Hi
I don't know what to do
I started a claim for jsa at the end of september I had my first appointment and had to wait for the claim to be processed and got flu before my next sign on appointment 2 weeks later i rang them with plenty of time and they sent me a sickness form im 7 miles from my local job centre and a 2 hour wait between buses but my god do i wish i had gone now even if it had turned into pneumonia
I sent back the form i didnt know you are supposed to ring when you are better i thought you just go to the next appointment apparently they never received the form they say they left me a message on my mobile a week later which i never received whether a wrong number was rung or i accidentally gave the wrong number the first time i dont know they have a landline number also and i still dont understand why that wasnt rung or even another phonecall if no response the other
anyway i rang to enquire about the claim the day before my 3rd sign on date because it had been 5 weeks now and i still didnt know when i would receive any help only too be told that my claim had been cancelled and that i'd have to do rapid reclaim cue me being in floods of tears throughout a couple of phonecalls i rung rapid reclaim straight away after pulling myself together arranged an appointment earliest possible day went to that filled in all the form filled in a backdated payment form due to it being almost 6 weeks since i had first applied and thanking god i had family that were generous and although i wouldnt starve things were and still are very stretched anyway i just rang now to enquire as its been a week since that day to be told that my claim for backdated jsa has been denied due to them not believeing my reasons for not signing on sooner
the reasons i put for not signing on sooner which i cant quite remember what i put was horrible day i almost burst into tears when they asked if i could come back again later because there wasnt enough time to fill in the forms right then
anyway i think I wrote "i did i applied at end of september and then straight away when they told me my claim had been cancelled"
the poor man i just spoke to on phone must have thought i was a bit nutty i was in tears he said to write a letter explaining everything
he said they dont have proof i wasnt unemployed for 2 weeks in october which doesnt make any sense to me because if i was employed i wouldnt be asking for help and i would apparently get contribution based jsa for 6 months anyway which would be my ni contributions wouldnt it
im sorry for writing so long im at my wits end
my question was originally if anyone can help is i have to write a letter stating the situation and the fact i have applied for 75+ jobs in the past 6 weeks that i dont really have anything right now and things are in a rather dire situation do i just write it like a letter what if they just throw it away the bloke on the phone just said write a letter addressed to that address not too and what to write etc
hope someone can help me thanks
Jobseekers allowance 
