Help with jsa rules

suegoo

I received a letter this morning saying that my jsa may be stopped due to my not applying for a job given me by an advisor.
The job was paying £11,000 for a 37 hour week.
I explained that the bus fare would be £35 a week and I would not be left with enough to cover my basic living expences.
I would not get housing or council tax benefit as I don't have children.

Do you think that is a good enough reason for not applying or am I supposed to apply for anything regardless of whether I can live on the wage or not?

dmg24

How long have you been claiming JSA?

suegoo

Ten months

dmg24

Assuming that the job was above NMW (£11K seems a little low, but it may have been raised since the application date to reflect the NMW increase), you could not refuse to apply for the reason given.

Did you ask about what benefits you would have been entitled to before deciding not to apply? You would have still been entitled to some benefits.

suegoo

I looked at that website that tells you what you are entitled to. According to that I would not be entitled to anything.
If they stop my jsa I will have no income at all, so I really don't know what to do, will have to wait for the decision I suppose.

Oldernotwiser

There's no reason why you can't get help with housing costs, even if you don't have children. Were there no bus passes or season tickets you could've used to get to this job?

dugdale_2

I would have applied for the job even if it was just to get interview experience as you could have claimed the interview travel costs back from the jobcentre.
Ask a Jobcentre adviser to carry out a "better off calculation" as proof that you would have been worse off if you had been accepted for the position.

busy_mom_2

dugdale wrote: »

I would have applied for the job even if it was just to get interview experience as you could have claimed the interview travel costs back from the jobcentre.
Ask a Jobcentre adviser to carry out a "better off calculation" as proof that you would have been worse off if you had been accepted for the position.

If the job was full time, you could have got there within 90 mins and NMW you have no grounds to refuse I'm afraid.
They won't look at the better off calc either I'm afraid.
You will need to apply for hardship but this usually won't apply till after 4 weeks.

You wouldn't have been eligble to claim interview costs back unless the interview was 'out of your travel to work' area.

DCFC79

busy_mom wrote: »

If the job was full time, you could have got there within 90 mins and NMW you have no grounds to refuse I'm afraid.
They won't look at the better off calc either I'm afraid.
You will need to apply for hardship but this usually won't apply till after 4 weeks.

You wouldn't have been eligble to claim interview costs back unless the interview was 'out of your travel to work' area.

dugdale isnt the OP you know

dugdale_2

In my jobcentre TIS is paid for any interview travel costs exceeding £4 although the employer is contacted to ensure a) the customer actually attended the interview
b) the employer did not reimburse travel costs themselves
naturally travel tickets must be provided by the customer as proof of cost.

I think what I should have posted earlier in the thread was that the OP should have requested a better off calculation when the adviser suggested the vacancy should be applied for.
Better off calculations are carried out at my jobcentre for any customer requesting one, although they must be prebooked as an ad hoc meeting with an adviser.
Every better off calculation that I have witnessed has shown that the customer would be better off working than in benefits although I'm not disputing what the OP has posted regarding travel costs.