Job Seeking Allowance

[FlickStar]

I have just been made redundant after 19 years - thankfully I have an insurance policy which helps as I have a baby due in 7 weeks. I have to sign on to trigger the insurance policy but I have some concerns and would like some unbiased help, if possible:

> I understand that I need to get a job ASAP, and I probably wont get near the wage I was on; however, due to my experience and how much salary I will need to cover bills/dependant/wife on maternity leave - I know I wont be able to accept just any job that I am offered by the job centre- and just wondered where I stood in this - as I need to regularly sign on to receive my insurance money.

I have worked my whole adult life, and intend on going back to work ASAP - but know there are some constraints as I don't want to be worse off.

Basically - it seems pointless to take a job that would pay me less than my insurance money as I would then be worse off.

I accept that a job I will take will be a wage cut anyway - which I am willing to do -- but basically, if I am a qualified IT consultant I dont want to be taking up a job in a supermarket?! (example)

How would this work? Can I be made to take a min wage job, even though it would be unsuitable compared to previous experience/wage?

thank you

[pixie373]

I imagine they will deduct your insurance money from any JSA anyway. So i would suggest you sign on to get the insurance released. Once you get to a point you'll actually be receiving money, you'll either need it- or have found something else anyway.

[ummmm]

You have to prove you are actively looking for work so apply for jobs in your field or as close to you field as you can.

[Buenchico]

When you fill in the paperwork you'll be asked the minimum rate for which you'd be prepared to work. As long as it's not ridiculously outrageous (e.g. £10,000 p.h.) it's likely that you won't be challenged about it initially.

You'll then be required to prove that you've been actively seeking and applying for jobs. You're strongly encouraged to use the online system provided by JobCentre Plus (which involves setting up a Government Gateway account) and to accept the option to have all of your search and application details forwarded to JobCentre Plus (so they can see what you've been doing). In many cases you've no other choice than to use the online system anyway because the application details for those jobs are only available to view when you're logged in online.

If, say, you state that you're looking for work paying a minimum of £12 per hour AND you can prove that you've been finding lots of jobs advertised at that rate or higher (and, of course, that you've been applying for all of them) then you probably won't find that your minimum pay requirement is challenged (at least in the short term).

However if you keep saying that you've not applied for many jobs because you couldn't find anything suitable, you'll be expected to widen the fields for which you're applying AND to reduce the amount that you say you'll work for. Then, if you're still not applying for several jobs each week, you'll be specifically asked if you'll work for the minimum wage, with the obvious risk of losing your JSA if you say no.

[Buenchico]

>>>I imagine they will deduct your insurance money from any JSA anyway

Contribution-Based JSA (which is what FlickStar will receive because he's been paying employee's National Insurance contributions for many years) isn't means-tested. That lasts for up to 6 months. If he's still unemployed at that stage he could be considered for Income-Based JSA but that is means-tested, so any income (including that of a partner) and savings would be taken into account, possibly resulting in the loss of some, or all, of that benefit.

[factor-fiction]

I'm not sure what you mean by "a job that would pay me less than my insurance money". Is the insurance money a one-off payment or a weekly/monthly sum for a period. If it's a regular sum then for once I'm not sure I'd agree with Buenchico- JSA isn't means tested but is reduced/not paid if you have other income coming in. I know mine was reduced slightly because I had a very small monthly income (about £15 a month) from a very tiny pension

[FlickStar]

Hi
The insurance is a monthly payment. This is a policy I have paid for a number of years and is to substitute my lost income.
I'm not really bothered about actually claiming jsa money - happy for them to means test it and reduce accordingly as I have the monthly insurance - but to get the monthly insurance payment I have to sign in - so this is more of a paper exercise rather than me trying to claim any benefits.
Hope that makes sense.

[themas]

You do need to be careful. So far as JC+ are concerned it is not a paper exercise. If you don't carry out the tasks in your job seekers agreement then you will be sanctioned - i.e. your JSA will be stopped for a period. It might be - depending on the details of your insurance policy - that that could lead to your insurance payments also being stopped.

[THECORBYLOON]

If JSA claimants are not actively seeking employment (ASE) the benefit will not be sanctioned, it will be disallowed and THEN be followed by a sanction of up to thirteen weeks. The difference is that a sanction removes payability but not entitlement
.

[FlickStar]

Thanks all.
Just to give an update - app at JS went well and they were really helpful. They pay for 13 weeks regardless of the insurance money because NI had beenpaid for X amount ofyears, and give 13 weeks to look for a job in the same salary bracket as previous, after that, if still no job then that's when you start looking for something a little less - just in case anyone else finds this info useful too.