Jobseekers Agreement and MPPI - don't want JSA!

[bradfordlad]

Hi everyone,

 

my good lady wife is to be made redundant at the end of the month.

 

We have MPPI and the only condition of claiming is that she has to have an active jobseekers agreement.

 

My cousin has just started claiming JSA, and they're already sending her on a 5 day 9-5 training course.

 

The wife is paranoid that they are going to send her on these courses to teach her how to do joined up writing, send emails or whatever, but if she doesn't claim JSA will she still be sent on them? We'd be happy to just have the MPPI coming in as it's the equivalent of what she's be earning so we're no worse off.

 

Secondly, she currently works part-time due to childcare commitments - will they be ok with her only looking for part-time jobs that match her current hours within reason?

 

Thirdly, if she does eventually have to go on one of these courses, how does it work around childcare requirement? Our 5 year old won't be able to make his own way home from school!

 

Obviously I work full time so I'm out of the equation.

 

Apologies if I've missed anything obvious - and if this has been asked before just point me in the right direction. I've searched the forum till I'm blue in the face I cant see this has been asked before.

 

Cheers all

 

BL

[Lapsed Workaholic]

Not sure what MPPI is B lad. Perhaps if we could find the rules and regulations covering it we could find out the dos and don'ts about it

[Mr.P]

Not sure what MPPI is

 

Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance.

 

bradfordlad: As your wife has care responsibilities for your children, she can limit the hours she is available for work - If any of them are under the age of five, a different set of rules kick in (others should be able to advise on this). The child care responsibilities would have to be taken in to account if the JCP were to send her on any of these (pointless) "courses". If they try, challenge it on the grounds that it is inappropriate for her needs.

 

Depending on your level of income, she might not be entitled to JSA. Call the claims line over the next couple of days - This gives them time to process the claim and come to a decision even although she isn't officially unemployed yet.

[bradfordlad]

Thank Mr P, very helpful post!

 

Youngest has just turned 5, but even so we're about to hit the school holidays so right now she's hoping she can get through the school hols just signing on every couple of weeks.

 

Just asked her for more specific dates, and she expects to be formally informed on 1th July, but they have to give her 3 weeks notice so she'll be "out of work" from 8th August.

 

When school starts in September, we'll have the 5 year to be dropped off at 8.45 and picked up from school at 3.15, and the eldest will be starting year 7 at high school so will need dropping at about 8.30 and collecting at around 4pm. In effect, this rules out afternoons.

 

Interesting point about the course being potentially "inappropriate for her needs" - I've seen people here saying they've got a degree in IT but have had to go on courses telling them how to send an email etc!! I know a lot of people say they find it insulting or whatever, and I'm sure the courses are helpful for some people, but her career is in a very specific industry (facilities management) and she's worked at the highest level so that type of thing would be pointless.

 

On my main question, is it possible to get her form stamped for the mortgage insurance by the JCP, but not have to justify her every movement, if she says she doesn't want to claim JSA?

 

The irony is she is on the shortlist (2 people) for a job that starts in early September, which will fit the hours etc, so all this may be unecessary - best to be prepared though.

 

I'm self employed Mr P, so my income will be irrelevant (quite literally!!)

 

Thanks for the tip about calling early - I presumed she'd have to wait until she was actually unemployed.

 

Cheers

 

BL

[Mr.P]

The last time I was made redundant, I filed a claim with the JCP while I was working my final week of notice - It is not an unusual situation, so unless things have changed of late, the JCP/DWP should still be able to accept a claim. It is also possible to file a claim on line: https://www.dwpe-services.direct.gov.uk/portal/page/portal/jsaol/lp

 

Admittedly, the only time I came across these (pointless) courses was through a W2W provider - After suggesting that some of the staff should do the basic maths and english courses, the subject was never raised again . Or it might have been the fact I would sit at their desk, red pen in hand, correcting the spelling & punctuation mistakes in "adviser" reports or informing them of the poor grammar.

 

The best of luck for your wife. Hope she gets the new job and avoids having to suffer the current JCP regime.

[antone]

It's not possible to have the JCP stamp an MPPI claim form without claiming a benefit - JSA in your wife's case. If she needs a Jobseekers Agreement in place then she will need to make a full claim to JSA and jump through whatever hoops are presented to her, noting, of course, Mr P's point about anything she's asked to do being "reasonable in her circumstances". For the first few months of a claim, things tend not to be so difficult. The daft demands are reserved for those who claim for longer periods.

 

If she's worked full time for most or all of the tax years 2011/12 and 2012/13 then she may be entitled to up to 26 weeks of contribution based JSA regardless of your income or any savings you may have. But I stress again: there is no way to get JCP to stamp this form without her making a full claim to JSA.

[bradfordlad]

Thanks Antone, a very concise answer!

 

I guess the next question is going to be "what's reasonable?" - the plans we'd made for the school holidays were as follows (she only works/worked 3 days a week):

3 weeks holiday allowance taken for the first 3 weeks of school hols, then childcare in place for 3 days a week to cover when she returned to work.

From September,the kids were to go back to 3 days breakfast & afterschool clubs. Obviously thats likely to be a luxury we can't afford now, so she'll have to be responsible for 5 days a week of dropping off & collecting after school which only leaves her "available" from 9am - 3pm (not allowing for travelling time).

 

Thanks again all

 

PS - another thought just occured. Her employer is prepared to reduce her notice period to 3 weeks instead of 4. For various reasons this would help us out, BUT.... it would mean her redundancy takes effect half way through our camping trip to Cornwall. Is the fact that she wouldn't be able to visit the JCP for a week going to cause her problems when she gets there? Presumably, it just means she isn't eligible to claim JSA until she officially is available for work - ie when we get home?

Cheers

Edited July 12, 2014 by bradfordlad
answere my own question!

[antone]

Thanks Antone, a very concise answer!

 

I guess the next question is going to be "what's reasonable?" - the plans we'd made for the school holidays were as follows (she only works/worked 3 days a week):

3 weeks holiday allowance taken for the first 3 weeks of school hols, then childcare in place for 3 days a week to cover when she returned to work.

From September,the kids were to go back to 3 days breakfast & afterschool clubs. Obviously thats likely to be a luxury we can't afford now, so she'll have to be responsible for 5 days a week of dropping off & collecting after school which only leaves her "available" from 9am - 3pm (not allowing for travelling time).

 

Thanks again all

 

PS - another thought just occured. Her employer is prepared to reduce her notice period to 3 weeks instead of 4. For various reasons this would help us out, BUT.... it would mean her redundancy takes effect half way through our camping trip to Cornwall. Is the fact that she wouldn't be able to visit the JCP for a week going to cause her problems when she gets there? Presumably, it just means she isn't eligible to claim JSA until she officially is available for work - ie when we get home?

Cheers

 

Well, childcare responsibilities should always be taken into account when a Jobseeker's Agreement (JSAg) is drawn up. If your wife and the adviser can't agree on what's reasonable, it would be passed to a Decision Maker adjudicate.

 

There shouldn't be a problem if she has to wait a week or so after redundancy to claim. Since she'll be on holiday, she isn't really "available for and actively seeking" work during that time anyway.

[bradfordlad]

Thanks for the advice Antone - useful again!

 

We've received the claim form from the mppi and as suspected it states that the claim will begin when your notice period ends or you register with DWP whichever is later.

 

We tried to register the claim with JCP online as suggested by Mr.P above, but it said that by completing the details, we were registering the claim and she had to be ready & available to go in to see the adviser possibly even the same day! Obviously as she's still at work we knocked it on the head straight away, but.....is this correct? I thought you could register in advance?

 

So - plan of action is to register online the day we get back from holiday, which is day 1 of unemployment and it will be day 1 for the insurance claim too.

 

NOW - another question if I may.....

 

The Mrs has/had a decent job, she was on £16k a year for 20hrs a week. Obviously this is the level of income our household runs on, so this is the sort of salary she need from a new job. In other people's experience, is there likely to come a time when JCP say she needs to lower her salary expectations and take ANY job and if so, how long is it likely to be before the start to put pressure on her to do so?

 

Thanks in advance (again!)

 

How long before same wage hours inst inportant

[antone]

The rule used to be that you could restrict your jobsearch to your "normal" occupation for 13 weeks. After that you would be expected to seek and accept anything that would fit in with your agreed hours/distance from home requirements as set out in the JSAg, provided it was more than 16 hours per week and paid at least NMW.

 

I think that is still the case, but others with more recent experience may correct me.

 

As to claiming in advance, again, that used to be possible but maybe not online. A call to the new claim line wouldn't hurt - she can always refuse to give personal information and pose the question as a "general enquiry" if she prefers.