Any JSA experts able to offer advice please.

silou

Hi all,
Don't normally post on this forum but thought it the right place top come to get some advice on the following. My partners job (fixed term contract) came to an end in Oct '08 at which point he signed on. Because of my wage he is not entitled to any means tested benefits but we thought he might qualify for contribution based JSA. Turns out we were wrong - the reason he was given when he queried the decision originally was that it was based on NI contributions from 2005 and 2006 (or maybe 05/06 he isn't sure now!) and as he was self employed during '05 and part of '06 (the actual years not the tax years) he hadn't paid the right class of NI conts. He was advised to ask for a review this month as the tax years they base the decision on would have changed so he might qualify, he did ask for a review and has now been given two more different versions of the situation but the upshot is the same he doesn't qualify.
They are now telling him that because of when he originally made his claim they will not look at any other tax years - but if he'd only just made his claim this month he might have qualified, which seems mad to me. Also that if he signs off now leaves it 12 weeks and makes a new claim he might then qualify - which I suppose amounts to the same thing really.
How can 3 different explanations all be correct and how on earth do you get to the bottom of what the correct explanation is.
If he is not entitled to anything then fair enough but it would be nice to be clear about why.
Thanks for reading and any advice would be really welcome.

mazza1985

silou wrote: »

Hi all,
Don't normally post on this forum but thought it the right place top come to get some advice on the following. My partners job (fixed term contract) came to an end in Oct '08 at which point he signed on. Because of my wage he is not entitled to any means tested benefits but we thought he might qualify for contribution based JSA. Turns out we were wrong - the reason he was given when he queried the decision originally was that it was based on NI contributions from 2005 and 2006 (or maybe 05/06 he isn't sure now!) and as he was self employed during '05 and part of '06 (the actual years not the tax years) he hadn't paid the right class of NI conts. He was advised to ask for a review this month as the tax years they base the decision on would have changed so he might qualify, he did ask for a review and has now been given two more different versions of the situation but the upshot is the same he doesn't qualify.

If he hasn't paid enough contributions then this will be correct for contributions based JSA. IB JSA is paid no matter what NI contributions have been made, providing you have a low enough income.

silou wrote: »

They are now telling him that because of when he originally made his claim they will not look at any other tax years - but if he'd only just made his claim this month he might have qualified, which seems mad to me. Also that if he signs off now leaves it 12 weeks and makes a new claim he might then qualify - which I suppose amounts to the same thing really.

I thought he hadn't been able to make a claim? If his claim was rejected you can appeal, or reapply. You don't need him to sign off if he is not on benefits.

I hope I have helped!

sammyjammy

silou wrote: »

Hi all,
Don't normally post on this forum but thought it the right place top come to get some advice on the following. My partners job (fixed term contract) came to an end in Oct '08 at which point he signed on. Because of my wage he is not entitled to any means tested benefits but we thought he might qualify for contribution based JSA. Turns out we were wrong - the reason he was given when he queried the decision originally was that it was based on NI contributions from 2005 and 2006 (or maybe 05/06 he isn't sure now!) and as he was self employed during '05 and part of '06 (the actual years not the tax years) he hadn't paid the right class of NI conts. He was advised to ask for a review this month as the tax years they base the decision on would have changed so he might qualify, he did ask for a review and has now been given two more different versions of the situation but the upshot is the same he doesn't qualify.
They are now telling him that because of when he originally made his claim they will not look at any other tax years - but if he'd only just made his claim this month he might have qualified, which seems mad to me. Also that if he signs off now leaves it 12 weeks and makes a new claim he might then qualify - which I suppose amounts to the same thing really.
How can 3 different explanations all be correct and how on earth do you get to the bottom of what the correct explanation is.
If he is not entitled to anything then fair enough but it would be nice to be clear about why.
Thanks for reading and any advice would be really welcome.

Contributions based JSA is worked out on tax years and benefit years, tax years being 1st April to 31st March and benefit years being 1st Jan to 31st December. The information you were given about applying for a review was incorrect. The tax years used will be dependant on him making his claim before or after January (in your case before) this means the tax years they are looking at are 2005/06 and 2006/07, you have to have paid a certain amount of Class 1 NI in one year nad have paid or have credit a certain amount in the other year as well.

It is possible that he may qualify for JSA conts based on the new benefit year BUT if he signs off for 13 weeks (so the claims do not link) he would lose out on NI credits and have to face the possiblity he may still not qualify.

HTH

Sam

sammyjammy

mazza1985 wrote: »

If he hasn't paid enough contributions then this will be correct for contributions based JSA. IB JSA is paid no matter what NI contributions have been made, providing you have a low enough income.

I thought he hadn't been able to make a claim? If his claim was rejected you can appeal, or reapply. You don't need him to sign off if he is not on benefits.

I hope I have helped!

The OP has already stated she is earning, JSA Income based is not only based on how much is earnt but how many hours are worked.

She didn't say he hadn't been able to claim just that he was told he was not entitled to JSA Conts, he can still sign as unemployed, receive NI credits and receive help adn assistance with his jobsearch.

silou

Thanks very much for the advice - he did make a claim and has continued 'signing on' in order to get his NI contributions paid and in the hope that there would be some help with jobhunting or training (there hasn't been either).
Would it be correct then that if he had ended his claim as soon as he realised he didn't qualify and left it until now (or 12 weeks after his original claim) that he might have qualified now? (Especially since for tax years 06/07 and 07/08 he was working on an employed basis so would have paid the correct Ni conts.)
He didn't do that at the time partly because of the information he was given and also because he hoped to have found a job by now.
Thanks again for the advice.