Job Seekers Allowance

jonathanR_3

Hopefully someone may be able to advise.....? Thanks in advance

Registered for self employment 1/1/08 and completed tax return for 08/09

In the last couple of income stream has disappeared and as such now "unemplyed".

Tax office advise i am not eligble for JSA - what and how can i get beneifts?

Many thanks

zappster1966

Doubt you've paid sufficient NI contributions to get contributory Jobseeker's Allowance ?

You might be able to get Income Based JSA instead, but that's a means tested benefit & affected by any other income you have, savings/capital & your partner's circumstances.

jonathanR_3

Thanks for quick reply.....

Just paid the monthly DD for NIC.

No NIC on profits as so low.

Should i have been paying more NIC then in order i could have got JSA in such asn event as this?

Thanks again

chunkp

I was about to post on a very similar topic when I found this one. I am currently unemployed after being made redundant in February. I am considering going self employed, but I am very worried what would happen if my efforts didn't pay off. Would there be a way to get back onto Job Seekers again? As jonathanR says; is it possible to pay more NiC to protect against such an occurance?

Thanks

healy

jonathanR wrote: »

Thanks for quick reply.....

Just paid the monthly DD for NIC.

No NIC on profits as so low.

Should i have been paying more NIC then in order i could have got JSA in such asn event as this?

Thanks again

Self-employed class 2 NI conts do not count towards JSA.

NickAllen

My circumstances are very similar to those of chunkp. I can pick up bits of work, so, as far as I can tell, I need to be self-employed to sort out my income tax and NICs. I have paid class 1 NI up to February, so I assume this allows me to claim contribution-based JSA until August (6 months, then onto income-based JSA) despite registering for self-employment in the meantime?
Incidentally, although the JSA-CB is paid for 6 months from redundancy, the Job Centre tells me this can be interrupted/suspended by working as long as the work lasts for no more than 5 weeks as I can sign back on with a Rapid Reclaim. They made no mention of any effects going self-employed might have on this.

NASA_2

If you have made enough Class 1 contributions then you will get paid. The fact that you then registered as self-employed doesnt change that.