JSA Travel to Work area

sghughes42

Can anyone point me to a detailed description of the rules for the 'Travel to work' restriction which applies to JSA after week 13? SWMBO has just had her 13 week interview and has now been told she has to apply for any jobs within 90 minutes travelling distance by car and also has to accept them even at minimum wage.

What we couldn't determine is how they decide what is within 90 minutes - is it purely distance or is traffic taken in to account? Does she have any say if she can prove something is over 90 minutes if they claim it is under? And also, is it really fair for her to have to take a NMW job at 90 minutes travel which could easily equate to 60+ miles or £15 a day in petrol alone? If it comes to that, can they force her to use her car - it's very old and while just about OK for pottering around and maybe commuting 5-6 miles certainly wouldn't be up to 20+ miles a day and if it breaks there is no way she could afford to replace it. Also, if that happened she'd be really stuck as where she lives has a very poor bus service so many journeys what would only take say 30 minutes in the car would be well over 90 on the bus.

As an aside, her form says she has to contact Job Seekers Direct 3 times a week. Is it acceptable to use their website or does she actually have to have 3 logged calls per week and what will happen if she doesn't do this? Also, why do they refuse to accept voluntary work (gaining experience) towards her job seek? Surely someone who tries to improve their prospects should get some credit over those who sit in the pub all day?

seven-day-weekend

Be careful with voluntary work; if she does too many hours she can be classed as unavailable for work and her Benefit could be stopped. This is, imho, a very shortsighted rule, but nevertheless it IS the rules.

Can't help with the rest of your enquiry, sorry, but I'm sure someone will be along soon who can.

Albannach1876

It's 90 minutes by public transport, and yes NMW does apply - refusing to apply for a job on the grounds that it is only NMW or is 90 minutes away could lead to a referral to decision makers on the grounds of availability.

Jobseekers have to take 3 separate steps to find work each week - if the adviser at the jobcentre feels that this hasn't been adhered to, there could be a referral on the grounds of not Actively Seeking Employment.

Both of these referrals would result in an immediate suspension of benefit until a decision maker has determined whether this was the case or not.

Voluntary work IS acceptable as long as it is declared and does not becomes a barrier to seeking and ultimately taking up full time employment.

sghughes42

Albannach1876 wrote: »

It's 90 minutes by public transport, and yes NMW does apply - refusing to apply for a job on the grounds that it is only NMW or is 90 minutes away could lead to a referral to decision makers on the grounds of availability.

Jobseekers have to take 3 separate steps to find work each week - if the adviser at the jobcentre feels that this hasn't been adhered to, there could be a referral on the grounds of not Actively Seeking Employment.

Her printed note detailing what she must do says 'Prepared to travel for up to 90 minutes from home address. Own Transport' which we take to mean she must use her own transport?

This note also lists far more than 3 things she must do - there are 5 items 'ticked' and a list of another 5 in the 'other activities' box below.

sghughes42

Albannach1876 wrote: »

It's 90 minutes by public transport, and yes NMW does apply - refusing to apply for a job on the grounds that it is only NMW or is 90 minutes away could lead to a referral to decision makers on the grounds of availability.

Other thing I forgot to ask - can they enforce both? i.e. 90 minutes travel for NMW? One or the other fair enough but both could easily leave you little better off than if you weren't working at all.