We have all had a party over the last 14 years or so, rising house price equity and plenty of cheap credit, to fuel the consumer spending boom.

Well folks the party is well and truly over, and lean times are here well into the next decade. If ever there was a sign that we are in the doo doo, it’s a chancellor cutting VAT by 2.5% before Christmas in order to stimulate consumer spending……at the busiest time of the year! That’s how bad it is out there; and the chances are, that people won’t return to the spending patterns of yesteryear; will you?

This of course means that jobs will go, that is certain. BT has recently announced 10,000 job cuts, and they are one of the stronger companies.

A news item on the BBC came up with a worrying statistic that one in twelve of us will lose our job. Well, unlike most statistics, this is very believable.  If like many of us, you don’t got a huge pot of rainy day money stashed, but were sensible enough to think about taking out Redundancy Insurance, but thought that you would wait until the last moment to buy…well that moment has come.

A redundancy insurance policy is designed pay a monthly benefit, usually up to 65% of your pre redundancy earnings; should you be made unemployed through no fault of your own. The policy will not put you in a better income position than you were in prior to losing your job, or there would be no incentive to return to work. If you want to cover your self fully, accident and sickness benefits can usually be added to the policy for a little more on the monthly premium.

In the event of a claim under these policies the monthly benefit will be paid directly to you, so you can deal with priory commitments, as you feel fit.

Generally, Redundancy Insurance Policies normally payable for up to 12 months if needed, the benefit is tax free under current HMRC rules.

A Redundancy Insurance Policy does exactly what it says in the literature, so read the Key facts document and policy conditions carefully.

If you have elected to include the Accident and Sickness in the policy, make sure that you disclose all pre existing medical conditions.

These days, as long as you avoid buying Redundancy Insurance through a Bank, you’ll be surprised at the daily cost; it can be as low as pennies per day.