Hello all, hoping someone might know the answer to this question. Does anyone know how the applicable amount of jsa is calculated? For example a single persons allowance is £71, this is the amount the government says you need to live on if you are single. But what do they mean by "live on". How do they calculate this amount? i.e. how much would be for food, how much for fuel (gas, elec, heating) and other essential things that you would need to live on. Now by "live" I am assuming this doesnt mean an amount you would actually need to purchase things you would need to continue living? The reason I ask is basically down to the "bedroom tax". I've been on JSA for a couple of months now through no fault of my own (unfairly dismissed for taking employer to tribunal), I get £71 per week, 25 goes on food, 25 - 30 on electricity, 5 on toiletries and the rest on trying to pay other bills, travel, etc. Come april I'll need to pay just over £11 per week towards my rent as HB was reduced for under occupancy ( i have one spare bedroom). Basically I am just curious if requiring people to pay the extra towards rent from benefits would be unlawful if it left you with less than what the gov says you need to live on? I know thats probably wishfull thinking but the bedroom tax is attrocious and theres got to be some way around it. Thanks

Hi, I recently brought an ET cliam against my employer for unpaid holiday pay and unlawful deductions from wages. i was employed at the time and in their ET3 response they also stated that my employment was continuing. They have done nothing but lie and deny everything about the claim saying that I am not owed anything, even though I can prove that I am. The other week my solicitor sent a letter to their solicitors basically blowing their defense apart, no doubt this annoyed them. The other day I was told that it was not appropriate for me to be in the wiorkplace whilst this claim was on going. To clarify, I work for a charity and I was volunteering as well as doing paid work. They have basiclaly told me I cannot volunteer and i will probably get no work either, so it looks like I have been dismissed with no notice nad without good reason. I have been employed since March 2011. Can I add a claim for unfair dismissal into the current claim or would I need to make a new claim? Also do you think that their behaviour would go agains tthem at the ET? Thanks

Hi Sidewinder, thanks for replying again. I think I have a strong ET case with regards to holiday pay, even if they argued that the holiday pay was rolled up it was not itemised so I beleieve a judge would side with me on that. Surely they cant claim that they simply didnt know? surely ignorance is no defence. I'll talk to my solicitor and mention the part time workers regulations to him. I am also attempting to argue, at the ET, my employment status as I actually work regualr hours and days and I beleive there is sufficiant mutuality of obligation to class me as an employee and not just a worker. Sometimes I wonder, as Im sure many do on this forum, why bother complaining and trying to stand up for your rights when employers can seemingly argue there way out of it using any lies. It really is frustrating.

Hi sidewinder thanks for your reply, I'll explain a bit more detail to see if it helps. With regards to the rolled up holiday pay, I beleive this was not the case as I was specifically told "sessional staff do not get holiday pay" and I was payed, for example 8.00 per hour. On my payslip it simply said the hours worked and the hourly rate, there was no itemisation that stated there was holiday pay rolled up into the hourly rate. About 2 weeks before I got the sessional policy I mentioned above, I was given another policy which claimed that holiday pay was included in the hourly rate, in this policy they claimed the hourly rate was for example 7.40 and including 10% or so the hourly rate payable was say 8.00. I told and showed proof that including holiday pay rolled up was unlawful and that is when they changed the policy to the new one with the hourly rate now even less. So in the space of two weeks my hourly rate has went down twice. I do know for a fact that employees who have written contracts with the company do get 8.00 per hour AND holiday pay, so it is possible then that I could argue under the part time workers provention of less favourable treatment act? At the ET I am actually looking to get all the holiday pay i would be owed back, even forlast year (i did not find out till this year that I was entitiled to holiday pay). As a further argument, I would like to argue that the employer knowingly and willingly denied sessional workers there statutory right to holiday pay, not sure how I would prove that though, but giving there attitude to this situation its pretty obvious they deliberatley told sessional workers they wehre not entitled to holiday pay just to save some money. Thanks for your help.

Hi, I am employed as a sessional worker (casual worker) for about 2 years. I have recently been in a bit of a dispute with the employer with regards to holiday pay, the employer told me that sessional workers where not entititled to holiday pay, howver some time later I found out that sessional workers are entitled to holiday pay. To cut a long story short, I complained about the holiday pay situation, they ignored it, I got a solicitor to send them a letter, they ignored it some more, then finally admitted that I was correct pretty much. However, they have now come out with a sessional worker policy but they are now saying the hourly rate for sessional workers is 80p less than I was previuosly paid e.g I was always on £8.00 per hour now they have basiclaly cut it down to £7.20. There was no notice and no consultation whatsoever about the hourly rate cut. As a sessional worker I do not have any written contract and neither did I sign or see any sessional worker policy when I started work. What they have basiclaly done is take my hourly rate and take 12.07% off of it (thats the percentage to work out holiday entitlement for atypical workers) and then they have came up with the new, reduced hourly rate. I am currently taking them to an ET anyway regarding the holiday pay debacle, but can they just cut my hourly rate as they see fit? surely that cant be allowed, without some kind of notice or consultation, they are just doing that to get out of paying holiday pay again. Could I argue that it is unlawful deductions of wages, or perhaps discrimination on the grounds of my employments status? I am pretty worried as this reduced hourly rate will most likely put me into a difficult financial situation. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi All, thought I would reply to this post as it seems similar to my situation. I am also a sessional worker for a charity organisation and I was always told "sessional workers dont get holiday pay" but I have found out this is wrong. The term "worker" is important here, assuming your over 18. You dont need to have a written contract to get holiday pay, if your over 18 and your employer deducts tax/NI from yoru sessional pay you fall within the definition of a “worker” in Regulation 2(1)of the working time regulations and you are entitled to paid annual leave in terms of Regulation 13. Also dont be fooled by the rolled up holiday pay, i.e "its included in your hourly rate", this is probably illegal, if holiday pay is rolled up it should clearly state on the pay slip what is basic pay and what is holiday pay. There seems to be an awful lot of organisation who dont pay any holiday pay to sessional workers, this is wrong(confirmed by a solicitor), if you are classed as a sessional worker, make sure you get your holiday pay. Hope this helps someone.