advice please, what would you do?

soon2be_student_wife

hiya. my husband has just finished college this week after studying childcare and education for 2 years as a mature student and does not want to become a TA - the main thing you can do with this course. he will start looking for jobs this week in our city and the neighbouring one where i study as we'd like to move there. he wants something practical, and doesnt want a profession or career straight away, he just wants to earn some money and feel useful he says.

my question is, would you claim jobseekers this week or wait until he'd been searching a couple of months? (if it takes this long which we fear it will; his CV doesnt have 5 GCSE's above C and his previous experience was night shifts in a factory) can he get it straight away if he did apply?

due to some bad budgeting on my part and the expenses of being married nearly a year and realising we needed things like tumble dryer etc at the start; we are currently living off £35 a week. it's not ideal and im finally starting training tomorrow after 4 weeks finishing my 1st year of uni for a saturday job 4 hours a week and supposedly working for the dwp over the summer tho am still waiting for the 'call' from them. i've highlighted some jobs for my husband but there's so many people looking i feel increasingly stressed out and i manage to find work with paperwork which as a dyslexic, he says he doesnt want to do.

im not asking for judgement about how we managed the nearly 5k in loans/grant we were given as our only income this year, ive realised my mistakes and will be better next term. at the mo, id just like to know what you would do in my situation as im losing hope.

Thank you.

p.s. my husband doesnt want to join an agency straightaway as he's "dealt with them before" and it didnt help or something and when his dad mentioned he could go on the dole now he's finished college; my husband said he didnt want to yet, he doesnt want to be sponging off the government.

soon2be_student_wife

* bumpety bump, i understand if its 2 confusing :S

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Tbh I don't think people know what to say.

1) Why waste at least a year doing a course you don't want to utilise.
2) If he wants labouring jobs etc he will struggle. A lot of skilled tradesmen have been put off and are being forced to work as labourers until they can find trade work again.

Unfortunately I think your right and that he should gear up for a long search on JSA

whitewing

Presumably he can't start as a TA until Sept? Maybe he just meant he wanted something to tide him over for now.

Could he contact some nanny agencies? There may be some work looking after children in the school holidays, especially if he has a relevant qualification.

Alternatively, there are occasionally adverts in our local paper for a 'companion' for disabled boys (or girls). There was one recently in our area that was for helping a teenager go swimming and to youth club etc . (Some antisocial hours).

soon2be_student_wife

Tell me about it! He's too proud to go onto JSA straight away i think.

We were meant to be getting married this summer instead of last and he'd done one year so i thought it'd be better if he continued for the last and 2nd year. umph, we found out about a month ago that it was pointless doing this 2nd yr unless he wanted to become self employed but the college didnt want to tell them that.

oh sorry, i didnt mean labouring, he just means something with no paperwork which is like what?? i dont know, the only thing i could think of was care work but he's not patient enough for that.

eek. thanks for the response, i dont why i asked when its so complicated and unique. just feels so horrible at the moment.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

With all due respect very few jobs outwith labouring will be paperwork free. Care work certainly isnt. Most retail jobs need paperwork, most preparation jobs will involve some paperwork (i.e Health and Safety check forms).

Outside labouring and trade jobs very few are free from paperwork.

In all honesty your OH will need to realise every job is likely to have a factor he doesnt like.

soon2be_student_wife

i think he probably knows, it's like he's trying to make up for having to do a course he hated by thinking he'll be able to find a job he like. and there's loads of dyslexics who can successfully do paperwork and all.

Never mind, at least I start my training for my 4 hr a week job 2moro, im just stressing out that i'll be rubbish at that now lol. hopefully we'll be okay. i can't see him signing up for jsa so soon though and i dont know why; he's paid taxes before he was in college and will again.

how long does it take to process a claim for a newbie or is that as long as a piece of string question?

dmg24

If he has been at college for two years he is unlikely to qualify for conts based JSA. Once you start work, depending on how much you earn he is unlikely to qualify for income based JSA. However, he may still sign on in order to get NI credits.

TBH all I could see in your OP is negativity. He does not want to do x, y and z ... but nothing about what he does want to do!

soon2be_student_wife

Thanks dmg24; the negativity is my fault, reflecting my current mood and how he responds to jobs i show him. i just remember when he was in warehousing before and he tried desperately to find a job, an alternative and couldn't find one. it led to him, amongst other things, suffering from depression and i dont want to see it happen again.

I'm smiling now as one of the things he finds hard to understand in me is my constant optimism so it's good to know i can be negative. you're right that i should be supporting him, not thinking negatively. thank you.

dmg24

Sorry, I didn't mean you were being negative ... I think you are being very patient with him, I don't think I still would be!

soon2be_student_wife

I just realised then that you probably didn't mean me, shows how self centred I am! I don't feel patient at the moment, just stressed and scared and fearful I could explode in frustration at him which is probably why I'm asking complete strangers advice.

Thanks again.