JSA letter - does this make sense to anyone else?

djwood1

Hello

I was recently made redundant from a very well paid job however since I was with my employer for less than 2 years, I didn’t receive an attractive redundancy figure.

I decided to put my first claim in for JSA to help meet the cost of living. I was made redundant from 01.10.08 and I placed a claim in on the 13th. I delayed the application since I wanted to concentrate my efforts on finding another position rather than the hassle of applying for JSA.

I have since found a suitable role and this morning I have received a reply from JSA however I can’t deduce from their letter if they plan to backdate my claim or not. Please note that I have been paid £47 approx yesterday.

Your claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance from 1st October 2008. This includes your backdated claim from 1st October to 12th October 2008.

We have looked at your backdated claim and decided that you have satisfied the Labour Market conditions for Jobseeker’s Allowance from 3rd October 2008 to 12th October 2008.

We have also decided that you have not shown good cause for the delay in making your claim from 1st October 2008 to 12th October 2008.

This means we cannot backdate your Jobseeker’s Allowance.

We will give you National Insurance contribution credits for the period 3rd October 2008 to 12th October 2008.

I am pleased to tell you that we can pay you Jobseeker’s Allowance from 13th October 2008.

The second paragraph would suggest that I have been successful in my application for backdated claim however the third paragraph contradicts this. If they do not plan to backdate the claim then they will owe me nearly 3 weeks worth of JSA. When will this be paid as I have only received one weeks pay at £47.

Does it make sense to anyone else?

iwanttosave_2

Ok, it seems to me that they are saying you were eligible to claim for JSA for that period but they are not willing to back date it because you didn't have a good enough reason for not claiming during that period i.e, if you needed it, you should have claimed then and not later and had it back dated.

Apolonation

Yes that's how I read it also, I had a similiar issue and could not claim anything before I actually submited the application.

clairec79

Because they have decided you didn't have a good reason not to claim before they won't give you any money, BUT they accept you were looking for work and as such will pay your NI stamp for the period

suelees1

Others have given the correct info. You can ask the Jobcentre to look at this again but the fact that you wanted to concentrate on your job search won't be a good enough reason.