Job Seekers Allowance Question

[Yesterdaisy]

Hi all,

 

I have a question about a joint JSA claim that mypartner and I have.

 

I have been on a single claim for several months. During this time my partner (a student) was working 12 hours a week. Her total income meant that I didn't qualify for income based JSA.

 

In June she graduated and also her employer reduced her hours. This reduction started on the w/c 29th June from which point onwards she has been working 4 hours a week instead of 12. Before this reduction took affect we went into the job centre (around the 24th-25th of June) to ask them to make my single claim a joint one from the 29th of June (the date that she started working her new hours).

 

We've already had a few problems with them, most have which have been sorted, the main problem that remains is the start date of our claim.

 

We are getting JSA paid to us from the 30th of July (first payment on the 14th August). I contacted the job centre to ask why we were not being paid from the 29th June-30th July (as that was when my partner's hours were reduced) and they said that because she was paid on the 26th of June for the work she had done in June that the money would support us for the month of July.

 

I can kind of understand that but I was under the impression that the amount you earn per month counts as JSA income for that month (not the following month). So her 48 hours that she was paid for on 26th June were worked during the 4 weeks in June at 12 hours per week.

 

What this means is that even though my girlfriend worked 4 hours a week from July 1st - July 28th we are not elligable for JSA during this period because her earnings from June are considered as income for July. Therefore we only get paid from the 30th July.

 

Does this sound right to you? I know I could be wrong but it feels like we should be getting paid from the 29th June because that is when her hours went down and so that is when she actually started earning less.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited September 13, 2009 by Yesterdaisy
typos

[Rooster-UK]

Moving thread to Benefits Forum.

[insyder]

Yes, that is right. The assumption is that a month's payment should last your household for a month. You are paid the salary monthly in arrears but the salary is budgeted for in advance of the following four weeks.

 

I see what you mean about starting it on the day the payments/hours go down though.

[RosaofEdge]

There may be a nitpick check Regulations 94-97 Job Seekers Regulations 1996.

 

I am not sure from what you say if your girlfriend is paid 4 weekly or monthly

but you did say she was paid on 26th June.

 

The period for which you are treated as having this income should be the same length of time as the period for which the pay is paid.

 

 

Calculation of earnings derived from employed earner's employment and income other than earnings

94.—(1) Earnings derived from employment as an employed earner and income which does not consist of earnings shall be taken into account over a period determined in accordance with the following paragraphs and at a weekly amount determined in accordance with regulation 97 (calculation of weekly amount of income).

 

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, the period over which a payment is to be taken into account shall be—

(a) in a case where it is payable in respect of a period, a period equal to the length of that period;

(b) in any other case, a period equal to such number of weeks as is equal to the number obtained (and any fraction shall be treated as a corresponding fraction of a week) by dividing the net earnings, or in the case of income which does not consist of earnings, the amount of that income less any amount paid by way of tax on that income which is disregarded under paragraph 1 of Schedule 7 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), by the amount of jobseeker's allowance which would be payable had the payment not been made plus an amount equal to the total of the sums which would fall to be disregarded from that payment under Schedule 6 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings) or, as the case may be, any paragraph of Schedule 7 other than paragraph 1 of that Schedule, as is appropriate in the claimant's case, and that period shall begin on the date on which the payment is treated as paid under regulation 96.

 

Date on which income is treated as paid

96.—(1) Except where paragraph (2) applies, a payment of income to which regulation 94 (calculation of earnings derived from employed earner's employment and income other than earnings) applies shall be treated as paid—

(a) in the case of a payment which is due to be paid before the first benefit week pursuant to the claim, on the date on which it is due to be paid;

(b) in any other case, on the first day of the benefit week in which it is due to be paid or the first succeeding benefit week in which it is practicable to take it into account.

 

The month or the 4 week period starts from the date it was paid if this was before the date of your claim (which it should be if you asked to make a claim from 29th June). So you should get JSA from 25th or 23rd July depending on whether it’s a monthly or 4 weekly pay period.

 

Write in and ask them to revise the decision.

 

If you are claiming housing benefit or council tax benefit or if the drop in household income means that you should now qualify for it, get your claim or notification of change of circumstances in as soon as possible.

 

Housing Benefit will normally take account of an increase or drop in income from the date you start working the revised hours not the date you get paid for them… although they may want evidence such as the employers letter reducing hours and the payslips to do this and therefore may delay assessing the claim until the new payslips are in.

[Yesterdaisy]

Thanks for your replies so far. Our situation has changed slightly as I have now found work but a problem that I had anticipated has come up. So I will explain the problem here to allow you to judge if my original post still makes sense.

 

As I said in my first post I can kind of understand how a months earnings would be considered the following months income when going into unemployment. But my understanding of this is based on a consistency that would mean that you still recieve JSA until you recieve your first paycheck because like your previous earnings, your new earnings would surely also be considered income for the following month.

 

Unfortunately that's not what's happened. I started my new job today (2nd November). Having let the Job Centre know about this they have informed me that my partner and I would stop receiving JSA as of today (2nd November). This means that for a period of a month we're going to have absolutely no money - no JSA for the duration of November, no wages until November 27th (my first payday).

 

It seems that they are now considering my wages as the previous months income rather than the following months income. Does this still seem right or am I missing something?

[insyder]

Yes, that is right and the options are limited.

 

You can apply for an alignment to wages crisis loan, this is usually payable if you can prove that the employer cannot advance you any wages and also if you can prove when you're due your first wages so that the Social Fund officer can assess that period. If you cannot get this proof (who wants to ask their employer to put that in writing just as you start!) then you should still apply with as much proof that you have started work as possible (contract, letter of acceptance, etc)

 

The only other help is the job grant but that is only available if you have been receiving JSA for 26 weeks or more.

[RosaofEdge]

Yes they squeeze you at both ends of your claim as you have found unfortunately.

 

If your job finishes and you have your last months pay in hand it knocks you out from claimaing JSA for the month.

 

When you start work and dont get paid for a month you are expected to sign off when you start work.

 

This gives a fuller list of back to work benefits - but for the most useful ones you have to have been in receipt of JSA or IS for 26 weeks.

 

Benefits and help when going back to work : Directgov - Money, tax and benefits

 

If you pay rent or council tax, as my first post indicated you should have been able to persuade them to increase or allow housing benefit from the date of your partner's pay reduction.

 

And if you have been in receipt of IS/JSA/ESA for 26 weeks when you start work it may be possible to apply for the housing benefit/council tax benefit run on. Thats where the flexibility seems to be unfortunately and it can be very difficult to afford travel and other costs in the first month of a return to work. Try to get an advance on wages or bank loan are the other options.