Question about Jobseekers allowance and mobile phones

magic57

Hi all

My 18 year old son has just had his working hours reduced to 4 a week. He is in retail and the shop is in difficulties. I doubt there is much he can do as it was a temporary job over christmas and he was kept on.
He phoned to apply for job seekers allowance while he tries to find another job. Not easy in this area. Anyway he was on the phone for 35 mins and answered between 90 and 100 questions!. They wanted to know if he has a mobile phone and whether his parents pay for it.
He does have a mobile but the contract is in my husbands name. We feel he needs a mobile to be safe, The Jobcentre want copies of the bill. This seems a little odd. We cannot afford to support him other than the moile phone. Will they deduct the amount we pay for the phone from him job seekers allowance?

He is not a scrounger and just wants a job. He is also planning to stay doing the 4 hours a week as at least he is working a bit.

Has anyone come across this before?
Thanks

msflowerfairy

Hi,
I have been claiming contribution based JSA and mobile phones were not even mentioned.
I assume your son may be claiming for income based JSA in which case the rules may be different, but i am not sure. It may be a possibility that if the job centre feel that your son has enough income to pay for a mobile phone, he does not need to claim income based JSA.
I'm sorry if i cannot be of more help.

Fran

It sounds a bit odd asking about mobile phone use, maybe this is a new thing.

Another possibility is that if he phoned them he could claim back the amount of the phone call but I suppose they would have made that clear at the time.

If no-one has the answer on here you could phone and ask them if mobiles are relevant to a claim.

McKneff

If the mobile phone bill is in dads name, then in actual fact if he had told them he did not have a mobile phone he would not have been lying

dmg24

I imagine he has misunderstood them.

He needs to take proof of address with him when he first attends the JCP, and for most young people, this could be a mobile phone bill. If it is not in his name, then he needs to contact the JCP to check what other ID is acceptable.

adouglasmhor

My brother was told to get a mobile phone by the Job centre when he was made redundant after 28 years in the same job. It now lives on his mantlepiece in his bedroom. Oh and he has a part time job now and attends adult education so gets no benefits other than stamp contributions.

magic57

Thanks for the replies. He cannot afford to pay for a mobile and that is why we pay but it is in dads name. He only left school 6 months ago. It does seem very strange that they are asking if we pay for it for him. Surely that is our business.

Very odd. I'll let you know more when he goes to the jobcentre on thurdsday in case it is of help to anyone else.

Louise1521

One of the questions on the form is does anybody pay any money on your behalf, eg for gas or electricity. Could it have been that he answered yes he gets his mobile phone paid for by yourselves?

magic57

They rang him today and said we had to write a letter to say that the phone was in our name. Otherwise I imagine they would deduct what we pay for it from his JSA when he gets it. It seems a little harsh.
We insist on alll members of the family carrying mobiles from a safety point of view. Young lads out at night can get in all sorts of trouble.

HeatherH

Things like this are a bit silly...

Because it's a mobile he uses and that you are paying for, they see this as you supplementing his income. If he's on JSA this is usually seen as normal income. It also counts things like if you have a friend over and they contribute to a take away you're both having, it's really silly stuff.

bristol_pilot

magic57 wrote: »

We insist on alll members of the family carrying mobiles from a safety point of view. Young lads out at night can get in all sorts of trouble.

A PAYG phone with a £10 top up will suffice for safety purposes and is also better if the phone gets lost or stolen. If he has a contract phone that his parents are paying then yes that does count as part of his income the same as if you paid for all his meals clothes car etc. The Job Centre has to get good value for taxpayers and are only doing their job