JSA !!!! up now stopped Help please?

jonuk7

I will apologise now as its a long post:

It started in Jan this year, my Employer offered me Permanant contract dropping me from 35 hours to 20 and it was take this or leave and not have a job as i was on a temp contract at the time. I took this and then went to claim housing benefit etc as the 20 hours paid me only £109 P/Week. HB took a copy of the contract etc and started paying me £27 P/Week, this was fine as i paid the other £40 and it left me enough to shop etc and live, then HB asked for a series of wage slips to confirm earnings etc... these were taken in and because of staff sickness and absencies etc some weeks i had worked 20 hours others 35 but only one off's and i did inform them my employer was willing to confirm this in writing. They said this was fine and they would be in touch if needed.

Then 3 months later i get a letter saying they had ceased my HB payments from Janurary and i was no longer entitled due to my earnings. this had left me building arrears and then subsequently been taken to court. before the court date i had spoenk with my employer and explained i either needed 35 hours a week permanantly Or to work no more than 20 hours as per contract, they flat refused either option and i subsequently had no choice but to leave, Drastic i know but this ensured i had a full HB claim and could start to make permanant repayments on my arrears.

I went to the Job centre and explained and they said claim for JSA and see how it goes, i claimed and started receiving JSA as i was still looking and still am for a full 35-40hr week job to cover my rent and arrears, been on JSA for 3 months and then out the blue receive a letter out the blue asking why i left my employment etc and to answer the questions so they could assess my claim, filled it in and posted it the next day, however the day i posted it back i received another letter stating my claim was suspended and would remain so until 6th Jan 08. I went to the job centre and they said they had'nt received my "explanation" back hence the sitations etc... i explained that no they woundlt have been as i posted it today, they got me to fill it in there aswell and said they would send it (this was Thursday 25th Sept 08) i explained without this i had no income what so ever, i would be evicted from my home due to not been able to maintain my arrears payments and would lose out on been able to care for my son when i have him. the girl there got me to fill in a "Hardship payments" form but said this isnt guarenteed and if it is granted is 20 - 40% less than JSA.

Firstly has anybody dealt with hardship payments or appeals and how long do they take usually and outcome liklihood? and secondly if JSA is deem as Income support goverment have worked out that is what a single person needs per week to live on then how can a "Hardship" payment be upto 40% less than this?? i was just coping on JSA with getting to interviews etc and bills however if they cut this in half what can i do??

Any advice is appreciated.

Again sorry for long post.

Jon

ukdickie31

Appeals take ages, months, not weeks ... get the appeal in and move on.

Hardship is easy to claim and quick to receive if you get awarded it. You continue to sign on and receive benefit, albeit at the reduced rate.

You are right, The benefit rates are amounts needed to live on. Hardship ensures you have some income rather than none.

An alternative would be to take any job, even at minimum wage to live off. At least this will be more than JSA and Hardship money.

You wont get sanctioned when you are in work.

jonuk7

Thanks for the reply, i have been looking at a variety of jobs but since wednesday i have literally applied for every job on the website, asked in shops etc. Personally i think DWP are taking the mickey a little there especially when the letter asking me to send in answer was dated 17th Sept and the letter telling me they had suspended payment for not receiving the answers was dated 20th Sept so they expected it back in less than 12 hours......

ukdickie31

Decisions can be 'reconsidered' so best to get the appeal in first.

Before it goes to Appeal they will look at what evidence you have provided, or what was received after they made the decision.

real1314

1. You told HB that you were working 20 hrs a week and earning a corresponding amount. You should have told them when you worked extra hours and got paid extra.

2. There's no reason at all that you couldn't have continued with a 20 hr contract (income £110 a week?) and done extra hours as and when, so long as you declared the extra wages.

3. Giving up a £110 weekly income with some HB in favour of a £60 weekly income with full HB so that you could make repayments to the overpayment doesn't make any sense at all.

4. I think you'll have little chance of getting your full HB back, you quit a job. You will probably get hardship payments at 40% less. You made choices and are now having to face the consequences.

Your best option is to find a job. Sorry but that's how it is.

jonuk7

real1314 wrote: »

1. You told HB that you were working 20 hrs a week and earning a corresponding amount. You should have told them when you worked extra hours and got paid extra.

2. There's no reason at all that you couldn't have continued with a 20 hr contract (income £110 a week?) and done extra hours as and when, so long as you declared the extra wages.

3. Giving up a £110 weekly income with some HB in favour of a £60 weekly income with full HB so that you could make repayments to the overpayment doesn't make any sense at all.

4. I think you'll have little chance of getting your full HB back, you quit a job. You will probably get hardship payments at 40% less. You made choices and are now having to face the consequences.

Your best option is to find a job. Sorry but that's how it is.

1) 90% of the time i was working 20 hours a week corerect but every odd week or so this changed to 35 sometimes as silly as 22 hours per week, this was unnacceptable to HB dept and they said they had ceased the claim due to figures not matching.

2) it wasnt as easy as just doing the odd extra hours and declaring it, my employer refused to amend my contract and refused to give me ONLY 20 hours despite it not been in my contract i was used to cover ill ness and absence which seemed to be a daily occurence so it ended up getting more and more frequent

3) From leaving the job i havent actually lost anything but i also havent gained, i was employed and still paying £60 rent per week to cover the week plus a little arrears, now i get my current rent paid for and out of the £60 JSA i can pay a small amount off the areears also so no gain but also no loss.

4) i am receiving HB now and have been told this will not chnage so getting "it back" as you say is not a problem as i havent "lost" it

Getting a job i have no problem with, hence the reason if you go through my JSA claim book it has no less than around 30-40 applications none of which were "made up" for the week i have beren tuned down for several jobs with the excuse of "your too qualified im afraid i feel we would not be challenging enough for you" so its good to say get a job but it seems to do that ill need to lie on my CV and come across rather UNintelligent, so what a waste of the last 5 years of my life that will be.

morgansmummy1809

Firstly when did housing benefit tell you that they had 'overpaid' you. If this was less than a month ago then you will be able to apeal aginst their decision. I have recently had problems with housing benefit as they average out the wages so if one week you worked 40hrs and the next you worked 20 they would say that on average you work 30 hours and they would devide the earnings for those two weeks. So appeal.
Seccondly when my partner was claiming JSA it was a nightmare and took some time for them to know what they were doing, it was pretty much the same situation they said that they didn't recieve a reason even though we handed it into them.
Also if you are having problems buying essentials then you could try a crisis loan, its not great you do have to pay it back -they will take it off of your JSA, but if you can't afford to buy food then its worth it.
When my partner had problems with him getting JSA we called them alot to find out what was going on and what information they needed - after all it will take longer to get the money if they send you a letter asking for information that you could have given over the phone.

I hope that your claim comes through soon.

jonuk7

Thanks for that morgansmummy1809, never thought of the crisis loan as i am no longer (at the minute anyway) getting JSA i didnt think i would be able to apply for one as i wont be able to pay it back out of my JSA at the minute, ill have a look though its definatley an option for the short term. Thanks