Softening the blow of redundancy

When Harry Hogg was laid off by mobile phone giant Motorola just over a year ago, the blow was softened slightly by the fact that he had insurance covering his mortgage payments.

The 57-year-old claimed on his policy and duly received a pay-out. Then he got an unexpected phone call from an organisation offering him free help with trying to get another job.

The company, Working Transitions, helped Mr Hogg sharpen up his CV, gave him advice about how he should approach companies about possible job opportunities and helped him complete the application form for one particular job he saw advertised.

The assistance paid off and Mr Hogg landed a nine-month contract with printer manufacturer Lexmark. He has been there six months now and hopes the company will consider keeping him on.

Mr Hogg, of Dunfermline, is a long-time Nationwide mortgage holder and has had the society's mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) for several years. He didn't know it at the time, but this offers the services of Working Transitions as a free benefit to all MPPI customers who make an unemployment claim.

Northampton-based Working Transitions specialises in helping unemployed people return to work and says that over the years it has helped thousands of customers of Nationwide and other high street lenders.

With almost every day seeing another announcement about a company shedding jobs, this sort of benefit is likely to be considered increasingly valuable.

While official figures earlier this month showed that the number of people out of work and claiming benefits has fallen to a near-record low, this doesn't tell anything like the full story.

A recent report from the TUC revealed that Britain's manufacturing workforce has shrunk by 10%, or 400,000 jobs, over the past three years. It believes manufacturing is still shedding an average of 15,000 jobs per month.

MPPI, also known as accident, sickness and unemployment cover (ASU), is usually bought at the same time as a mortgage is taken out and covers your payments if you become unemployed or can't work owing to an accident or illness. It usually pays out for 12 or 24 months.

Nationwide isn't the only lender that offers MPPI claimants the services of Working Transitions - others include Barclays, Britannia building society and Bradford & Bingley.

Neil Lewis, director of Working Transitions, says it automatically gets in touch when a borrower makes an unemployment claim. "We build a tailored programme around their needs," he adds.

"It might be that someone doesn't have a CV. We help them produce that. Or we help them with things like research and provide job vacancies. And they can speak to an adviser at any time."

So how much can you expect to pay for this sort of insurance? Typically, it will cost around £5-£6 per £100 of your monthly repayment.

However, for some people it is likely to be a waste of money. Many policies make you wait 30-60 days before paying out, and you may well have got another job by then.

Many employers provide good cover for accident and sickness, and some people will have savings they can use to pay the mortgage. Or another type of policy may suit your needs better.

Personal finance website Moneynet.co.uk this week launched a Lloyd's-underwritten income protection policy which provides a payout plus a "back-to-work" assistance package from a specialist consultancy in the event of redundancy. Cover costs from £5 a month, but protecting a monthly income of £1,000 costs £25 for unemployment-only cover.