JSA & death in the family

little_evo

Hello, I am posting on behalf of my husband who due to circumstances cannot right now. Back in Novemeber of last year my husband was made redundant and although applying for jobs he is not having much luck right now.

Over the last few weeks his mother has been sick and been admitted to hospital, obviously this has had an impact on him both mentally and physically and his job searches have suffered. Unfortunately his mother passed away this morning due to her illness.

He is supposed to be on a JSA course this coming week and was told if he did not attend his benefit would stop.

Is this correct? Is there any kid of compasionate leave from the job centre with regards to this kind of situation?

Thank you for reading.

firesidemaid

hello

just wanted to say i'm very sorry to hear your sad news.

you have posted on the right board, and someone with expertise in this situation will be along soon x

Zara33

I would suspect that under the circumstances there will be some form of compassionate leave, best thing to do would be contact the dwp first thing Monday morning and explain the circumstances.

balustrada

I hope this will be helpful to you at this difficult time.

The law affecting entitlement to Jobsekers Allowance says that a claimant has good cause for giving up, failing to attend, refusing or neglecting an opportunity of a place on a training scheme or employment programme if the reason for doing so was that the claimant was arranging or attending the funeral of a close relative.

The other question that arises is whether the claimant is available and actively seeking employment.

Claimants can be treated as available and actively seeking employment if there is a death or funeral of a close relative. They can be treated as available for the time that the claimant has to deal with those circumstances and for a maximum of one week for each occurrence or combination of occurrences and for a maximum of four periods in any period of twelve months.

My advice is that your husband prepares copies of relevant documentation (eg: the death certificate) to provide confirmation of his reasons for failing to attend the course if he's asked to provide such evidence.