Will I be eligible for Job Seeker's allowance?

[PrettyUnhappy]

I registered for JSA less than a month ago and I was due to have my first interview to establish my eligibility shortly after. I then got a job and I cancelled the interview. Unfortunately, afer only a week I have been told by my line manager that my conduct and performance are not satisfactory, which is likely to be treated as gross misconduct. Their have had an offish attitude towards me since the start. They gave me minimal training and they set me tasks I was bound to fail due to me being there for a week only. They keep teling me I am always making mistakes. I double check my work and I am pretty sure I am being set up. I want to leave before they start making even more serious allegations. They are a big and successful company and I feel powerless against them. I suspect that they are not happy with the references they received from my previous employer. I left my previous job with a compromise agreement because I was harassed by one of the managers. I agreed a reference with them, but they use a subject access prevention clause when they sent it to employers so I do not have access to what they actually write.
Before this last job I had been unemployed for 14 months. I got hundreds of rejections. Can someone help and tell me what my options are? I feel helpless.Thank you.

[mike11111]

"Gross misconduct" strikes me as a catch-all phrase when they can't get you for anything else. Obviously walking off with the day's takings or pouring coffee over the MD's head whilst telling him what an utter ****** he was would be classified as such by any reasonable person, but some firms treat the most trivial thing as "gross misconduct".

This reminds me of my time in the RAF when, if they couldn't get you for anything else they would use section 69 of the Air Force Act 1955, "...conduct prejudicial to good order and Air Force discipline". What constituted such conduct was at the whim of the officer hearing the charge. If any airman was unlucky enough to lose his wallet containing his ID card he was automatically charged with, "...losing by neglect RAF Form 1250, conduct prejudicial to good order and Air Force discipline". If I remember rightly the standard penalty was a fine of 10/-, which covered the cost of the replacement.

[THECORBYLOON]

Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) can be sanctioned (stopped) for up to twenty-six weeks if employment ended because of misconduct or the person left voluntarily without just cause. If someone leaves voluntarily because they genuinely believed the employer was about to dismiss them OR if given the choice to resign or be dismissed, they have NOT left voluntarily and misconduct has to be considered.

You may have behaved in a way that would lead a reasonable employer to sack you but that does not mean automatically that it’s misconduct. The person making the decision about a possible sanction (the Decision Maker or DM) has to look at the evidence AND give you the chance to comment before imposing a sanction.

If the employer says it was because the performance was not up to scratch, the DM would normally ask the employer about what the job involved and whether the actions or omissions were within your control (ie deliberate) or outwith your control due to a lack of ability. If the poor performance was within your control, that is misconduct. The DM would contact you so that you can give your side of the story and the DM may need to make further enquiries following your reply. The DM will then impose a sanction (if applicable) based on all the evidence