Advice on jobseekers

amyg

My husband is currently a self employed builder although with the credit crunch etc he is slowly losing trade and what trade he does have he is having trouble getting them to pay upon completion. Tribunals take months to actually get the money back and by that time we will probably be bankrupt anyway!

We have worked out that if he gives up work, and we take our daughter out of nursery and i continue to work full time then we will actually be a lot better off. Our daughter is only 3 and will not start nursery until Sept of this year when my husband would be able to return to work as i work flexible hours.

Therefore we are considering him claiming JSA and staying at home to look after my daughter, although we're concerned as to what would happen with my daughter whilst he is out of work, we were told he will have to attend job interviews and 2 week courses etc although we have no other childcare and with nursery costing almost £700 a month it is no longer an option to keep her in there.

Can anyone with young children on JSA where one parent works advise as to what happens?

Many thanks

Lynn11

If your husband signs up for JSA then he will have to attend the job centre every 2 weeks to sign on and provide evidence that he is looking for employment. I believe that after 6mths they will really scruntise it and wonder if you are doing everything that you can to get another job. I was never told about courses etc but you need to be seen to be sourcing job information and going for interviews etc.

amyg

don't get me wrong my husband wants to work and always has, he's been applying for jobs but not getting anywhere with that and we couldn't afford to live on a minimum wage job with our bills. He intends to continue to look and apply for jobs and would just have to take my daughter to the job centre with him unfortunately, but i'm more worried about if they demand he goes on courses or stop his claim because we are unable to get childcare, there must be other people in this situation??

[Deleted User]

Hi amyg
haven't got any children but have some experience of unemployment! (JSA)
In my expereince , it is a good 6 months to a year after first signing on before you are obliged to go on any courses. Even then it was only 2 mornings a week, however if you remain signing on after that period at some point they put you on 'New Deal' where you do have to take part in fulltime courses or a work placement for 3 months
However having said all that, the DWP change their policies like the wind, so it may have changed.

babycakes1980

if your working over 24 hrs no jsa payable

amyg

I do work over 24 hours although according to entitledto he would be entitled to JSA. If not JSA then what would we be entitled to?

von

Contribution-based JSA is payable based on the National Insurance contributions paid over the last 2 relevant tax years, which, if he claimed JSA before the end of this year would be 2005/06 and 2006/07. However, if he has only been paying Class 2 NI contributions (for self employed), these contributions do not count towards JSA entitlement. So, basically if he has been only paying Class 2 conts since April 2005 he won't be entitled to Contribution-based JSA.
Unfortunately, you won't be entitled to Income-based JSA either because you work over 24 hours per week so are regarded as in full time work. I am not discouraging you from claiming JSA but this will probably be the outcome. It's best to claim and find out for yourself as I may not be fully aware of your situation. If he did claim JSA he would not have to pay his NI cotributions whilst he is unemployed and available for work.
My advice would be to contact the HMRC to advise them of the change in your financial situation so that your WTC/CTC (I assume you are in receipt of these) can be updated.

deb0020

If your husband is self employed then it is very unlikely he would get Job Seekers Allowance (Contribution Based)

amyg

thanks for your advise. so where do i go from here, we really can't afford to live on what we're getting. if i inform WTC that my husband is out of work then i have to take my daughter out of nursery and have to give four weeks notice, but presumably my benfits will change with immediate effect therefore i will have to find the £700 nursery fees and lose the contribution I usually get from TC.

Then i have the option to either reduce my hours and then we will be entitled to help or stick at the hours i am doing although with loans and CC's to pay we will not be able to afford it all.

So my only option really is to sink?

mcc28_x

Hi,

This is a difficult situation I agree. You may be best served to take advice from National Debtline or Consumer Credit Counselling Service to work out suitable repayment plans based upon your circumstances.

If you reduce your hours, JSA would still take into account your income.

Horace

If your husband cannot get payment for the invoices that he has issued for the work done - can he not use a factoring service (banks offer this) whereby the factoring service will pay him and then chase the customer for the money?