Job seekers allowance

sac0018

My husband was made redundant and opted to take his pension at the age of 55. He applied for job seekers allowance having been told he could apply for it, and has now been turned down. Reason given that he has an income from his pension. We thought it was not reliant on income, only on NI contibutions. The letter received was very confusing also on the first page it said we are pleased to tell you that you are entitled to JSA and that it would be paid into his bank account, then on the very last page it said that he wasn't entitled to it due to his income. Where do we go from here?

Loobysaver

How much pension does he receive??

healy

sac0018 wrote: »

My husband was made redundant and opted to take his pension at the age of 55. He applied for job seekers allowance having been told he could apply for it, and has now been turned down. Reason given that he has an income from his pension. We thought it was not reliant on income, only on NI contibutions. The letter received was very confusing also on the first page it said we are pleased to tell you that you are entitled to JSA and that it would be paid into his bank account, then on the very last page it said that he wasn't entitled to it due to his income. Where do we go from here?

This is correct, for contribution based JSA a pension of over £50 per week is taken into account and benefit is reduced £ for £ if the pension is over £50.

sac0018

It is more than £50, but we can't find anything on the gov. website that says anything about occupational pensions are taken into account. Very misleading, income assessed I can understand, but not JSA. Surely the outcome of my husbands entitlement has been based on his income. He has not retired, by the way, he is looking for work.

tonypop

This is correct,however I suspect if he claims cont & IB he will also not be entitled as you are deemed to have too much money coming in.

healy

sac0018 wrote: »

It is more than £50, but we can't find anything on the gov. website that says anything about occupational pensions are taken into account. Very misleading, income assessed I can understand, but not JSA. Surely the outcome of my husbands entitlement has been based on his income. He has not retired, by the way, he is looking for work.

It is on there somewhere, the rule came in some years ago. His entitlement is based on his income, his pension income.

Loobysaver

Basically if his pension is over £114.30 a week then you won't be entitled to any jsa benefit if my calculations are right

dookar

sac0018 wrote: »

The letter received was very confusing also on the first page it said we are pleased to tell you that you are entitled to JSA and that it would be paid into his bank account, then on the very last page it said that he wasn't entitled to it due to his income. Where do we go from here?

He is entitled, but has been nilled due to his income.

theartfullodger

He might get his "stamp" paid for though, if he's happy to sign on regularly,..

Suggest he gets a Pension forecast: If he's already at the pension maximum amount there's no point in getting "the stamp" paid for...

theartfullodger

see..
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/StatePensionforecast/DG_10014008

Sorry to hear he's lost his job... tough one that

Bogof_Babe

Just out of interest, if he had chosen not to draw his company pension yet even though he was allowed to, does that mean he would have qualified for JSA? Seems a bit arbitrary if that is so.