Jobseekers Allowance Refused If You've Been Doing Seasonal Work

Savvy_Sue

There you are, CIS 'knows', all I knew was that it was darn complicated!

CIS

Its too dammed complicated# Iam used to dealing with state pensions and that can get fairly obscure and complicated, but the JSA quailfying conditions are just stupid.

They need to either stick to 'benefits years' or 'tax years'. Its no wonder people dont understand the rules.

amber1818

Hi again...thanks CIS, like you say, prob wont work with being seasonal...worth knowing tho. Bit of an update today, got call from Job center, been some sort of u turn and they making interim payments whatever that might mean, have to go in on Monday and fill more forms out. Bitof an interesting fact tho, i heard that they are basing these 'averages' not on this years wages but the previous year...still doesnt make sense tho. Will let you know what happens, thanks all for being there...xx...ohhh, forgot, i've been writing to national press about it too so will see if anythings printed

royalsteve

amber1818 wrote:

Can anyone give me any advice please..I live in holiday town where there is very little permanant employment and there are alot of people who,like myself, in the the attempt to get off benefits..ie job seekers alowance..take on seasonal work which usualy lasts from March to Oct. This isnt because we dont want to work all year, its a case of working when you can. I was finished from my job at the end of Oct and now very worried and upset to find that I am not allowed and benefits purely because I've done seasonal work. It seems theres a new legislation out. Seasonal woerkers are supposed to 'save up' during the summer to last through winter.If your total hours of working for 7 months or so are divided by 52 weeks come to more than 16 hrs a week you cannot claim anything. I only worked part time (24-28) and mine averaged out to something like 18...how can you be expected to save up on part time work? No one was aware of this situation until they went to the jobcenter.Apparently we cant claim anything else so where do we get money from to buy food and pay gas/elec and general household bills. What makes matters worse is the fact that theres people that have been signing on all summer, no intention of finding work and blagging the way out of it and they can still sign on and get their money as normal. It seems we are being penalised for going out to work when there is some available. I am a respectable middle aged single woman who is willing to work and now at my wits end with worry. My MP is aware of the problem but that doesnt put food on the table....has anyone come across this before and can anyone give me some advice...thanks

All this Dumbarse governments fault....i presume Mr Brown's fault.....so clever? more like so stupid....making a simple thing so complicated that not even qualified accountants fully understand it! nor do his dimwitted civil servants for that matter

There are 2 types of Jobseekers allowance....contributions based and income based.....check on the jobcentre website...apply for one and you'll get the other...well in my first and hopefully only experience of claiming benefits

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/497#cbjsa

unfortunately in my single experience it doesnt matter which boxes you tick as the idiots who process the forms ignore what you ask for...as a result im owed £125.....I gave up in the end...how many times can you explain to an Amoeba...maybe when my tax bill comes through theyll take it off that!!...fat chance!

Not only that it took these muppets ages to work out (incorrectly) much i should get.....in fact I took a 6 week holiday, looked for a job and started and they STILL hadnt sorted it.....oh no....it took THREE MONTHS and it was still wrong.....in that time, i had started up a consultancy and helped build a telecoms company......

at one point I thought maybe my 4 year old son could help them out but he was too advanced for them!

I pity any genuine person who has to rely on this shambolic organisation for their money.

CIS

If your seasonal and they dont't know what you'll work this year, then I presume the figure that they use would be last years, either january 04/05 or april 04/05 .

For once this makes sense, rather than taking a wild guess they're using actual figures.

amber1818

It does make sense in a way although the whole syatem of making ppl suffer for working when they can still sucks, especially when no one knew about it. How were you spose to know 2 years ago that u were spose to save, if they got to do this then give ppl warning and enforce it for very high earners and the ones it was intended for. I even took a temp part time job from oct to xmas at Tesco after my job finished last year just so that i wouldnt have to claim benefit any sooner than necessary. Anyway, the way I see it now is that if benefit is re instated and I cant find a permanant job then its not going to be worthwhile even getting a seasonal job next year cause the same thing will only happen again unless, of course, they get their act together (pretty impossible). You know, when i was in j/c the other day there was couple of guys who'd been on 'holiday' in that big barred holiday camp, bet they dont get this hassle,lol..
Hey Steve, do you think ur son might be able to help?..lol.
Oh well, back to the housework...have a good day folks..

ELAINE_MCLOUGHLIN

Hi, I'm in a similar position as you at the moment I have an appeal pending but they take their time over these things.I have recieved J S A for the last 6years but denied it 2006/2007 finished work early November starting late Febuary. Explanation given was that the pattern of my employment suggests that I am still employed, and that I did'nt have any contributions paid for period Nov 04 to March 05 a period of unemployment when I was recieving JSA and under the impression that my contributions were paid by the department at this time. The decision on my letter says I am working 16 hours or more, although I'm not and have'nt. Although I work for the same employer every year I do not recieve any sort of a retainer payment through the winter months. This has been both financial and emotionally distressing, will let you know of any result.

peter999

ELAINE_MCLOUGHLIN wrote:

Hi, I'm in a similar position as you at the moment I have an appeal pending....

This thread is over a year old.

catz747

peter999 wrote:

This thread is over a year old.

Lol It's my fault, I put a link to this thread in elaines thread because it is similar and this thread has a few useful links in :rotfl:

peter999

catz747 wrote:

Lol It's my fault, I put a link to this thread in elaines thread because it is similar and this thread has a few useful links in :rotfl:

Mentioned as original posters may not be around, just to avoid main thread getting diverted.