Dumped on the jobs scrapheap at just 59
AM I too old to get a job at 59? When I was unexpectedly made redundant in February as an office manager, I was not too upset. In fact, I was relieved that I’d no longer have to face a tiring commute into London and long days in the office. In more than 40 years of working, I’d never been unemployed for more than a week and so felt more than confident that after a bit of a break I would soon be back at work. However, after almost 200 applications for medical, secretarial and legal executive roles, and also for jobs as various as a fishmonger and postie, I am still unemployed. I average one to two interviews per week, which each take a lot of effort to prepare for — there is no doubt job hunting is a full-time job in itself. Shockingly, some of the prospective employers from supposed world-class businesses haven’t bothered to get back to me after these interviews. Recruitment can be brutal. As a taxpayer for four decades, I felt I was paying into a fund that would support me in old age or at a time of unexpected unemployment. After all, we constantly hear about those who seemingly enjoy the high life on state benefits. I rarely needed the NHS because private health care came with my job and I had no children to benefit from the education system. I paid tax in huge amounts as a security, so I thought, for my future. but at my time of need, all I have been awarded is Jobseeker’s Allowance of the princely sum of £73 per week, which doesn’t even pay half my mortgage. My application for council tax relief fell at the first hurdle, so I am having to use my rapidly diminishing savings, which are well below the benefitclaiming threshold. I have thought of renting out my two bedrooms and sleeping in the lounge. This would bring in enough to pay for my mortgage and council tax, but nothing more. I still need to eat. Of course, had I not bothered to work my socks off to buy my own home, the state would be paying my rent, which would almost certainly be more than my mortgage. Talk about crushing your aspirations. Is the solution to sell up and blow all my money on travelling the world and indulging in luxury holidays? I could then return and declare myself homeless, without savings or any other impediment to claiming benefits. See you on that luxury world cruise.
MARY BEATTIE, Slapton, Bucks.