temporary Sources of Income while on JSA

7_Dying_Trees

Hiya, I recently became redundant, and for the first time in my life am claiming job seekers. I've paid up NI over the 6 years i have worked for companies, and the 3 years i was self employed.

A few things:
- I am still registered as self employed, and I think I am behind on NI contributions on that, the reason for this being that I have done the odd bit of work whilst employed. Would this affect any benefits, and would it be wise to pay up if possible?

- I have been offered the odd bit of temporary work. None of it is over 16 hours/week, how does this affect my jobseekers? Will I have to sign off?

Basically, JSA is nowhere near enough to cover my rent, so I have to find alternative sources of income.

Any help? This whole system is about as clear to me as a glass of mud...

NASA_2

In the last 3 years were you S/E or employed?

The fact that you are still registered as S/E wont affect JSA - its whether you are working or not that is important. If you are working less than 16 hours a week on average then you will be ok for JSA and should not need to sign-off.

ceecee1

But you do still need to tell them about your earnings. You need to declare all work, paid or unpaid regardless of the amount of hours worked. This, amongst other things is the declaration that you sign everytime you go to sign on.
You are also signing that you have declared all relevant changes of circumstances.

spikeysoul

Can't you claim housing benefit (or is that local housing allowance?) and council tax benefit?

7_Dying_Trees

NASA wrote: »

In the last 3 years were you S/E or employed?

The fact that you are still registered as S/E wont affect JSA - its whether you are working or not that is important. If you are working less than 16 hours a week on average then you will be ok for JSA and should not need to sign-off.

Does the amount of money made in those 16 hours affect JSA? Some of these are small programming jobs, but they do pay quite well.

I really don't want to remain unemployed, so am not looking to milk the system in any way, all i want is to make sure i can pay the rent+bills untill i find something permanent.

I have worked for the past 2 and a half years, from dec 06-july 09. Before that i did a masters degree, full time.

Also, what is the difference between the two jobseekers? one is contribution based? I think i got turned down for thatone despite having paid all my large chunks out of my pay packet, is it worth it, and is it more than the 60£/week that the goverment seems to think that people can live off in london, as Iam pretty confused about this whole system as have never claimed anything up untill now

7_Dying_Trees

spikeysoul wrote: »

Can't you claim housing benefit (or is that local housing allowance?) and council tax benefit?

I had the form, was filling it out, and got to the bits about self employment and such and it just started looking ridiculously hard. They don't exactly make it easy...

ceecee1

7_Dying_Trees wrote: »

Does the amount of money made in those 16 hours affect JSA? Some of these are small programming jobs, but they do pay quite well.

Most definately - if you are claiming for yourself only anything over £5 a week is taken off your benefit £1 for £1

More and more people are fallling foul of this and getting called in for fraud interviews as they seem to focus on the 'less than 16 hours' only. But thats another discussion ..

NASA_2

7_Dying_Trees wrote: »

Does the amount of money made in those 16 hours affect JSA? Some of these are small programming jobs, but they do pay quite well.

I really don't want to remain unemployed, so am not looking to milk the system in any way, all i want is to make sure i can pay the rent+bills untill i find something permanent.

I have worked for the past 2 and a half years, from dec 06-july 09. Before that i did a masters degree, full time.

Also, what is the difference between the two jobseekers? one is contribution based? I think i got turned down for thatone despite having paid all my large chunks out of my pay packet, is it worth it, and is it more than the 60£/week that the goverment seems to think that people can live off in london, as Iam pretty confused about this whole system as have never claimed anything up untill now

The amount made in the hours is taken into account minus a £5 disregard.

If you were S/E for most of the last three years then you would not get JSA(C). Even if you did it is only the poxy £64.30 for 6 months.

spikeysoul

7_Dying_Trees wrote: »

I had the form, was filling it out, and got to the bits about self employment and such and it just started looking ridiculously hard. They don't exactly make it easy...

Problem is JSA is for people who are looking for work who don't have a job. You will mess up your claim something rotten if you earn say £20 one week and £200 the next - they just can't deal with that kind of income easily, you would possibly end up with no oney for weeks at a time.

If you are S/E do you have your tax returns? If this is the case could you take those to the CAB where they could help you fill out the HB/CTB benefit forms? No they don't make it easy to either work with a small fluctuating income or to claim if S/E, but that is the system as it stands.

I think you will find if you earn enough to cover your rent and council tax, that you will have earnt enough to disqualify you for benefit, no one is expected to pay all their bills on £64 something a week - it's just not possible.

Oldernotwiser

7_Dying_Trees wrote: »

I had the form, was filling it out, and got to the bits about self employment and such and it just started looking ridiculously hard. They don't exactly make it easy...

That is a pretty daft thing for someone with a Master's degree to say!