Contribution based JSA

claire0208

Hi - I am new to MSE and just wanted some advice. I was made redundant at the end of November 2008 after 10 years with the same company. Since then I have stayed at home to look after my 2 year old son and lived off my redundancy.
Now the money has run out I am looking for a job and went to sign on the other day. I was told that as I've been out of work for 13 months I am no longer entitled to contributions based JSA even though I paid full contributions in 07/08 and 9 months contributons in 08/09. He said that they class tax years as January to December and therefore my contributions count for nothing - is this right?
I don't qualify for income based jsa as my husband has a small pension and works part time. I am quite angry about this and feel like I've been penalised for using my redundancy to live on for the last year rather than claim off the state!!
Claire.

mum-of-3

But as you said in your post you stayed at home to look after your 2yr old son so you were not looking for a job and would not as you said been able to claim off the state.
When I appled for a contributions based benefit ESA my tax record was not right and I was given the wrong information a few times about which qualifying tax years they were going to use. I dug out all my old wage slips and spoke to someone on the NI credits helpline and they were really helpful.

DX2

claire0208 wrote: »

Hi - I am new to MSE and just wanted some advice. I was made redundant at the end of November 2008 after 10 years with the same company. Since then I have stayed at home to look after my 2 year old son and lived off my redundancy.
Now the money has run out I am looking for a job and went to sign on the other day. I was told that as I've been out of work for 13 months I am no longer entitled to contributions based JSA even though I paid full contributions in 07/08 and 9 months contributons in 08/09. He said that they class tax years as January to December and therefore my contributions count for nothing - is this right?
I don't qualify for income based jsa as my husband has a small pension and works part time. I am quite angry about this and feel like I've been penalised for using my redundancy to live on for the last year rather than claim off the state!!
Claire.

You should have signed on as soon as you became redundant. You would have got 6 months CB JSA, I'm really not sure if there is anything you can do.

seven-day-weekend

You have to be looking for a job in order to claim JSA, so as you were staying at home to look after your son whether or not you were entitled to JSA is irrelevant.

Your contributions are counted from the last two complete years and these are not complete so you will not qualify for Contributions-based JSA, and there is too much income coming into the household for income-based.

dookar

claire0208 wrote: »

Hi - I am new to MSE and just wanted some advice. I was made redundant at the end of November 2008 after 10 years with the same company. Since then I have stayed at home to look after my 2 year old son and lived off my redundancy.
Now the money has run out I am looking for a job and went to sign on the other day. I was told that as I've been out of work for 13 months I am no longer entitled to contributions based JSA even though I paid full contributions in 07/08 and 9 months contributons in 08/09. He said that they class tax years as January to December and therefore my contributions count for nothing - is this right?
I don't qualify for income based jsa as my husband has a small pension and works part time. I am quite angry about this and feel like I've been penalised for using my redundancy to live on for the last year rather than claim off the state!!
Claire.

You're not being penalised.

For contributory benefits you are assessed on the last two complete tax years (relevant income tax years(RITYS)) prior to the benefit year in which you claim.

Benefit year - January to January (sunday)

Tax year - April to march

mum-of-3

DX2 wrote: »

You should have signed on as soon as you became redundant. You would have got 6 months CB JSA, I'm really not sure if there is anything you can do.

But as the OP stated they were not looking for a job but were staying at home looking after a child!

DX2

mum-of-3 wrote: »

But as the OP stated they were not looking for a job but were staying at home looking after a child!

:rolleyes: From the info that the OP has given it is VERY clear that she doesn't know how the benefit system works, cut her some slack! Hindsight is a wonderful thing maybe if she knew these options before she might not have stayed at home to look after her child.

claire0208

Thanks for some of your replies.
Yes I clearly don't know about the benefit system as I've never used it. As I stated in the original post I didn't sign on straight away as I thought the redundancy would give me the opportunity to raise my youngest child, having worked full time when the older 2 were small. I AM now looking for a job and thats why I went to sign on so its not irrelevant whether I'm entitled!
I only came on this board to ask if the information I was given was correct as it seemed a bit harsh but as its right I will just have to lump it - I don't agree with it but there you go - the system undoubtedly favours people who've never worked and I think that is highly unfair!
Claire.

seven-day-weekend

claire0208 wrote: »

Thanks for some of your replies.
Yes I clearly don't know about the benefit system as I've never used it. As I stated in the original post I didn't sign on straight away as I thought the redundancy would give me the opportunity to raise my youngest child, having worked full time when the older 2 were small. I AM now looking for a job and thats why I went to sign on so its not irrelevant whether I'm entitled!
I only came on this board to ask if the information I was given was correct as it seemed a bit harsh but as its right I will just have to lump it - I don't agree with it but there you go - the system undoubtedly favours people who've never worked and I think that is highly unfair!
Claire.

In my first post I meant it was irrelevant in the years you were looking after your child. If you are now seeking work then of course you are entitled to sign on, but unfortunately as mentioned above, you are not entitled to either receive CB JSA nor IB JSA.

Voyager2002

claire0208 wrote: »

Thanks for some of your replies.
Yes I clearly don't know about the benefit system as I've never used it. As I stated in the original post I didn't sign on straight away as I thought the redundancy would give me the opportunity to raise my youngest child, having worked full time when the older 2 were small. I AM now looking for a job and thats why I went to sign on so its not irrelevant whether I'm entitled!
I only came on this board to ask if the information I was given was correct as it seemed a bit harsh but as its right I will just have to lump it - I don't agree with it but there you go - the system undoubtedly favours people who've never worked and I think that is highly unfair!
Claire.

I agree that in this instance the system is unfair, but I don't think it favours people who've never worked. Such a person could not, under any circumstances, claim contribution-based JSA.

You are in the position of someone who has been insured and paying premiums for years without claiming; then something happens, and because of a delay in claiming the claim is refused. Not pleasant, but not a reason to discredit the insurance system as a whole.

Jomo

Hi, when I was made redundant I was advised to sign on even if I wasn't able to claim JSA to keep my NI stamps up to date. It is a shame you weren't advised the same...