Not entitled to JSA but can claim NI credits?

Ukulele_Kate

Thanks for the repiles folks.

To answer the above: they say I have paid enough for the first year but not the second.

I was in a job for three years until being made redundant February 2007. I signed on JSA until going into full time education Sept 07 - July 08. I then signed on for summer 08. I returned for another year of college Sept 08, and have just finished the course last month.

I do not qualify for Income based JSA as my partner has a full time job. This is fine with me, and is not the issue I'm just interested to know if signing on for contributions is exactly the same as signing for JSA - just without the money (still have to stick to my Jobseekers Agreement etc), and if there was something I could've done/should've been told when receiving ALG that could've prevented this predicament. I'm guessing there isn't, it's just something you have to expect when returning to education as an adult

Cheers,

K