Jobseekers doubt

[Ubiquitious]

Good evening.

 

Today I received a letter from the jobcentre that they think I may have left my job voluntaraly. The letter states that until they make a decision they will continue to pay me.

 

I have been signing on and received a seperate letter that I am entitled to contribution based JSA.

 

I left my previous job as I had an offer of employment else where. Unfortunately the new job fell through as it turned out I had only been driving 6 months and the new company could not get insurance for a company car (the perfect job fell through!) and therefore could not employ me.

 

The company I was with (a small company) did inform me prior to this that due to a decrease in work load I would soon be made redundant unless things changed (which prompted me to look for a new job).

 

Unfortunately after I left to take my new position they could not give me my old job back.

 

I have spoken to my previous employers and they will confirm if asked by the jobcentre that in all liklihood I would have been made redundant.

 

The job fell through in January. I claimed JSA in March (if that makes any difference).

 

What happens next and what investigations will the JC make? Will they ask me to fill out a form or speak to my previous employer? (I filled out a form stating the above story at my first meeting)

 

If I am found to have left my job voluntarily what are the sanctions they will impose?

 

How long will this all take?

 

Will this affect my housing and council tax benefit?

 

They have paid me for 10 days and on the phone after signing on today have stated that the usual £130 will be sent for payment today. If I am sanctioned will they attempt to claw this back?

 

Thanks for any help.

[Nystagmite]

A sanction can be up to 26 weeks.

[Ubiquitious]

When would that sanction apply? From when I signed on, now or when I left my job?

 

Would 26 weeks be the usual sanction for voluntarily leaving a job?

 

6 months seems harsh!

[id6052]

sanctions are not backdated, so they will not take back what they have already paid, they will withhold payment from the point the sanction has applied, so if they decided today to apply a 4 week sanction, it means they will not pay you for the next 4 weeks

 

in relation to hb/ctb, these will not be withheld, just ensure you let the council know about the sanction so they can update your details

[Nystagmite]

How long the sanction is (if there is one) depends on the situation. Not everyone who left voluntarily will get sanctioned.

[Ubiquitious]

How long does it take for them to decide this sort of sanction?

 

I am finding this difficult and I only got the letter today!

[flumps1976]

There is no time limit on how long the decision can take to be made.

The decision making team may decide from the ES84JP form you completed that they have sufficent information to make a decision or if there any further enquiures they will write to you for further information.

If a sanction is applied to your claim it can be anything from a 2 weeks period to a 26 week period.

[Ubiquitious]

I hope not. Although I stated as said above on that form I did fill it in briefly and did not provide supporting evidence (such as job offer) as I did not have it on me at the time (I was told to only bring CV, P45 and ID)! I did ask the person whom I was having the interview with and they said it should not matter. Now this letter.

 

Grrr.

 

I did like my 25k a year job and had no urge to live on pretty much nothing. Would that not be odvious to the decision team?

[flumps1976]

I am not a decision maker but I do refer cases to the DM team for all types of cases, this is a standard procedure and the letter your received is to advise you that your case has been referred.

When you made the claim the contact centre do not have any part in their script that covers information you may need to provide regarding thr reasons whjy previous employment ended.

I am not able to indicate what decision is likely and only the DM will know when they receive your referral and start to mae a determination on your claim.

If you are sanctioned you have the right to request a reconsideration and claiom hardship whilst waiting for the reconsideration outcome decision.

[hennessy13]

You must have a case or your claim would not have been accepted. If you leave a job voluntarily you have no entitlement to JSA. Never mind sanctions, you cannot claim at all.

Same is true if you are dismissed for gross misconduct. In short, gettting sacked or leaving work means no benefit entitlement at all.

 

If I'm wrong here, someone please correct me (flumps?).

[ErikaPNP]

You must have a case or your claim would not have been accepted. If you leave a job voluntarily you have no entitlement to JSA. Never mind sanctions, you cannot claim at all.

Same is true if you are dismissed for gross misconduct. In short, gettting sacked or leaving work means no benefit entitlement at all.

 

If I'm wrong here, someone please correct me (flumps?).

 

It is wrong, I'm afraid - but it's a common misunderstanding. People who leave work voluntarily are able to claim JSA and if any claim is refused on this basis, it should be challenged. The consideration of a sanction will look at the reasons why the person left and decide whether JSA should be sanctioned (non payment of benefit) for a period of time. If it is decided that the person left without good cause, a sanction will be applied. If it is decided that they left with good cause, a sanction will not be applied. During the course of a sanction the jobseeker is still expected to adhere to the JSAg but will not receive any monetary benefit until the sanction period has expired.

[hennessy13]

Good to know. Thanks for clearing that one up, Erika.

[ErikaPNP]

Yep, it's what a lot of people think. There's a lot of people I've dealt with in this situation who come to me destitute and I ask them if they have claimed JSA, the response is: "My mate/brother/cousin/woman at the council (delete as appliable!) told me I wouldn't get it because I left my job of my own accord". The other one I frequently hear is people who come to me for help appealing a sanction because they left their employment over 6 months ago and feel that the sanction shouldn't be applied. They have normally been misadvised that leaving volunatarily means that cannot get JSA for six months. They are confusing this with the maximum period of a sanction (26 weeks which is approx 6 months). A sanction cannot be applied until after JSA is claimed and is applicable from the date of the decision, not from when a person left employment.

[Guest jsa12]

they wont claw the money back,stress is one reason they have to take into account in leaving a job if you are sanctioned you should always appeal against this,the adjudication process should always be scrutinised closely as they will try and withhold as much as they can about their decisions and let you see the minimum indeed when i encountered this the decision maker was on the phone advising the "customer service" adviser to let me see only certain sections' and the only response i received was "bet you wont do that again" while in conversation with the "decision maker", however when the truth finally emerged perhaps inadvertently the decision maker decided to make up her own version of advents ignored the evidence in my doctors letter, stated inaccuracies.needless to say the "decision" was quickly reversed before an appeal date was set.

 

as you are a victim of circumstance it would be hard to see why you would be sanctioned but given the peculiar situations that can arise nothing can be discounted

[Ubiquitious]

So lets say for instance they applied a 6month sanction?

 

I would be loathed to attend the biweekly sign ons for 6 months for nothing.

 

Lets say I appealed and the sanction stood. What would happen if I stopped attending?

 

Still have not heard anything. Another thing, my father is gifting me very generously £500 a month to help out. This is an informal arrangement from his personal account to mine. Should I declare this? The council picked up on it with my claim from them but a letter from my dad to them stating it was a gift was sufficient.

 

I do not think there was any field in my original application covering gifts like this. I guess this might only matter if I required income based JSA?

 

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

I have an interview next week. Hopefully I will get that job and all this will no longer be a concern!

[Nystagmite]

If you didn't attend and didn'r have good reason, they'd just stop your claim.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Nystagmite

[Guest jsa12]

its very important to sign when appealing as this confirms any award made at an appeal,i didn't catch that about your fathers offer ,if there is a sanction you can depending on any savings and as you may have no means is to apply for hardship payments this will still allow any council tax benefits free prescriptions and dental care these costs soon mount and when these are lost you need good money to cover them.

 

its very important that you do appeal stand firm as none of this fluke circumstance is your doing everyone has changed jobs at some point there's nothing wrong with that,does it mean if i left a permanent job (name only these days') and took a temporary and was laid off and its happened i would lose benefits of course not.