getting off signing on jsa - hard time

chiefs · 4 November 2004 at 2:04PM

we have encountered a major problem
my wife came into uk from canada in 2000
never made a claim at the time its only recently we made a claim, joint, so we both have to sign on, now she doesnt wana sign on, cos shes not looking for work as she is expecting, now the problem is that the benefit office requires a very good reason for her to sign off, i tolf them we dont need your money, they say not good enough reason, cos if she signed off without a good reason, then it affects my claim,

by the way what if i hand her card in and say she started work and wana stop signing??
can someone advise further

thanks

Fran · 4 November 2004 at 4:06PM

If you say she has started work what are you going to live on?

I believe that when you are a certain amount pregnant you don't have to sign on. You could check with your local citizens advice bureau, which can be found at Citizens Advice website. They will also be able to tell you about maternity entitlements.

You mention what your views are and that you have told the benefit office things, what about your wife's views, are they the same?

I don't understand what you mean by "never made a claim at the time" - what have you been living on?

Emid_3 · 12 December 2006 at 5:50AM

Hi Chiefs

Fran is right - at 29weeks pregnant your wife will be able to stop claiming JSA & start claiming Income Support instead. To do this she would have to provide the jobcentre with a 'MAT B1' certificate, which pregnant women are given by their midwives after 24 weeks of pregnancy. This will make her exempt from signing until your baby is 3 months old (when you would need to claim JSA again).

If you do decide to continue with your joint JSA claim, your wife is unlikely to get a lot of hassle in regard to finding work - legally you have to declare to an employer that you are pregnant after 12weeks, and although it's illegal to discriminate because of this, most employers do as it makes no sense to employ somebody who won't be around in 6 months time. My personal experience was that as soon as I told jobcentre signing-on staff of my situation, & stated I never got replies as I'd had to say I was pregnant, they backed off immediately & didn't ask any more questions.

In regard to the IS claim, I'm not sure if she could claim IS on behalf of you both - I suspect she could, which would make you both exempt from signing for at least 6 months. Check with the jobcentre on this one.

By the way - you could always tell Jobcentre that your wife is a full time student, & she could be exempted from signing that way (it doesn't affect the amount of benefits you receive). You may be asked to fill out forms / provide Learning Agreements at a later date in regard to this though, so be careful.
Good luck
Emily.

Nile · 12 December 2006 at 8:46AM

Hello Emid

Your post may help others in a similar situation but as the thread was started in November 2004, it's a bit late for him and his wife.;)

getting off signing on jsa - hard time

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