"British-born Tim Hall has been hit by new rules aimed at preventing EU migrants from taking advantage of the benefits system. Mr Hall, 26, of Green Lane, Acomb, went on a four-month internship to Brussels last autumn to build on his skills and improve his career prospects, he said. When he returned, he was out of work and applied for JSA, only to be told by Jobcentreplus he was not entitled to it." He was away for four months, not for one day. Common sense would dictate that if at any one time you are away from the UK for a longer period than average Joe would go on a holiday [2-3 weeks?], then you may be considered as living abroad [for habitual residence and for benefit purposes]. It used to be an unofficial one month-ish to become habitually resident in the UK [for HB purposes]. Now they upped it to 3 months to avoid having to pay JSA / HB for EU migrants from day one of their stay in the UK thus saving some money. No discrimination can be made btwn EU state members so just because he is British, can not be treated differently. Britain has been taken to court about this habitual residence test as it discriminates against migrants, kind of. Worry not, refugees with eight children will be given housing and benefit from day one.

Yes, I have meant WP providers. Governments talks about "less people are receiving benefits" to tell the public they are doing a good job and "reducing unemployment". Those who never claimed won't know that claiming and signing on does not necessarily mean receiving and sanctions of 4 weeks to 3 years exist / improve statistics or rhetoric to win next election. Allegedly, WP provider advisers are on low wages and are meant to top it up with job outcome payments: sustained employment aka an over six-month placement for the claimant, whether claimant finds job himself or WP provider helped some way or another. It is never over: you just put onto the next scheme with a different name: post work programme support for six months or Help to Work Scheme to enjoy community work.

I have no camera on my current mobile but it looks like we have to go to JCP / WP meetings with a camera to take pictures of forms we are given to show why we refuse to sign it and what the form includes. Eg data protection waiver bundled up with action plan and only one place to sign the whole lot. Obviously, they will refuse to give you a blank copy of the form you refused to sign so even better: if I refuse to sign, I keep the form to have evidence to post to the decision maker what kind of bull*cks it was they wanted me to sign. It is illegal to bundle up data protection waiver with other docs and allow one signature for the whole lot. Dirty tricks they've got up their sleeves to rob you of your data protection rights. Got a copy of the form you refused to sign? WP provider may get into trouble if you do and complain about it to JCP. First you have to complain to WP provider, then to JCP if the issue is not solved. What harm can come out from them having my mobile and email address? Apart from JCP googling them and catching out those working in the black market or holidaying abroad while not telling the JCP and posting pictures on Facebook of their third annual overseas holiday this year.

They get bonuses for getting ppl off benefits. Finding work is one way off getting off benefits. Four-week sanction and no money for four weeks for not attending an app about which you never got a notification is another. Backstubbing ***, some of them are. Stand up for yourself and say where is the proof that that letter was actually posted or the notification was handed to you. Saying I can not prove that I did not receive that letter makes it easy for them. We see horror stories up here but I would like to believe that most advisers have good intention. Finished work programme a few weeks ago and only one adviser tried to give me trouble after I complained about her to the manager. Quite normal not to see any one adviser more than three times as they give up their job pretty quick. They win if you get upset over their rules and ways.

There was a poster up here who paid into the system for 20 years and his advisers gladly sanctioned him after a few weeks of claiming for not logging into his universal jobmatch on Xmas Day and New Years day as he had signed to sign in daily. Just say yes if asked whether you search for jobs daily. No point starting an argument with them. When you are out for a beer, you looked at the newsagents shop window ads to see if any jobs on offer. You asked the bartender if any jobs on offer.

It is the employer who contacts you to tell you to attend a job interview, not the JCP. Since it is your annual two-week holiday from job searching, I don't suppose JCP can interrupt it with a JCP app. More likely, it is for correspondence purposes. There may be a letter of entitlement doubt to which claimants have to respond within less than two weeks so you would miss the deadline while sunning yourself in Scotland on a two-week holiday. They just want to make you feel uncomfortable: "tell JCP the new address even if you are away from home for one day only" is unreasonable. You stay at a friend's for the weekend and you supposed to give JCP their address?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269165/wp-pg-chapter-5.pdf

They make a lot of JSA claimants sign in their Jobseeker's Agreement that they log into their Universal Jobmatch account daily. If you tick the box that you allow DWP / JCP access to your account they can see whether you logged in daily. Saw one poster up here who got caught out after a few weeks. Please check what you signed in your agreement. If you look in your little green signing on booklet, it says that "you have to report change of circumstances immediately and tell JCP in advance if you go away from home even it is for one day only". Advisers would have to be really evil to call you back from your holiday with a letter.

Ok. Thank you. http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/getting-help-to-make-your-mortgage-interest-payments Hope the government link above is all right. Trying to figure out what help is available with mortgage interest if on JSA / ESA. So it's not HB but Support for Mortgage Interest [sMI], paid as part of the benefit. Not sure if the info on the link is up to date.

Can the site team please remove the disney website link from my post above at #7? I did not post that link so no idea how it got there. I posted some other link and never visited that disney website so it could not have been me accidentally posting a link to it. What's going on?

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/customer_compliance_guidance

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/customer_compliance_guida nce

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49250[/ATTACH]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/customer_compliance_guidance Found the above link very useful. The pdf attachment about Risk Referrals shows that CC is not completely random.

Seen it somewhere that HB can not be paid to help with mortgage interest if it is an endowment mortgage [whatever that may be] in which case you are recommended to renegotiate the terms of your mortgage with the lender. So there may be help with mortgage if you are awarded income related ESA. Contribution-based ESA you get if you paid or been awarded with enough class 1 NI credits during the two relevant tax years which will be the tax years ending before your benefit year. Benefit year is 2014. End of 2nd tax year was 5th April 2013. First DWP looks to see if you are eligible for contribution based benefit. If not, they try income-based one. If contribution-based is disallowed it does not mean you are not eligible for income-based so apply for both to begin with. For your nerves it is better to be alone. Is it a two-bed flat that on the long run if needed you could take in a lodger? Rent a room scheme: up to about £2,400 per year you have to pay no tax on rental income [about £80pw rent]. In London landlords manage to put 2 bank beds in a small double and ask £85pw from each person [own experience] so you will be all right.

Not the same thing. I just researched if ESA can be sanctioned due to gross misconduct like JSA. To avoid having to pay up, in some cases DWP may want to claim the limited capability for work is the claimant's fault. Eg refused medical treatment / surgery; his life style / conduct is preventing him from recovering [listed in regulation 93]. It does not apply if the claimant is in hardship. With £2,000 savings and living in own house it is barely hardship so ESA claimants need to know what tricks DWP got up their sleeve to refuse to cough up the money. "I see it in your medical papers that your specialist recommended major surgery. Why haven't you undergone surgery?" Or: "Your life style is causing your illness [stress]. You refusing to change your conduct so your limited capability is your own fault: no ESA for the first 6 weeks of your claim." Of course Atos medicals work so well that no need to do the above? In any case, it is good to know it is not a 26 week initial sanction like with JSA and probably very few cases where the claimant's own misconduct caused his limited capability for work. Eg not wearing a safety helmet at a building site; getting into a fight with a colleague; driver causing accident due to drink driving.

Hopefully DWP won't make it out that you have limited capability for work due to your misconduct because then they can apply a sanction of up to six weeks. It does not apply to sexually transmitted diseases. What is DWP trying to say there.. Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2013, Regulation 93: Disqualification for misconduct [attachment screen shot] Not very likely but if this alleged misconduct resulted in an illness, then in your ESA claim and sick note you rely on a different illness if it makes sense. You mentioned more than one illness.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/debt_e/debt_mortgage_problems_ew/debt_how_to_sort_out_your_mortgage_problems_e/help_with_mortgage_costs_if_you_re_out_of_work.htm http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/379/contents/made Isn't it they can not dismiss you as long as you are on statutory sick pay? There is a time limit for sick pay but I would use it to the maximum limit and then claim ESA.

Can not see anywhere that you would not get ESA for a certain period at the beginning of your claim if dismissed for gross misconduct. ESA sanctions seem to be soft touch compared to JSA. Latter max period is 3 years. ESA max period is 4 weeks. Atos fails most claimants at the Work Capability Test. You get no money during the ESA reconsideration phase but you get money during the appeal period, unlike JSA claimants. They do not give HB to pay the mortgage but after a certain period on benefits they pay the interest on the mortgage? ESA claim sounds reasonable as opposed to claim JSA just to be told not entitled for 26 weeks to begin with. They pay ESA during the initial assessment period [13 weeks ?] until Atos fails you. Then you ask the decision to be reconsidered. Then you appeal.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49245[/ATTACH]Please see attached the decision makers guidance about JSA sanctions. Aren't you by any chance being harassed in the work place and have written evidence about it? Weird question but no 26 weeks sanction to begin with if you leave the job because of harassment. Or are you a whistle blower? Any particular reason for not engaging in the discipline procedure? Health issues is a good excuse otherwise no excuse and creating yourself loads of trouble for the future. Do we need an ESA DM guidance as well to see if you start out with a 26 week sanction.. You really need to cooperate with the procedure as homelessness and no food is not very good. £4,000 may last for a while if interest only mortgage. You need to avoid being dismissed for gross misconduct or leave your job voluntarily.

From Hammersmith and Fulham Council's website: "Some hostels will accept people without any money as long as you can claim benefits to pay for the accommodation. They can check what you are entitled to and help you with the claim forms. Housing benefit may not cover all the rent and won't cover any extra services such as cleaning or meals. So you may have to use part of your income support, jobseekers allowance or training allowance to pay for anything that isn't covered. " Anyone up here would be willing to google London hostels that cost no more than £12-15 a day and call them to see if they accept people with no money as long as they are eligible for HB? Need to know if OP got any JSA payments to begin with and then got sanctioned or he never got any JSA for this current claim. You claim HB from the borough council where you live [online form] so moving around in London makes it difficult as Wandsworth Council [Putney] and Westminster Council [Victoria] are two different boroughs. OP has to call Jobcentre [at most of them there are free phones] to report change of circumstances [no fix address of abode or homeless] otherwise there may be further sanctions for not reporting change of circumstances immediately. JCP will still insist on the claimant giving an address of correspondence. Ask the local JCP if you can have your letters delivered there. Homeless day centres allow guests to have their post delivered to theirs. The JSA sanction letter tells you the exact period of sanction. What does it say? You need to get the written JSA decision to go with your HB claim. Councils need proof of income and as a Jobseeker it will be your JSA allowance letter. Plus the sanction letter to go with it. If the claim was disallowed to begin with and no JSA was paid at all, that is no good news. There can be a 26 week sanction to begin with if you get dismissed for gross misconduct or leave your job voluntarily. I assume OP did not write down enough / satisfactory job search evidence. The way to do it is apply for jobs online, save the confirmation emails in a separate folder, note down which website, job title, area, company / agency, reference number, phone number / email / postal address if displayed in ad. Name of contact. How you applied [emailed CV], what you will do next and when. 4-6 examples like this every week to get JSA. The job search evidence booklet has to be filled in properly [above list]. They check it when you sign on fortnightly. "Handed in CVs to 100 companies for bar jobs": where is the evidence to show it? They want to see you applying online, looking in newspapers, registering with agencies. You want JSA, it is about producing evidence and not about wanting a job. In the initial JSA claim form we have to put down examples of what we have been doing to find a job so OP may have failed to give satisfactory evidence and was disallowed JSA to begin with. If that is the case, I would close my claim, sign off by handing in my green JSA ID booklet at JCP. "Personal reasons" is what you write for "Why are you signing off". Then make a new claim the following day giving enough evidence of jobsearch: name five websites you looked on, what jobs you applied for, name newspapers you looked in, agencies you registered with, address of companies you handed in CVs to, ppl you called, incl name & phone numbers. JCP advisers / decision makers are not likely to check it but need to see enough evidence to allow JSA / to put through your fortnightly payment. Which borough council did you apply to for HB? If you moved out of the borough and not moving back, they give you no HB but for the few days of hostel stay if you showed them receipts. JSA is not connected to the borough. HB is and they will pay nothing until they see evidence that you are liable to pay rent and in the borough [tenancy agreement, hostel / B&B receipts]. Can not know if OP has money for the bus so within walking distance we need to find a place where he can sleep, whether a hostel which accepts ppl with no money or any sheltered place and possibly warm like A&E waiting room. He needs to convince ppl to call or call No Second Night Out himself giving his description, exact location, phone number, name. In 2011 DWP did not allow me JSA and took 6 months to reconsider the decision so applied in January and got first payment in November. Landlord took me to court to evict me as HB got suspended. Not easy to get money off DWP and it does not happen overnight. Them saying "Donno when OP gets any JSA" is rubbish and not a satisfactory answer so need to see the written decision letter. Open ended sanction or a fix 4/ 13/ 26 week one? Moving around in hostels in London: maybe OP did not get the letter. Phone JCP and give an address where they can write to you and request they re-send you the decision letter(s). I get my HB upon the borough concil having seen and photocopied my JSA allowance letter. They confirmed in writing that if JSA happens to be sanctioned, DWP lets them know which generates a council HB dept letter to be sent to me asking about my income, at which point have to submit JSA disallowance letter to council and a bank statement showing balance from the date of the sanction. They look at my income if any [eg hardship payments] and calculate what HB to pay, then reinstate HB payments. So JSA allowed to begin with and paid but then sanction: will not affect HB payments if you let council know ASAP. If JSA was disallowed to begin with and no payments were made: donno if council accepts disallowance letter as proof of nil income and allows HB. Ask the HB department on the free phone at the council. As far as I know, not eligible for hardship payments if JSA was not allowed to begin with [eg voluntarily left employment]. So we need to know details of this sanction / disallowance to be able to advise.

1st April 2013: Crisis Loans were abolished. Short Term Benefit Advance: when there is a delay in decision making / payment of HB. Councils are expected to make a decision within 14 days of receiving all the documents. That would mean applying for STBA two weeks after submitting a HB claim. You only get HB when you are liable to pay rent so you need written evidence to show this to be able to claim HB.

Seen it on a website that some hostels will accept ppl without paying upfront as long as they are eligible for HB. They check entitlement, eg current JSA / HB allowance letter, bank statement. HB is means tested: need to show proof of income to get it. JSA letter proves nil income. Sanction throws a spanner in the works. Was JSA allowed in the first place or it was disallowed saying no proof of jobsearch? Did not see the above note that OP moved to another hostel [?] and is now at Victoria and Westminster council says no local connection, no help. Just keep the receipt from this backpackers hostel or insist on getting one. Have to meet all criteria to get housed [homeless application to the council] and local connection is just one of them. The next one is "in priority need", eg family with young children, pregnant, vulnerable due to old age. This criteria most single adults won't meet hence the thousands of homeless in London. It will be all good and I pray that OP sees the phone number to note down ASAP.

https://benefitforms.wandsworth.gov.uk/victoriaforms/Viewer-vicForms.asp?Form=Wandsworth%20HBCTR%20claim%20Form%20%281.0%29.wdf&user=anon

http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/benefits/housingbenefit/housing_benefit_advice/housing_benefit_claims.htm Good news: HB can be claimed for B&B / hostel stay, minus the costs of food and services [cleaning, laundry]. OP needs to make a HB claim for the period of hostel stay in Putney to Wandsworth Council. Won't work without receipts. http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/benefits/housingbenefit/housing_benefit_advice/housing_benefit_claims.htm They do not usually back date claims unless good cause for claiming late. JSA sanction / stress / illness might be accepted if explained in writing. Good luck.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200008/benefits/1481/wandsworth_discretionary_social_fund/3 Putney is in Wandsworth. Crisis loan is for living expenses [eg food] and not for housing costs. Only given in case of disaster and crisis [flood, fire]. Eligible if in receipt of income-based JSA. Not eligible if JSA is sanctioned. Only for residents of the borough and they need to see proof of address. Some jobs are live in, eg au-pair, nanny, caretaker. There is such a thing as a male au-pair though rare. Crisis Loan won't give enough money to cover even one weeks rent and takes time to process. Save up hardship payments and JSA and find a room / room share where they only ask for one weeks rent in advance and no deposit / small key deposit and where they are willing to give a tenancy agreement. Some borough councils do not accept receipts as evidence. Looks like OP believes that he can get HB in advance to pay the first weeks / months rent. That's not possible: you need to pay the LL the deposit and the rent when you sign the agreement. There is no HB without a tenancy agreement first. Make a HB claim on the same day you sign the tenancy and submit tenancy agreement in person at council to be photocopied alongside with recent bank statement and JSA allowance & disallowance letters. HB is paid in arrears, in London boroughs I get it within 3-4 weeks after making a claim. There is such a thing as deposit in advance [discretionary housing payment] but you are only eligible if you are in receipt of HB / CTB. HB does not pay for fuel [gas, water, electric, service charges] so written evidence needed whether these are included in the rent. In the claim form you are asked if any of these are included in the rent and how much per week. Live-in LL / lodgers: bills are included in the rent. House share: varies. I believe no HB is paid for stay in hostels but need to google it. Can not see any money coming in within a week or two even if OP gets a job. Given that I would be in a safe warm place with a roof over my head until I save up my JSA to rent, I would get someone who witnessed me rough sleeping on the first night to call No Second Night Out for me on the second day of nowhere to sleep. Those who know any other options of getting money will advise. What I would keep in my pocket is a phone number. 0870 383 3333