JSA Query

valleylass

Hi

My Ex OH has is going to made redundant and is going to need to claim JSA. He has redundancy of £6500 due, and savings of £1500, so this takes him over the limit of £6k

He has a car loan of £4K which he wants to pay off-he'll need to keep the car in order to get to work and he also owes me £3k for the payments I've made on the mortgage since we've spilt up-i'm able to evidence that this money has been paid by me into our joint account which we've kept going whilst we're still trying to sell our property.

If he was to pay everything off would his JSA then be based upon his remaining savings of £1k? or would it still be based upon the total figure of £8k?

Also what would happen if we finally manage to sell the property? We're still on good terms and although the house is in his name any profit made from the sale of the property are to be split 50/50 after we have paid off money owed to my parents who helped us out with renovation costs. If he was still on benefits would he also need to declare this-would they take into consideration that the profits are being split 50/50 and there is money to be paid back to my parents?

Apologies for any stupid questions, this is a new situation to us and we want to ensure that we're doing everything correctly and he's also getting everything he's entitled to

Thanks

dookar

I think there are four issues here:

1. Car loan

2. Money owed to you

3. House sale

4. Money owed to your parents.

I think 1 would be seen as deprivation, unless the lender is demanding payment in full?

The others, I think, would only not be deprivation if he can demonstrate that the other parties have a legal claim to the monies

valleylass

Hi

Thanks for the reply.
Again apologies for a stupid question what do you mean by deprivation? Is it "getting rid of the money" in order to claim benefits????

With regards to the car loan no payment is being demanded its just an opportunity for him to clear his debts without thinking that he has to find £200 a month to cover the cost of the loan. He does have payment protection on the loan but if given the opportunity he would like to clear it.

How would we demonstrate that my parents and I have a legal claim to the money. Like I said everything is on good terms and the money lent to my parents was given in good faith in order for us to undertake renovations, with the understanding that we would repay them once we were in a position to do so. Once the house sells we'll be in that position. My name isnt on any of the documentation relating to the house-although I can evidence that I have contributed to bills for the last 4 years or so since I moved in.

TIA

dookar

No such thing as a stupid question

Yes, deprivation of capital is disposing of funds in order to obtain or increase entitlement to benefits. This is far from my area of expertise but as there is no actual requirement to pay off the loan, doing so could attract an adverse decision.

Also, regarding yourself and your parents, is anything in writing? I know families don't normally formalise things like that but it would help greatly if you had a contract stating what monies would be paid to whom on sale of the house.

valleylass

:AThanks again for replying!

You'll start to wish you hadnt when I ask more questions!:o

Looking at the jobsentre website I think he's eligible for contribution based JSA as he has been in FT employment for the last 5 years, if the max rate is £64,30 how would his savings affect that amount? What happens over time as the amount of his savings decrease with the cost of living etc? Or if the car needs repairs etc?

Thankfully he doesnt have expensive tastes and other than a car loan and a mortgage which I'm covering he has no other debts, but I would have thought that the longer he is unemployed the more his savings will decrease.

Does this mean that the amount he receives for JSA will then be reviewed?

dookar

If he gets cont based JSA then please ignore everything i've said

It's not affected by capital.

valleylass

No problem thanks for all your help, I appreciate it:beer:

Its a confusing system to understand, hopefully he'll find employment soon! :rolleyes: