Question about Job Seekers Allowance

[jpbl68]

I signed on a couple of weeks ago and this morning I received my first giro. I've just found out that I've been accepted for a job that isn't due to start until mid-December. Under the terms of my JSA agreement I'm supposed to apply for a handful of jobs every week but as I'm only available to work for the next ~10 weeks it's difficult to find any work. Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do in this situation?

[Jan4a]

Tell them you are looking for temp work. Ringing agencies, checking out temp agency websites etc. Put that in your book.

 

Congrats on the job!

[jpbl68]

Thanks Jan4a. It's only a temporary position but it's a start.

[Jan4a]

I'm temping too but it pays the bills.

 

There are some good experts on here re benefits, they might come on later and give you better advice.

[FitzWilliam]

I've been accepted for a job that isn't due to start until mid-December. Under the terms of my JSA agreement I'm supposed to apply for a handful of jobs every week but as I'm only available to work for the next ~10 weeks it's difficult to find any work.

 

Jobcentres tend to be unbending about the conditions for jobsearch set out in JSA agreements. So to be absolutely safe you should make sure your jobsearch booklet shows you've applied for the requisite number of jobs each fortnight.

 

If the jobcentre print out details of a job for you to apply for then you will have to apply for it. They check whether you've applied and will sanction your claim if you haven't. But they don't check whether you've applied for jobs you found yourself in the newspapers, etc.

 

A lot of people I know apply for jobs they want, and for jobs the jobcentre send them for, and then make up extra jobsearches to fill up their booklet. It keeps the jobcentre off their backs.

 

Jan's advice about temp work is good. It could fill the gap while you're waiting for the new job to start. But if you've got time on your hands for the next ten weeks I guess it's time to get on with all those DIY jobs round the house.

 

Good luck in your new job.

[jpbl68]

Cheers, Fitz. I'll keep looking until my next appointment and then see what they have to say about it.

[insyder]

If you explain that you have a job starting in December and request a review of your Jobseekers Agreement then it can be amended that you are looking only for temporary work as an agreed restriction on the Jobseekers Agreement.

[sallysas]

Well done on finding any job in these times. If you are getting HB/CTB you may still qualify for help depending on how much you earn. After you start get a letter from your employer stating the date you started, number of hours worked per week, national insurance number and gross and net salary. Do this within a month of jobseekers stopping and you won't then have to make a new claim it will just be a change of circumstances. Hope things pick up for you.

 

Have you checked about claiming WTC?

[Mydogsawestie]

I was wondering if you go off JSA to do temping work/contract work for what may only be a short period, what happens when you come to claim again will you not automatically get Contribution based JSA again.

 

I ask this because I understood it that if you have not contributed in NI fully for the full 24th months at your last employment when you come out of work you dont get the automatic right to contribution based JSA, is this right (even though you might have paid into the system all your life)?

[sallysas]

Don't know the answer about contribution-based jsa but if you have to reclaim within 26 weeks of jsa ending you make a rapid reclaim

[Jan4a]

I don't know about contribution based either as I'm now on income based but I've come on and off that a couple of times to do temp jobs and its been quite straightforward with rapid reclaims. I think it just gets carried on as before when you sign back on again because they haven't asked me for bank statements etc again. They did ask for those again when I changed from contribution to income based after 6 months though.

[installspark]

The simple answer for contribution conditions ;)

 

To get a contribution based benefit you need to satisfy the contribution conditions in the Relevant Income Tax Years (RITY)

 

The first contribution condition.

In order to qualify for contribution based JSA you must have:

 

• actually paid Class 1 contributions in one of the three last complete tax years on earnings of 25 times the lower earnings limit for that particular year; or
  
• 25 Class 2 contributions in any of the three last complete tax years; or
  
• a mixture of Class 1 and Class 2 totalling 25 in any of the three last complete tax years.
  

The lower earnings limit for the last three tax years are-

2006-2007 = £84

2007-2008 = £87

2008-2009 = £89

Class 1 National Insurance contributions are paid by employed people as a percentage of their earnings. Class 2 NI contributions are paid by self-employed people at a standard weekly rate.

The second contribution condition.

In addition to meeting the first condition you must also have paid (or have been treated as having paid) Class 1 or Class 2 contributions amounting to at least 50 times the lower earnings limit in each of the two relevant tax years.

The relevant tax years are those that precede the benefit year in which the claim is made. To make things a little more complex, the benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January whereas the tax year starts on April 6th.

Contribution credits count as Class 1 credits and can be used to help you meet the second contribution condition. You are credited for each full week that you receive-

 

• incapacity benefit or
  
• statutory sick pay or
  
• severe disablement allowance or
  
• income support due to incapacity for work or
  
• maternity allowance or
  
• jobseeker's allowance or
  
• carer's allowance or
  
• adoption pay
  

[Mydogsawestie]

thanks guys very informative information...appreciate it.

[Mydogsawestie]

I don't know about contribution based either as I'm now on income based but I've come on and off that a couple of times to do temp jobs and its been quite straightforward with rapid reclaims. I think it just gets carried on as before when you sign back on again because they haven't asked me for bank statements etc again. They did ask for those again when I changed from contribution to income based after 6 months though.

 

 

Another question rather than starting my own post as the title on this one seems so apt......

 

1. When going abroad we were told you would need to sign off then it would have to start again as a rapid reclaim, does that mean it starts from wk 1 again & therefore may become income based related instead of contribution based, or will it continue where you left off on the Contribution based JSA being 16+ weeks in?

 

2. Also if you go in hospital for a couple of days (yet need to have 2wks off to recover afterwards will job seekers allowance stop being paid during those whole 2 weeks or just the 2 days you are in?

 

Any advice again would be appreciated. Thanks

[Mydogsawestie]

Bump can anybody help me with my questions above pls??

[insyder]

1. When going abroad we were told you would need to sign off then it would have to start again as a rapid reclaim, does that mean it starts from wk 1 again & therefore may become income based related instead of contribution based, or will it continue where you left off on the Contribution based JSA being 16+ weeks in?

 

JSA has a linking period which means if you sign off and then sign on again in a few weeks it will continue at the point you left it at. The period of time that it stops linking and becomes a completely new claim (ie, the claim is reassessed using the new date of claim and tax years relevant at that time) escapes me but it's something like 26 weeks.

 

2. Also if you go in hospital for a couple of days (yet need to have 2wks off to recover afterwards will job seekers allowance stop being paid during those whole 2 weeks or just the 2 days you are in?

 

You can have up to 2 periods of sickness of up to 14 days on JSA. If the medical certificate runs past that you are expected to claim ESA for that period. JSA would be paid to the day before the certificate begins. Usual practice would be to sign off up to the day before you go in and claim ESA on the day before you go in. It isn't perfect and there will be a delay but the alternative would be to lose the whole period.

 

Hope that helps.

[Mydogsawestie]

Thanks for that whats ESA???

[insyder]

Sorry, Employment and Support Allowance - which took over from the messy income support/incapacity benefit claims for new claimants recently.

[Mydogsawestie]

Sorry, Employment and Support Allowance - which took over from the messy income support/incapacity benefit claims for new claimants recently.

 

Ok thanks again

[KPRHERO]

I wanted to say something, but it seems its all answered