did get this current contract and started up a limited, the government offered me 50 quid a week or something (equivilent to jobseekers) for setting up a company - I would have preferred to have that help when I was seeing my savings disapear instead of when i'm pulling in 200k a year.

go figure

[SueEllen]

I have recently returned to contacting after being made redundant - to my dismay I could not claim any JSA due to insuffient contributions.

If you paid yourself a salary continually whether in a contract or not to meet the Lower earnings limit for NI as per your accountants advice while contracting prior to your permie job then you should have enough contributions.

So you should have appealed. Job Centre staff do get it wrong you know, simply can't be bothered or "misinterpret" targets - Government admits Jobcentres set targets to take away benefits | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Edited to say: if you are married or living with someone as a couple then you won't get any money anyway if they are working and earn enough to pay NI. And living with someone as a couple doesn't mean just a spouse or sexual partner it can mean a sibling or a friend depending on how the person who reads your form interprets the information.

[escapeUK]

oh and heres a nice kicker, when I did get this current contract and started up a limited, the government offered me 50 quid a week or something (equivilent to jobseekers) for setting up a company - I would have preferred to have that help when I was seeing my savings disapear instead of when i'm pulling in 200k a year.

go figure

Things like this are why I feel no guilt in paying not a penny in NI.