JSA help

CAG83

Hi I hope someone can help me?

I was made redundant in July. I went onto the JSA website but it stated that if you have savings over £16,000 you probably wont qualify. Since I am a saver and have over £16,000 in savings this detered me from making my claim.

However, untill now I have been using my savings to look for work (travel and petrol money) and I didnt think it fair that I was being punished for having savings!

So I telephoned the JSA and was told that I did qualify for JSA, and since this I have been attending the job centre. I am trying to get my claim backdated but have so far been unsuccessful because I didnt call originally.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks

quanto2009

Yes this happened to me, when I phoned up they made out that if I had savings over 16k then I wouldnt be able to claim, found out afterwards that I would be eligible for JSA for six months and then would be income based after that dependant on savings and if you have a working partner.
I finished in June and claimed in July but they will only allow you to claim from the date you registered with them.The whole thing is a joke they dont actually helep you find a job thats upto you and then when you get to 12 weeks you have to agree to go for other jobs that are not relevant to your trade.
So much for the goverment helping so 30 years working paying tax and insurance results in six month JSA all because you had the audacity to save some money.
But good luck in finding work I know its not easy.

Pagg

A friend who has been unemployed for a few months, was in your situation too. He'd been saving all his working life, however is eligible for contribution-based JSA for 6 months from signing on. You have to be wary about not burning up your savings on things like holidays, as the DWP will see that as 'capital deprivation' and not a valid way to spend your hard-earned cash. So if your savings went below 16k after 6 months (God forbid you don't get a job beforehand, but still) but some of it was spent in that way, they'd not take the spent money into account should you need to seek Income-based JSA.

You can however get a new car if your old one is a bit clapped out, as it's deemed necessary for a job-seeker who can fund it.

Grovester_2

JCP giving out incorrect information is not a good enough reason to backdate a claim.

Same happened to me, I appealed, but got nowhere. The trouble I had was they simply said everyone would backdate it if all they had to say was 'I was given the wrong info' and can't prove it.

It's a pain, but, to be honest unless you really have nothing better to do it just grates on you the more you think about it so I'd advise you get the claim rolling and forget about backdating it.

Oldernotwiser

Pagg wrote: »

You can however get a new car if your old one is a bit clapped out, as it's deemed necessary for a job-seeker who can fund it.

New to you! I think you'd have problems if you blew 10K of your savings on a brand new car!

Oldernotwiser

CAG83 wrote: »

Hi I hope someone can help me?

I was made redundant in July. I went onto the JSA website but it stated that if you have savings over £16,000 you probably wont qualify. Since I am a saver and have over £16,000 in savings this detered me from making my claim.

I don't know which site you looked at but the JCP site (first up if you Google "JSA") gives very clear information on contributions based and income based JSA.

strawberries1

The information is correct. I copied this from there.

Your payments might be reduced if you receive income from part-time employment. You'll get less if you have savings over £6,000. If you have savings over £16,000 you probably won't qualify.

LittleVoice

strawberries1 wrote: »

The information is correct. I copied this from there.

Your payments might be reduced if you receive income from part-time employment. You'll get less if you have savings over £6,000. If you have savings over £16,000 you probably won't qualify.

You know, don't you, that the part about savings is only if you move onto income based JSA.