I got bad advice re JSA last year - what shall I do?

tink_the_stink

Don't think you have a leg to stand on!

You can only restrict the type of work you want to look for, for a period of 13wks & thats if it was your usual job ie the same as you was doing before being made reduntant.

You could have completed a jobsearch & provided evidence at same time as preparing for Self Employment via whatever service is provided in your area.

As you contact the Manager & told her you wouldn't be looking for work at same time you have dis-allowed yourself any entitlement to benefits by your own admission & she was just doing her job by stopping your claim.

Believe it or not Jobcentre staff aren't the font of all knowledge & they would have made you an appointment with a S/E expert who could have guided you through starting S/E like your friends but please don't think just because they could complete Test Trading you would have been able to, everyone's circumstances are different & so is the eligbilty for these schemes

Charliecherry

What you would do well to remember is that in my experience there first priority is in protecting the public purse,(ie tell em very little)......do as i did and find out before discussing with them,why do you think the Government boast each year about all the benefits that go unclaimed each year!!

Horace

Test trading is only available on the New Deal scheme to get onto that scheme you need to be long term unemployed or in my case long term unemployed and disabled. You cannot enter the scheme as a newly unemployed person. Sure we have business bank accounts and any profits from our business go into that account but we are allowed to withdraw our expenses as long as we take our receipts to our mentors at the local chamber of commerce because it is they that hold the cheque book - we only get a paying in book. We do receive a training allowance of £15.38 a week that is purely for the business - I bank mine in this business account and use it to pay for my insurances.

I started test trading on 27 October 08 and I get my JSA plus an extra bit but I have to fund my business myself so my credit card has taken a bit of a hit. I know that when I have finished test trading that I will not go back on the dole but will continue to work at my business and claim working tax credit.

If you want to complain, write to your MP and enclose a letter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman because this is the person to whom you make complaints about government departments e.g. DWP. If you have no luck with the MP or the Parliamentary Ombudsman then it is best to go to the newspapers - the Daily Express is the better one because they are more likely to take on various government departments than the Daily Mail.