Can I go on the 'dole'?

kittiwoz

I think she can provided she is 18. You have to be seeking full time employment to claim JSA but I'm not aware of any stipulation it must be permanent employment though I could be wrong. I gather from friends who have claimed or are in the process of claiming JSA that it an extremely bureaucratic process and it takes quite a while from first claiming to first payment.

As far as the view expoused by a few people here that one should be ashamed to claim JSA and avoid it for that reason I must disagree. JSA provides essential subsistence income while you are seeking work and if you are genuinely unemployed and looking for a job you are entitled to JSA and should not be ashamed to apply for it anymore than anyone should be ashamed to apply for any other form of benefit. I myself spent a Summer between courses looking for, and failing to find, work. I did a week and a half in a call centre but didn't make any money because I had to work a week in hand for wich I was never paid. During that Summer I didn't clain JSA because I was too proud and I thought that I would be able to find temping work since I have good A-levels and a degree. In fact I ended up living off savings I needed to support myself during my course. I also had to pay three months worth of council tax since I was between courses with only a 25% discount since my housemates are all students. If I had claimed JSA I would also have been able to claim council tax benefit. I lost a lot of money because I was too proud to claim JSA and yet I ended up working in telesales for a week where, like the other workers, I was deliberatley degraded constantly. Now the only thing I'm ashamed of about that Summer is that I thought I was somehow better than friends of mine who have been on JSA. If I am unemployed again I won't hesitate to seek whatever benefits I am entitled to. I will pay my debts back to society when I am employed and a taxpayer myself.

Crispy_Ambulance

jimbo19 wrote:

My daughter is going to start Uni in September - she is looking for a job in the meantime , but has not found one yet . Can she receive JSA ?
She finished her A levels a couple of weeks ago

School leavers can usually claim JSA from the first benefit week in September until term starts. She should contact your local Jobcentre Plus for more details.

Diamond_In_The_Dirt

i am not condoning cheating the benefits system...but can someone please advise...

we all know that students can't get income support or sign on... but how exactly would the dss know if someones in education or not?!

chicken66_2

greedybassa i'd be very surprised if you'd get temping work, the agencies are bursting at the seams with students who have signed up for the summer, and from my experiences this summer there are less temping vacancies around than there usually are. Give it a try...but just warning you!

Voyager2002

Diamond_In_The_Dirt wrote:

i am not condoning cheating the benefits system...but can someone please advise...

we all know that students can't get income support or sign on... but how exactly would the dss know if someones in education or not?!

One of the first things they ask, is what job the claimant was doing last. (And if they were sacked for misconduct or chose to give up work, they are barred from the dole for a "waiting period".)

However, the OP has just left a job, an industrial placement. My guess is that he is therefore eligible for the dole, but hard questions would be asked about why he left his placement. My guess is that any money he received would be too little to justify the amount of time and effort that claiming would involve.