Job seekers - claiming for transport retrospectivly

fernando_vaz

Hi

Can anyone tell me that even thought I only signed on today, is it possible to claim travel expenses for interviews I have been to over the last few weeks (I have been unemployed for a month and am claiming my jobseekers retrospectivly).

The man at the job centre didn't know if this was possibile.

Thanks

dmg24

Is your backdated claim being allowed?

fernando_vaz

Only submitted it today, but they don't think there will be a problem with it.

mcc28_x

No

All travel to interview costs have to be agreed in advance.

poker_face

fernando_vaz wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone tell me that even thought I only signed on today, is it possible to claim travel expenses for interviews I have been to over the last few weeks (I have been unemployed for a month and am claiming my jobseekers retrospectivly).

The man at the job centre didn't know if this was possibile.

Thanks

Think it should have been brought up when you signed on but you can try

dmg24

mcc28_x wrote: »

No

All travel to interview costs have to be agreed in advance.

They can be granted retrospectively if there is good reason, at the discretion of the Advisor. The exception is train fares, as the claimant is usually given a warrant in order to get a ticket.

Treadstone009

what discounts can you get with JSA other than free dental and perscriptions.

clairec79

some leisure centres will do discounts

sammyjammy

I believe mcc28 is correct, its been a few years since I worked in a Jobcentre but you could not then claim retrospectively no matter what, this is because the fares are paid for people that would be unable, otherwise to attend.

ukdickie31

Just for the record.

The Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) guidance does have provision for retrospective awards however the circumstances have to demonstrate that there was a legitimate reason for not claiming in advance.

Re-imbursiment of any travel costs is based upon the cheapest and most reasonable route.

For example, some routes may have fantastic rail networks, others may be out of town industrial estates. Some may have coach routes that are not realistic when considering time and distance travelled.

I know of one TIS award when it was cheaper to pay the air fare than the rail costs or coach costs. Agreement was given to pay re-imburse that air fare to Edinburgh as the flights were so cheap.

TIS also has to be outside what is considered the normal travel to work area. This also varies across the country.

babs2008

I used the TIS scheme.

A word of warning. The jobcentre will contact the interviewer/HR dept directly before the interview. Depending on the job, and who the member of staff is calling the employer, this could give a bad first impression.

I was totally mortified when the lady at the jobcentre called the manager of the company I was to have an interview at to ask him if I really was having an interview. She failed to explain herself properly, and the guy at the end of the phone didn't know who she was or what was going on. I felt this was unprofessional and reflected on me badly.

If you really need to use it, apparently you can ask the jobcentre to wait until after the interview to call them (though you still must notify them in advance of the interview).

They only pay expenses if the interview is out of the area/over reasonable commuting distance - which is something like an hours worth of travel (although the exact distance may vary).