You've just lost your job

Universal Credit entitlement runs from the day you claim and generally cannot be backdated, so every week of delay is money you do not get back. If you might qualify, apply now rather than after weeks of research — Universal Credit is generally for people under State Pension age with savings of £16,000 or less, and New Style Jobseeker's Allowance, which does not depend on savings, may also be open to you if you have paid enough National Insurance. Then work out your actual runway: accessible savings and any severance, divided by your minimum viable monthly outgoings, not your current spending. Whatever that number turns out to be, knowing it precisely converts a mood into a problem with a shape — and a shape can be planned around in a way a mood cannot.

Statutory redundancy pay, notice, consultation, and what to do if the process was not followed. Acas advises workers as well as employers and it is free. Time limits are short and depend on the claim: for most claims three months less one day, rising to six months less one day where the time limit starts on or after 1 October 2026, while statutory redundancy pay claims already have six months less one day. You have to notify Acas before the deadline, so check the limit for your specific claim this week rather than later.

The first weeks often bring a burst of energy that feels like productivity — reinvention plans, a business idea, a decision to move city or retrain. Some of those will still look right in a month. Most will not. The early phase is a poor moment for irreversible choices, and most of what you are considering will still be there in three weeks — the exceptions are things with a real deadline, such as a job offer, a housing decision or a legal time limit.

Work supplies a structure most people never notice until it goes. Rebuilding some of it deliberately — a consistent wake time, going outside before opening the laptop, a fixed finish — tends to matter more than any single job-search tactic in the first month.

Not for sympathy — because a meaningful share of roles are filled through someone who already knew the person, and nobody can pass anything on if they do not know you are looking. And separately, tell one or two people the honest version of how you are finding it, which is a different conversation and does a different job.

Official statistics do not break search length down by seniority, but several months is common rather than exceptional. People who expect three months and reach month four often accept roles they would otherwise refuse. Setting the expectation now protects the quality of the decisions you make later.