My wife was made redundant 3 years before her retirement date..........the firm were she worked went into administration, so no redundancy, just the government minimum redundancy.....£2000 for 15 years work.
She signed on, with her still being under 65 years old.........and after 16 weeks was told "you no longer have to sign on every fortnight", she asked why, to be told ", you have had your entitlement!!!!!......no more ££££.
So had to learn to live on just my wage,average bring home £1200 per month!!.
We/she applied for whatever we thought we could, but everything we tried to claim for, it was always the same "you are just over the limit" for whatever we tried to claims for.
In actual fact we are slightly better off now with both of our pensions, my pit pension and a small private pension.
While 4 of our (same age as us) neighbours have a motobility car, pay very little rent or council tax.........us fook all.......so I know how @Richzx6r feels.