JSA and going abroad

jrooster

I had a holiday planned to Eastern Europe and paid for before loosing work. I am in receipt of JSA as part of a couple and since my partner gets carer's allowance we receive the Carer's Premium, she cares for a family member.

I know that you're not allowed to claim JSA if you're abroad however I was just wondering if we have to stop the claim taking into account the grounds below. Would the carer's premium fit into a JSA disability premium?

"are part of a couple and both of you are temporarily out of the country and your partner is in receipt of either a JSA pensioner premium or a JSA disability premium (maximum period of 4 weeks at any time)..."

---

Absence from Great Britain, temporary childcare responsibilities, illness and holidays abroad

You will be treated as available for work if you (JSA Regs, reg 14):

-are temporarily abroad to attend a job interview and you have given prior notice of this to the ES for a maximum period of 1 week at any time

-are temporarily absent from Great Britain to take a young family member abroad for medical treatment for a maximum period of 8 weeks at any time

-are part of a couple and looking after a child in the family full-time (for a maximum period of 8 weeks at any time) because your partner is:
temporarily out of the country
temporarily away from home
caring for another family member who is ill

-are part of a couple and both of you are temporarily out of the country and your partner is in receipt of either a JSA pensioner premium or a JSA disability premium (maximum period of 4 weeks at any time)

-are being treated as capable of work for JSA due to a short period of illness for a maximum of 2 weeks and only on two occasions in each successive 12 months during a period of unemployment (see page * for more details).

You will be treated as actively seeking work in any of these weeks only if you are engaged in the activity for at least 3 days in the week in question.

Apart from the above exemptions you cannot normally claim JSA for any other period that you are absent from Great Britain. However, there are exceptions to this if you are going abroad as part of your training under the Work-Based Learning for Adults programme (see page * for more details) or if you are visiting Northern Ireland.

If you are simply going to Northern Ireland for a holiday, you are treated in the same way as a JSA claimant who is going on holiday within Great Britain (see below). If you go to Northern Ireland for an extended period, you can continue to claim JSA there for up to 4 weeks providing you continue to show that you are available for and actively seeking work and that you intend to return to Great Britain within a year (JSA Regs, reg 50(2)).

If ES staff know that you are going abroad for a holiday they will ask you to fill out the section of the Going away from home form (ES674) entitled "Going abroad". Your claim will be terminated and you will need to make a new claim for JSA when you return from abroad.

Holidays and absence from home in the UK

Although you cannot claim JSA when you go abroad on holiday (see above) you can go on holiday in the UK (i.e. Great Britain and Northern Ireland), or be absent from home in the UK for other reasons (e.g. to visit a sick relative), and continue to receive your benefit. In addition, you are excused from actively seeking work in these circumstances for a maximum of 2 weeks in each 12-month period, providing you arrange your absence with the ES before you leave and you remain available for work while you are away (JSA Regs, reg 19(1)(p)). You can stay away for longer than 2 weeks providing that you are available for work and actively seeking work after the first fortnight has elapsed.

The ruling that you must remain available for work means that the Jobcentre has to be able to contact you while you are away from home. You will be required to provide details of where you are staying in the Going away from home form (ES674). If you cannot give an address and telephone number at which you can be directly contacted every day while you are away, you can give "the name, address and telephone number of someone who you will be in contact with while you are away" (question 7 in the ES674 form). You should be able to demonstrate that this arrangement will enable the Jobcentre to contact you about job opportunities on any day that you are away.

There are a number of questions in the form asking whether you are willing and able to return home immediately to take up a job opportunity. If you do not answer yes to these questions your availability for work will be in doubt and you could lose benefit. This also applies if you cannot demonstrate that while you are away you will be available on the days and hours that are set out in your Jobseeker’s Agreement.

The form concludes with a number of questions about your jobseeking. If you are only going away for 2 weeks you can specify that you will not be looking for work. However, if you are going away for longer you must show that you will also be actively seeking work after 2 weeks has elapsed. Alternatively, you may be required to look for work throughout your absence because you have used your 2-week exemption period within the previous 12 months. If you wish, you can use your 2-week actively seeking work exemption for two separate periods of absence lasting a week each (AOG, vol 4, para 26743).

If you do not have time to complete the ES674 you may be allowed to make arrangements about your absence by telephoning the Jobcentre before you go (JSA LOA, ch 2, para 226).

You will be expected to return home on the date you gave on the ES674 (or verbally over the phone) and attend the Jobcentre on the appointment date given to you before you left or risk losing benefit.

Blind people attending a training course in the use of guide dogs can add the 2-week actively seeking work exemption to the 4 weeks they are allowed to attend such a course (see page *). They therefore have a maximum of 6 weeks during which they can be away from home without actively seeking work (JSA Regs, reg 19(2)(c)).

di3004

Hi there

I don't know much in this matter, but found a link which maybe useful below, hopefully someone will be along soon to help, good luck.;)
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/ga_is_jsa.htm

AsknAnswer

I'm not sure where the OP resides and I cannot answer her question, but just wanted to point out that "dsdni" links are for Northern Ireland claimants. Whether that changes anything, again I am uncertain but just pointing it out in case.

jrooster

Live in Scotland if that helps...

I do want to take the holiday because if I loose it I have to pay more and loose more money than what I would loose for 5 days of benefits and I am really not thinking about not telling or commiting fraud because I am an honest person.

As I said, holiday is paid for and the money for going to the country is exchanged. Now, besides the holiday money I don't have much left for when I come back. I can manage with the actual money. Normaly benefits just come in and I spend everything so I am worried about what a break for some days can do.

I get Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit too and I don't really know if they would stop too plus the situation with the Carer's Allowance which we have been getting since the end of last year is a worry too.

I do expect to be able to bring some money back and exchange it however still want to be prepared to the worse. I am worried about having to re-claim JSA since the timescales in the BDCs here now are quite massive and we're talking about more than a month when I made the last claim.

To make matters a bit more complex I am due to move house soon as I was declared homeless for fear of violence in my address. I don't need any furniture for my new property but still need to pay for a van, even if it's to rent one during a day. The new house should get offered to me in June or July.

The best option for me I know is getting work as soon as possible to get my income increasing which on the long-run would help. However I have been unemployed since the end of March and it's not easy. Before I used to find jobs and get interviews quite quickly. Agencies we're quite helpful and got me for roles straight away.

In nearly two months I have only had two interviews, a lot of rejection letters and the agencies say that they don't have work for my profile and do not know when new stuff is going to come in...therefore it's all quite spooky now on that side too.