I get JSA + HB but got a friend who needs help

Skullb

Hi just hoping someone here might be able to give me advice on a problem

I am 26 work in a power station 4-8 months a year (varies year to year) and unemployed at the end til the next summer shut down starts but as that only happened a month ago i have only recently started my JSA and HB claims for my house and with no decent jobs going here or local work for my usual firm i'm still looking for something suitable.

My friend has been living back at her parents since moving out her flat early this year and her parents house is a foster home but she has lost her old room and finding it difficult to stay there in a shared room with new kids she doesnt know and the house while being big is fitted with disabled/special equipment. The problem is she has just signed up for the army and even tho i havent got the full story yet she feels getting passed is going to be alot easier somewhere else.

I did a bit of searching and if i'm correct as my friend is 21 and signing on JSA she would be classed as a Non-Dependant under 25. So if say this week she was to move in my spare room for a while as she goes through the training etc for army and with things at my place being alot different theres a clear reason like peace and quiet so better enviroment for what she needs and its for the british armed forces at the end of the day so maybe favourable.

As i have to tell of the change to my housing and council tax benefits I am led to believe my friend being a non-dependant under 25 on JSA I would avoid the deductions to my benefits (HB and CTB) but i think only for max 26 weeks which is what i think i read on my local coucil website. I seen no mention of mine and her seperate jobseekers allowance staying untouched and this is why i couldnt say yes to her when i was told friday. I guess some might smell a fraud and say girlfriend but to be honest if she was i wouldnt bother with all this and just do a joint claim as she is quite a special girl and worth losing money over

Oldernotwiser

I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that your friend is doing her army training whilst on JSA? Surely she's employed by the army whilst training and lives in barracks? Sorry if I've misunderstood something.

Skullb

sorry i am a bit short of details myself until later on today but i do know she is alot under the desired weight to get accepted into the army and she is doing alot of training herself like running,weights,diets to gain weight. Hope you get the picture

KimYeovil

I'm not sure why it matters. If she is unemployed and on JSA then she would qualify for HB and CTB. If you are both on the dole is the loss of single person discount really going to impoverish you (25% of 20%)?

Your primary problem will be convincing the authority that you are not a couple. You will also have to find the other half of the rent why she is waiting for her HB to be processed. Do you have savings to cover that?

Skullb

While i was looking up the changes on my local coucil site and if she came here and we did it similar to what you said i would have thought I'd have to do the nonsense interviews and all the waiting i just went through all again. I was under the impression from what i read after seeing the part with under 25's on JSA in the benefits page living in the claimants home I thought my claim/benefits could stay the same with very little work on my part to report changes while she was happy with what i said might be possible (i hate the jobcentre phonelines and a tiny bit lazy). I dont worry about convincing them as its totally honest on our parts, if they got a problem we'll sort if it gets that far.and if she just got here basic JSA moved to my address they hopefully with some little research would find her plan already from here interviews with them when she lost her job due to a company error that was made and her job was axed to save someone else's mistake, then her flat followed on the days before she signed back on. As you can imagine she a bit wary and just wants the fastest route to getting the hell out of this area we live and also what she wanted since she was 12yr old.

Thanks for the effort though, i dont know much about benefits and just here to help a old friend.

Oldernotwiser

Skullb wrote: »

sorry i am a bit short of details myself until later on today but i do know she is alot under the desired weight to get accepted into the army and she is doing alot of training herself like running,weights,diets to gain weight. Hope you get the picture

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you said she'd already signed up for the army and was doing her training.