Claiming IS when on JSA

[konark]

A friend of mine.. no , really,... who is currently on JSA believes they are entitled to IS. However whenever they ring the number to make a new claim for IS they are told they need to end their claim for JSA before the claim for IS can even be made. Obviously the problem is that at best, they are going to be without money for several weeks while the claim is processed, at worst their claim for IS will be disallowed and they will lose their JSA and have to reclaim it.

I was in the same boat a couple of years ago and I can't remember having to close down the JSA claim, the IS just started and they automatically closed the JSA claim, it's all part of the DWP anyway.

 

Is my friend being correctly advised?

[Madamfluff]

A friend of mine.. no , really,... who is currently on JSA believes they are entitled to IS. However whenever they ring the number to make a new claim for IS they are told they need to end their claim for JSA before the claim for IS can even be made. Obviously the problem is that at best, they are going to be without money for several weeks while the claim is processed, at worst their claim for IS will be disallowed and they will lose their JSA and have to reclaim it.

I was in the same boat a couple of years ago and I can't remember having to close down the JSA claim, the IS just started and they automatically closed the JSA claim, it's all part of the DWP anyway.

 

Is my friend being correctly advised?

 

 

sorry wrongly answered

[Nystagmite]

You can't claim both IS and JSA at the same time.

 

You close your claim for JSA the day before you claim IS.

[konark]

Thanks Nystagimte , yes obviously you can't be paid both at the same time but until the IS claim is allowed and processed you aren't actually claiming.

 

Also it means that anyone applying for IS has to be 100% certain that they are eligible, and the staff on the helplines seem to have a rather sketchy idea of what the exact criteria are.

[Nystagmite]

IS is for people who don't have to be actively seeking work who aren't sick. That is, people who are lone parents where the youngest child is under 5, are carers or are in full time non-advanced education and are estranged from their parents.

[konark]

It is possible someone on JSA may become entitled to IS, as I did a few years ago when I was carer for my elderly mother. I can't remember being told to sign off before I put the IS claim in , particularly as it was initially rejected because my mother's AA hadn't been processed.

 

Nistagmite, the categories you mention are not exclusive, there are, according to web sites , several more uncommon situations in which you can claim IS.