List of other benefits available to jobseekers

Johneeee

aanguralla wrote: »

Hi Purplepardalis,

I did receive contribution based JSA for the first 6 months but am on credits only since then. No benefits at all, no prescriptions, dentist etc. No one tells you what you could be entitled to until you miss it through ignorance. I find it very hard to get anyone anywhere who could give information prior to the need to apply for relevant benefits. Thanks.

I just saw the bit where JSA is listed in the bit you fill in at dentists and on a prescription. Dunno if I'm on contribution based or not. I get just over 60 quid a week and sign on every fortnight. Have I broken the law now too?

oldmotherreilly

I don't know whether you have broken the law, but you only get automatic entitlement to these 'passport' benefits if you are in receipt of a means tested benefit, eg JSA Income Based, as they have already assessed your income. If you are on JSA (Conts) no one has looked into your means to pay (you could have thousands sat in the bank etc) so, as stockport says you must apply via form HC1, available at your local JCP. So unless you know which one you are in receipt of, you should not sign the back of the prescription.

Dancertainier

Johneeee wrote: »

Hi,
I was made redundant at the start of the year and am claiming JSA and Council tax benefit. I am not entitled to housing Benefit as I finished paying off my mortgage last year. This was very lucky as paying off this large sum placed me back to near zero capital hence fortunately making me able to claim benefit once redundancy hit.
I have just been shopping around to get better gas and electricity deals, and after about 2 hours web searching I found out:
1) I may be entitled to a social tariff hence saving on my gas and electricity bills.
2) I may also be able to get all kinds of free home energy improvements like cavity wall insulation, solar panels, loft insulation, energy saving bulbs etc.
I also now take advantage of free prescriptions and dental care, recently having my first dental checkup since dentistry was privatized over a decade ago! but nobody really tells you about these things. I usually sort of stumble across them and make a mental note to take advantage of them.
It got me wondering if there are any other offerings I should be taking advantage of while I've got the chance during my hopefully short stint of unemployment. You hear about people who make a living long term from milking the system like this, but where do they get all their info from on what they can try for?
Surely somewhere there is a list of what you can get and where/ who from? I have paid sickening levels of income tax throughout my working life and want to leverage unemployment to the max and milk the system for every penny of this I can get back. When I got my first decent job and saw how much tax was coming out of my monthly salary, I very nearly cried. I will return to work pretty soon I imagine and will resume paying taxes, so they'll win in the end, but I'd like to come out of this phase of my life with the satisfaction of having got as much of this money back out of the system as is humanly possible. I'm sorry if anybody is offended by the borderline sociopathic nature of these sentiments.
J

Ok as staff for DWP here goes:

If you are on JSA contributions based you will recieve a letter that will tell you that your JSA will be running out on such a date, this is because your national insurance contributions will be running out, go to your JCP when that letter arrives and get a JSA3 to claim Income based JSA in this form they will ask you for bank statements etc to show your earnings/savings and yes its means tested so you cant have a partner working over 24 hours, you cant have another income (such as renting a property etc)

If you are on JSA INCOME BASED/PENSION CREDIT/INCOME SUPPORT

You can claim a Community care grant for emergency furnishings such as cooker, washing machine etc things that you feel are a risk to health and safety or in the need following a domestic emergancy, this money does not have a set limit on it it is given to you based on the decision of a decision maker, and this money is not repayable.

You can claim your housing benefits, council tax benefits

Perscritions, NHS, Dental, Eye Tests, Optical costs.

You can claim Child tax credits / Child benefit whilst on the above.

Mothers get Milk tokens

If you have been on any of the above benefits for more than 26 weeks you can claim a budgeting loan intrest free repayable out of your benefit.
(there is a limit on the amounts you are allowed)

There you go that lot should keep you going for a while!!!

DCFC79

After reading the work supplement in 1 of teh weekends papers there was a bit about people unemployed and 1 of the unemployed said that he had found the CAB offered more advice/help than the JC as to what benefits 1 could get whilst on jsa

Dancertainier

CAB are volunteers though they are knowlegable they are not always correct and often give wrong info out so that customers are irrate when they are refused, go into your JCP Im sure they will be happy to help, we always are in ours :-)

dmg24

Dancertainier wrote: »

CAB are volunteers though they are knowlegable they are not always correct and often give wrong info out so that customers are irrate when they are refused, go into your JCP Im sure they will be happy to help, we always are in ours :-)

Sorry Dancertainier, whilst your JCP may have the resources to answer all general queries like the one above, the great majority are far too busy. Furthermore, most frontline JCP staff are not trained to deal with detailed benefit queries.

In my experience CAB advisors (both voluntary and paid) are just as qualified to give advice on benefits, if not more so, than many frontline JCP staff.

Dancertainier

dmg24 wrote: »

Sorry Dancertainier, whilst your JCP may have the resources to answer all general queries like the one above, the great majority are far too busy. Furthermore, most frontline JCP staff are not trained to deal with detailed benefit queries.

In my experience CAB advisors (both voluntary and paid) are just as qualified to give advice on benefits, if not more so, than many frontline JCP staff.

I wouldnt say just as qualified.........

dmg24

Dancertainier wrote: »

I wouldnt say just as qualified.........

Spend some more time on MSE. You will find that both CAB workers and JCP employees will agree that they are!

Johneeee

Dancertainier wrote: »

Ok as staff for DWP here goes:

If you are on JSA contributions based you will recieve a letter that will tell you that your JSA will be running out on such a date, this is because your national insurance contributions will be running out, go to your JCP when that letter arrives and get a JSA3 to claim Income based JSA in this form they will ask you for bank statements etc to show your earnings/savings and yes its means tested so you cant have a partner working over 24 hours, you cant have another income (such as renting a property etc)

Thanks,
I've dug out the letter, my contributions based JSA stops in a weeks time!
1) Does this mean I have fraudulently got free dental care and prescriptions? Will I get caught for this? It's one dental checkup and three prescriptions so not worth getting a criminal record for fraud for!
2) This means testing is the bit where they make sure I haven't got more than 6k savings and capital isn't it? I've got a car and motorcycle worth more than 6k, will they force me to sell them or lose my benefits? And what about the home I own outright worth circa £200k? Can they make me remortgage it to live off the lump sum or lose my benefits? In short I have less than 6k in bank accounts etc. on paper but all sorts of other stuff worth more than 6k. Does this mean the money I get will stop when the NI contributions run out next week?

None of the information they send through makes this very clear, it just says my class 1 contrtibutions run out in a weeks time and I will no longer be entitled to JSA.