Help regarding Job Seekers Allowance

imataloss

Hello everyone. I don`t know if anyone can help but here goes:
My sons girlfriend was sacked last week. There is an appeal and a case for unfair dismissal ongoing. She tried to register for JSA today but was told that she cannot claim anything because she is studying PT one day a week for a degree.
She has been told by Jobcentre employee to give up her course and then she can apply for JSA. This is unrealist as she has paid for her course and doesn`t want to give it up.
She has no income but cannot claim JSA or Income Support.
What can she do?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Oldernotwiser

It's normally acceptable to JCP for someone to sign to say that they'll be prepared to give up their course if they're offered a job. It's then a question of making all the right moves as far as job seeking goes, which should satisfy them.

There's also likely to be a problem with her claiming as she's been sacked; in fact I'm surprised that hasn't been identified as a problem even before the study situation was raised.

imataloss

Oldernotwiser - Thank you for your reply. She was not advised that she may have to give up course if she found full time employment. She was told that she would have to do this to claim JSA.
The question regarding her being sacked was not raised.
She is actively seeking employment but finding it difficult. She i just very worried about how she is going to live because she has no income at all and no one to support her.

seven-day-weekend

So if you can't claim JSA if you've given your job up voluntarily, and you can't claim it if you've been sacked....just when exactly CAN you claim it??? It can't just be for people who are made redundant!

imataloss

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

So if you can't claim JSA if you've given your job up voluntarily, and you can't claim it if you've been sacked....just when exactly CAN you claim it??? It can't just be for people who are made redundant!

I don`t think it`s for people who are made redundant either. I know many people who haven`t been able to claim then. In my opinion JCP make it very difficult for anyone who`s been working and want to work to make a claim. I`ve seen it so many times over the years.

DaisyFlower

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

So if you can't claim JSA if you've given your job up voluntarily, and you can't claim it if you've been sacked....just when exactly CAN you claim it??? It can't just be for people who are made redundant!

Benefits should be there for those that have fallen upon hard times, quitting your job or doing something to get yourself sacked should result in no easy line to benefits.

mvengemvenge

imataloss wrote: »

I don`t think it`s for people who are made redundant either. I know many people who haven`t been able to claim then. In my opinion JCP make it very difficult for anyone who`s been working and want to work to make a claim. I`ve seen it so many times over the years.

JCP don't 'make it difficult' for people to claim, they just have to apply the rules for claiming as set down by the government of the day. This sounds to me like crossed-wires. As someone else said, if you do p/t study, you have to say that you would give up the course if a full-time job came up. Are you sure she was willing to do this? She may have been 'advised' that she was unlikely to get paid if she didn't do this, but I find it hard to believe she was 'told' she couldn't claim. One thing that some people don't realise is that even if a course is only 10 hours per week, if the college/university class it as full-time, there is no entitlement to JSA. I would suggest going back and checking exactly why she can't claim.

imataloss

DaisyFlower wrote: »

Benefits should be there for those that have fallen upon hard times, quitting your job or doing something to get yourself sacked should result in no easy line to benefits.

I agree totally that benefits should be there for people who have fallen upon hard times.
I would like to say that she did not do something to get herself sacked. There is a claim for unfair dismissal in this case. She has worked since leaving full time education six years ago. She wants to work at the same time as studying because she has no other income and no one to support her. However she needs to work around her course.

imataloss

mvengemvenge wrote: »

JCP don't 'make it difficult' for people to claim, they just have to apply the rules for claiming as set down by the government of the day. This sounds to me like crossed-wires. As someone else said, if you do p/t study, you have to say that you would give up the course if a full-time job came up. Are you sure she was willing to do this? She may have been 'advised' that she was unlikely to get paid if she didn't do this, but I find it hard to believe she was 'told' she couldn't claim. One thing that some people don't realise is that even if a course is only 10 hours per week, if the college/university class it as full-time, there is no entitlement to JSA. I would suggest going back and checking exactly why she can't claim.

I fully understand that JCP are just following the rules. The course is definately PT. It is only 7 hours per week. This allows time for the students to work FT whilst studying.
I will suggest going back and making a claim anyway. The claim can only be refused.

Oldernotwiser

imataloss wrote: »

I fully understand that JCP are just following the rules. The course is definately PT. It is only 7 hours per week. This allows time for the students to work FT whilst studying.
I will suggest going back and making a claim anyway. The claim can only be refused.

When I was a full time student, my course contact hours were only 4 hours a week so that doesn't prove anything. Have you any idea how long her course lasts, as that might help to sort it out?

seven-day-weekend

If you've given your job up for no good reason I certainly don't think you should get JSA.

However people can be sacked for all sorts of reasons. They don't need to have done anything wrong.

As for redundancy, well I believe you can get Contribution based JSA (assuming you've paid enough NI) for six months, then it is means-tested on your family income/savings, so if you've had a big redundancy pay-off or your partner works, you won't get any.

But as for sacking? I believe it should depend on why you were sacked.