claimimg benefits when been dismissed?

[adam246]

i recently got the sack from work so decided to claim for JSA as i have no other income now, which i have done for a month or so.

 

but got a letter from job centre today saying my JSA could be stopped due to 'arising doubts how my employment finished' and i will be notified when a decision has been made.

 

i have been open with job centre and told i had been sacked and not during the application processs or my intervieqw with them did they mention that there could be an issue with claiming JSA if been sacked!!

 

i have a wife and 1 yr old child to support and my wife is not working too...so if they decide to not give the JSA how will i survive as our income without this is ABSOLUTELY ZERO!!

 

so my qusetion is what will happen with my jsa claim and what am i entitled to??

 

Thanks

[ErikaPNP]

They can sanction a benefit claim where employment has been terminated either by the employee or the employer - for up to 26 weeks, in some circumstances. It's not the Jobcentre who make this decision, it is the centre which processes your benefit, and they are writing to let you know of this possibility.

 

A sanction means that your benefit payments are stopped for a period of time but you still sign on and have to satisfy the conditions of entitlement as you are still in effect claiming.

 

If they sanction your benefit you will have the opportunity to appeal the decision.

 

In the meantime you should speak to Tax Credit in regard to money for your children - as JSA does not include an element for children anymore since child tax credit replaced this. You can ring tax credit on 0845 300 3900 to discuss.

 

Despite this, as you have children you can apply for hardship payments from the DWP if your claim is sanctioned. You'll have to be able to say why you are suffering hardship. This is usually a 40% reduction in your benefit money (or 20% reduction if your partner is pregnant or there is serious illness in your family)

 

 

You can find more about this type of sanction here - you are looking for para 34060 onwards.

[privatehudson]

The reason why they wouldn't tell you about an issue with claiming JSA if you'd been sacked is because each case is different and has to be looked into.

 

The staff who took the claim over the phone (assuming you used this route) are not trained in decision making or processing so cannot tell you at that stage whether your claim will be affected by being sacked. Their role is simply to gather information, and at that first stage there is little space to explain more than the basic reason your job came to an end. As I understand it you should have been given the chance to explain in more depth why the job ended (or perhaps soon will be) and this will be checked by contacting the employer to see their side of things.

It is therefore difficult to answer your last question without knowing the circumstances of how you were sacked and/or whether the employer is likely to dispute the reason you gave. It is similar to why there is no absolute rule regarding people who resign from their last job. The department cannot simply assume that you were fired by your employer without them having good cause.

 

As to how you would survive without Jobseekers you mention having a child, have you applied for Tax Credits?

 

Edit: Ah, I see that Erika has already covered what I was saying above and more.

Edited January 14, 2010 by privatehudson