Not a good week.
Went to work last Friday to be given a letter saying that because of the credit crunch and the downturn in buiseness I was being laid off. So after talking things through with Heidi decided to go to the job centre on Monday morning to see what they could do for me and see if i could get anything out of the system.
Got to the job centre on Monday morniing and was met by the security staff on the door and told " sorry but you are not allowed in here unless you have an appointment ". So I politely informed them of the reason i was there and they gave me a telephone number that i had to ring. Asked if i could brouse their computer for driving jobs and told " not untill you have been interviewed by one of our claims people ". Ok says me and off home again.
After a while and a coffee i gave the number supplied a ring, it only took me 16 minutes to get connected to a human, pretty good as things sometimes go. I explained my circumstances and she informed me that i needed to make a new claim and i was required to answer a few questions, this would take about 40 minutes, would that be ok. ( thank god it was a freephone number ). So we went into the questions, it appeared that i would be able to claim something, for myself and Heidi because she only works 15 hours a week, and that she would make me an appointment to see someone at the job centre. She makes me an appointment for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning i get a phone call saying that they had my info from the phone conversation and that the claim would amount to £4 a week but i would be able to claim for my stamp. To do this i must attend the appointment made for me.
Went to the appointment and went through the figures on the bank statement at the meeting and when the army pension came up was asked how much tax i pay on it monthly. I told her the figure and she then added it to the payment that went into the bank and informed me that i was not entitled to anything as my monthly income was too much. So i asked why she had added the tax on to the figures and she informed me that my pension payments must be counted on the figure before tax is taken off. Therefore the money the government takes off me every month as tax is what stops me being allowed to make a claim. ( Still trying to figure out why money that i don't get can count against me ) and we went on to look at the stamp duty. To which i was informed that they would not need to process the claim because i had worked all my life and paid over the 30 years that was needed for pension purposes.
I then asked her " what are you able to do for me then " ? and suprise suprise she answered " i'm sorry but there is nothing i can do for you ".
So because i have worked all my life, served and put my ass on the line for my country, paid my taxes and
stamp duty for over 30 years, I get nothing back.
And people ask me why move abroad
