Hi bednobs, my sister was in the same position as you (redundancy, but didn't want to look for a job straight away). She signed on for her NI contributions, but then found out that she was expected to look for another job immediately. She had to show evidence of searching and applying for jobs, for a certain amount of hours each day. She only worked part time for the MOD (before voluntary redundancy) but was spending more hours looking for work than she had actually worked in her job. She is now an assistant practice manager (at my doctor's surgery, ironically), but does regret signing on straight away. Things may have changed in the three years since she was took redundancy, and obviously her circumstances are slightly different to yours.