Got a job! Start next month. Can I still claim?

trevormax

dookar wrote: »

No it wouldn't those are the rules. why can he not work for the next three week? In what way does the prospective job stop that?

And how is he going to find a job, apply for it, attend an interview, get the job and then start working within 3 weeks? He would be there at most a couple days. The jobs market isn't exactly overflowing with jobs at the moment.

It's not like they can just walk into a shop and say "Hello, I am gonna start a job in a few weeks but can I work here while I wait?"

dookar

trevormax wrote: »

And how is he going to find a job, apply for it, attend an interview, get the job and then start working within 3 weeks? He would be there at most a couple days. The jobs market isn't exactly overflowing with jobs at the moment.

It's not like they can just walk into a shop and say "Hello, I am gonna start a job in a few weeks but can I work here while I wait?"

The requirement is to be available for and seek work. The question is is the claimant available for work, not is there work available for the claimant.

As long as you continue to receive the allowance you must continue to adhere to the rules. The OP could even only seek temporary work and satisfy the rules, to simply not do anything is wrong.

Bamber19

trevormax wrote: »

And how is he going to find a job, apply for it, attend an interview, get the job and then start working within 3 weeks? He would be there at most a couple days. The jobs market isn't exactly overflowing with jobs at the moment.

It's not like they can just walk into a shop and say "Hello, I am gonna start a job in a few weeks but can I work here while I wait?"

Alright, and when the job offer is withdrawn on the friday before the monday he's meant to start, what then? Would he not be happier if he'd still been looking for work for the previous 3 weeks and had applied for a job that was available then but not anymore?

It's not a common occurance, but it's not unheard of.

In addition when you tell the jobcentre that you've found a job they don't ask for or require proof of this so this would be open to abuse "Yeah, i've got a job starting in a month" then do nothing for a month and provide no evidence of jobseeking before "That job fell through"

kelloggs36

dookar wrote: »

The requirement is to be available for and seek work. The question is is the claimant available for work, not is there work available for the claimant.

As long as you continue to receive the allowance you must continue to adhere to the rules. The OP could even only seek temporary work and satisfy the rules, to simply not do anything is wrong.

Reality is very different from the theory of all these policies though. It is as Trevor says, no employer will actually employ the OP when they say that they already have a job to start, but just so he satisfies the jobcentre; he is happy to take the job they have on offer for a couple of days, then they can re-list the vacancy and pay out all the advertising etc again. The OP is clearly living in the real world. The JC won't enforce the OP to be looking for a job when he says he has a start date - provided he can provide evidence of the offer.

dookar

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Reality is very different from the theory of all these policies though. It is as Trevor says, no employer will actually employ the OP when they say that they already have a job to start, but just so he satisfies the jobcentre; he is happy to take the job they have on offer for a couple of days, then they can re-list the vacancy and pay out all the advertising etc again. The OP is clearly living in the real world. The JC won't enforce the OP to be looking for a job when he says he has a start date - provided he can provide evidence of the offer.

Firstly, you misunderstand me. Secondly, you are so wrong I'm laughing.

I am saying the OP could seek temporary work - a day, week whatever at a time, no need to tell an employer with a permanent vacancy that he only can do three weeks.

And, yes, the 'JC' as an organisation will enforce exactly that. I can't comment on what individual members of that organisation will or will not do.

trevormax

dookar wrote: »

The requirement is to be available for and seek work. The question is is the claimant available for work, not is there work available for the claimant.

As long as you continue to receive the allowance you must continue to adhere to the rules. The OP could even only seek temporary work and satisfy the rules, to simply not do anything is wrong.

But the OP IS available for work. In fact, the OP has succeded in finding employment which is the ultimate goal of JSA and will be making sure he is available to start work in 3 weeks. The OP has not said he is making himself unavailable for work, but has pointed out that as he has a start date in 3 weeks, it would be pointless to continue seeking other employment as it is highly unlikely he would be able to find and start a job in that amount of time. Sadly these imaginary temporary jobs you seem to think exist, the ones where people can just walk in off the streets and start right away without even going through the recruitment, induction or training proccess, they dont exist.

dookar wrote: »

Firstly, you misunderstand me. Secondly, you are so wrong I'm laughing.

I am saying the OP could seek temporary work - a day, week whatever at a time, no need to tell an employer with a permanent vacancy that he only can do three weeks.

As I have said, it is very difficult to get a job at the moment. In the real world it is not as simple as you say for the OP to just do temporary work for a week. You are forgetting that there is a recruitment proccess for 99% of the jobs out there. The OP would work at most a few days. If the start date was not for another 2-3 months though, then yes I would think it a good idea to continue seeking employments as there is enough time to find a job.

Bamber19 wrote: »

Alright, and when the job offer is withdrawn on the friday before the monday he's meant to start, what then? Would he not be happier if he'd still been looking for work for the previous 3 weeks and had applied for a job that was available then but not anymore?

It's not a common occurance, but it's not unheard of.

This would depend on the job offer. Like you say, it is not a common occurance so really the OP is taking a gamble that the job wont be pulled.

Bamber19 wrote: »

In addition when you tell the jobcentre that you've found a job they don't ask for or require proof of this so this would be open to abuse "Yeah, i've got a job starting in a month" then do nothing for a month and provide no evidence of jobseeking before "That job fell through"

I agree it is open to abuse, something that can easily be helped by requiring people to bring in some form of evidence to say they have got a job. This could be the success letter, or a phone number for the HR dept of the employer offering the job.

dookar wrote: »

And, yes, the 'JC' as an organisation will enforce exactly that. I can't comment on what individual members of that organisation will or will not do.

Well I can comment on individual members of staff. From my own and several others experiences, the JC staff will use common sense, ask a few questions about the job and maybe note it down.

Bamber19

trevormax wrote: »

As I have said, it is very difficult to get a job at the moment. In the real world it is not as simple as you say for the OP to just do temporary work for a week. You are forgetting that there is a recruitment proccess for 99% of the jobs out there. The OP would work at most a few days. If the start date was not for another 2-3 months though, then yes I would think it a good idea to continue seeking employments as there is enough time to find a job.

I appreciate that jobs are not abundant right now but it is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that someone could be offered temp work on a Friday to start on the Monday without any interview.

trevormax wrote: »

This would depend on the job offer. Like you say, it is not a common occurance so really the OP is taking a gamble that the job wont be pulled.

It's not really up to the OP to take that gamble though, with jobs so scarce you should continue applying for everything you can until you are actually sitting in your chair at work and have started the job.

I know that a lot of people are struggling to find something in their field so it would seem incredibly stupid to take that gamble, ignore an advertised job that fits you perfectly and then find your job offer is pulled and a matching job doesn't get advertised again for another couple of months.

It sounds unreasonable initially, but i'd expect most intelligent people, if they actually thought about it, would realise it makes sense, especially in the current economic climate.

krisskross

Congratulations on the job! Have you checked any possible run on of benefits to tide you over until 1st paycheque?

dookar

trevormax wrote: »

waffle

Again, claimants must be available for work, not the other way around.

To continue to receive JSA he must continue to seek work.

The JC staff have no right to exercise 'common sense' they are duty bound to act within the current legislation.

Max_Headroom_3

Sorry, been away for a long weekend with The Blonde, not jobseeking, ooh slapped wrists!

Dookar, I'd be very interested to know what you do for a living, I'm guessing public sector rather than real world?

It's taken me four long hard months to land a job, there's a massive recession going on out here mate. The chances of just casually picking up another job within a couple of days, starting immediately, and then stopping again a few days later might be great in theory, but ludicrous in practice.

I'm due to sign on this week so I think I'll tell them the score and see what they advise. I'll report back.