JSA being suspended

jane45 · 29 November 2007 at 5:38PM

Hi

My son who is 19 is claiming JSA he has only been to sign on twice. The last time he went as he hadnt written down that he had been looking for work they have suspended his claim and it has now gone to appeal. He has a few problems and is not that clued up when filling in forms etc. He had been to two different institutions about getting onto courses for a trade ie carpet fitting. He also rang a couple of numbers out of the local newspaper. He lives in a council flat. How do they think that he will manage with no money. I will help him out but they dont know that and I dread to think what would happen if he didnt have us. Anyone had similar and what was the outcome and how long did it take.

Thanks

healy · 29 November 2007 at 5:56PM

It may take a few months for your sons appeal to be heard, but in the meantime he can claim hardship payments from the Job Centre which are reduced payments of JSA, usually by 40%.

Gillianh2 · 29 November 2007 at 6:08PM

If your son has problems with understanding and filling in forms. This should be brought to the attention of the J C staff. You should also tell the appeal panel as well.
It seems a littl harsh to me to suspend his payments because he mistakenly omitted something from his form. Why didnt they point this out to him and just ask him to provide proof that he had been seeking employment.:rolleyes: Sheer madness but I guess it helps to keep the unemployment figures down:D
Make an appt at JC and go along with your Son as he will get the reduced rate but be sure to point out his difficulties with understanding the forms and questions.
Hope you get this sorted/

ukdickie31 · 29 November 2007 at 7:38PM

Although it doesn't help, and may not be the answer you are looking for,,,,, when a Jobseeker signs on, they are making a declaration confirming they are a Jobseeker and actively seeking work.

Part of the benefit conditionality is to provide evidence of Jobsearch activity.

The JC were correct in referring the case to a decision maker to decide whether or not your son was actively seeking work for the 2 week period that he was signing on for.

The JC do not make the decision about actively seeking work, but they do have to suspend the claim pending a decision maker making the decision.

The decision making process initially may take a couple of weeks. Once a decision is made, the first 'appeal' is actually a reconsideration request. This reconsideration is normally quite quick and can sometimes be done in a matter of days.

One a reconsideration has been considered, if the decision is still to disallow benefit, then an appeal has to be made if the decision is to be challenged further.

The appeal does take several weeks / months and it is important that your son continues to sign on in this time or the claim will close.

EDIT to add

Hardship cannot normally be considered for the first 14 days of a suspension / sanction / disallowance although there are some special circumstances where they can be considered. A JSA10 form is needed to apply for hardship and the JC should be able to book the appointment. A benefits decision maker will make this decision. The decision maker will not be JC staff and is normally made by a centralised section based outside of the Jobcentre.

jane45 · 3 December 2007 at 3:52PM

ukdickie31, thanks for your reply. It sounds like you have a good deal of knowledge. My son went down to the job centre today to ask about the hardship payments. He has just rang me to say that his claim has been disallowed for those two weeks. He now needs to start a new claim if he wishes to sign on! I find it quite hard to believe especially as the original claim took quite a long time to come through. Any thoughts?

Jane

JSA being suspended

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