Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

annie123 thanks for that you have set my mind at rest.

Annie56,

Thanks for that, the jokes made me laugh. In defence of the OH, he said it in a loving way as he was giving me a welcome hug. It doesn't help that he's lean and muscular with the work he does (army), and I'm small and cuddly

However, he did marry me when I was much bigger than I am now, and I know he loves me for me; I don't want to get too big either, so I will eventually go back (when this placement is over and done with. No honestly, I will....promise.....)

T xx

grandma247 wrote: »

I have a question for those who work/worked in the jobcentre. My brother has just told me he had to sign off and has to sign on again after he comes back from a weeks holiday which was booked and paid for long before he was made redundant. Is this right? I thought you could take a short holiday without problems. Also I thought if you signed off you could not sign on again for six months.

As Annie said, if you go abroad then you need to sign off and then make a rapid reclaim when you come back (there is an exception if you go abroad for a job interview).

It is possible to fill in a form and take a UK holiday while claiming without stopping your claim. This would allow you to skip the signing appointment that happens during that holiday as they give you an exemption in writing. I think you are limited to two weeks a year & you have to meet certain criteria such as being willing to break off your holiday to start work/attend an interview.

The job centre should have more information. If it was UK and they told him he had to sign off then it would possibly depend on what he told them about his availability for work during the holiday but there is also a possibility that the person he spoke to wasn't aware that there is the possibility to take permitted UK holidays (it's also possible that they've changed this since I've been off work!)

If in doubt he should check with one of the managers at his local jobcentre as he may be able to put in a back-claim for the time he was on holiday if he was still looking for work during that time (and can list three activities a week that he undertook while he was away, he's unlikely to get the back-claim passed without that). If he does do that it would also be worth writing in to the jobcentre and explaining that he was misinformed and asking for his claim to be linked up, since there are certain benefits that only kick in after six months of unbroken claim - such as a back to work job grant of £100 that you get when you start a job and sign off. Even being docked one day for missing an appointment will void your entitlement to that unless you had six months clear of claiming between then and when you signed off.

Also, there is no time limit when it comes to signing on and off. We get temporary workers signing off for a week and signing back on again, etc.

Kitcaboodle wrote: »

Also, there is no time limit when it comes to signing on and off. We get temporary workers signing off for a week and signing back on again, etc.

Does this apply to contrib based JSA as well? DH was made redundant twice last year. The 2nd time he signed on for 3 months and received contrib based JSA. Got a contract that lasted for 5 months - and was told when he finished that he couldn't sign back on for contrib based JSA within 6 months..

Thank you for everyone's supportive posts earlier - made me cry actually, but the support was lovely, thank you

The letter was for an appt for this coming Wednesday to attend a Pathways To Work interview, which my daughter has to attend. It's madness...the whole system is madness. There should be some concession when dealing with people with a mental illness - how can an outsider, untrained in mental illness, decide whether my daughter is fit for work or not?

She can't keep awake or get out of bed a lot of days, and when she is up, she's either on a massive low where she doesn't speak or has a uncontrollable anger where she wants to rip everyone's head off, so how is she supposed to work?

Anyway - it's got nothing to do with OS, and I'm waaay OT, so I'll stop there.

I just really wanted to come on to say thanks x