Job Seekers Allowence Eligibility??

mark555

Hi

new user, posting a question about JSA.

I had studied at Uni and left with a Degree in science, but it looks as if that was a complete waste of time, because after a few jobs and being forced from tha last one completely against my will nearly a year ago, I have been signing on for nearly a year now, and completely fed up with it..with no joy in finding ANYTHING relevant to education.

Now I'm being referred to this community task force thing, which I dont fancy at all, this looks like this is going to be a irrelevant waste of time , and I dont fancy having to be in some sort of group with a bunch of anti-social , disreputable chavs again who can barely read or write.....or speak, ( I know what these classes are like, even if its only to last a week)
I dont want to sound , and I am definately not toffee nosed but it is the truth.......

Now, I know if I dont bother with the CTF ,they will stop / sanction the JSA, however, I know that if the JSA is stopped you can ask to claim Hardship allowance.

I know its a reduced rate, but without going into all of my personal circumstances, it wouldnt make too much difference to financial things as it is.
If the council tax / rent office dont see my income ( if the JSA is sanctioned / stopped), they will 'probably' charge the full rate of tax and rent because they cant calculate it with a figure of £0.00 basically., which there is absolutely now way we can afford to pay full rent / tax.
This would be avoided if I was able to clain hardship allowance, as they would have a sensible figure to base their calculation on.

Question is: would it be possible to .........Ignore the community task force , and they can sanction the 'full JSA' all they like, claim the hardship allowance and still be able to pay my digs...just, and then be able to continue looking for allmost ANY employment unhindered, in the hope of finding something, and signing off?

dmg24

mark555 wrote: »

Hi

new user, posting a question about JSA.

I had studied at Uni and left with a Degree in science, but it looks as if that was a complete waste of time, because after a few jobs and being forced from tha last one completely against my will nearly a year ago, I have been signing on for nearly a year now, and completely fed up with it..with no joy in finding ANYTHING relevant to education.

Now I'm being referred to this community task force thing, which I dont fancy at all, this looks like this is going to be a irrelevant waste of time , and I dont fancy having to be in some sort of group with a bunch of anti-social , disreputable chavs again who can barely read or write.....or speak, ( I know what these classes are like, even if its only to last a week)
I dont want to sound , and I am definately not toffee nosed but it is the truth.......

Now, I know if I dont bother with the CTF ,they will stop / sanction the JSA, however, I know that if the JSA is stopped you can ask to claim Hardship allowance.

I know its a reduced rate, but without going into all of my personal circumstances, it wouldnt make too much difference to financial things as it is.
If the council tax / rent office dont see my income ( if the JSA is sanctioned / stopped), they will 'probably' charge the full rate of tax and rent because they cant calculate it with a figure of £0.00 basically., which there is absolutely now way we can afford to pay full rent / tax.
This would be avoided if I was able to clain hardship allowance, as they would have a sensible figure to base their calculation on.

Question is: would it be possible to .........Ignore the community task force , and they can sanction the 'full JSA' all they like, claim the hardship allowance and still be able to pay my digs...just, and then be able to continue looking for allmost ANY employment unhindered, in the hope of finding something, and signing off?

Perhaps you should give the CTF a go? At least the anti-social , disreputable chavs would not be as bigoted as you are - you may learn something.

mark555

LIsten, 2.5 years ago, I was referred to one of these classes, after I couldnt find anything, the other 12 people in the class just sat and swore, shouted, smuggled in alcohol / drugs which they consumed at break time , and I was very unhappy at being there, the class was also told that if their 'personal hygeine wasnt up to standard' theyd be sent home.

THAT was the sort of group I was in , and it was very demeaning, as that was the sort that this agency would be dealing with, they almost expected it, sorry if is sounds arrogant, but I'm definately wasnt one of them. , I kept my mouth shut when I was there as much as possible, to avoid anything unpleasant.

As a result of that experiance , I cetrainly dont want to go through that again, and if I have to get a little less money to avoid that, it would be worth it I'd say.

I dont mind the work placement idea that might be usefull, but its basically the revival of a very uncomfortable experience, as there is 5 hours of some sort of job search class each week.

I'd be gratefull to an answer of my original question please.

sunnyone

mark555 wrote: »

Hi

new user, posting a question about JSA.

I had studied at Uni and left with a Degree in science, but it looks as if that was a complete waste of time, because after a few jobs and being forced from tha last one completely against my will nearly a year ago, I have been signing on for nearly a year now, and completely fed up with it..with no joy in finding ANYTHING relevant to education.

Now I'm being referred to this community task force thing, which I dont fancy at all, this looks like this is going to be a irrelevant waste of time , and I dont fancy having to be in some sort of group with a bunch of anti-social , disreputable chavs again who can barely read or write.....or speak, ( I know what these classes are like, even if its only to last a week)
I dont want to sound , and I am definately not toffee nosed but it is the truth.......

Now, I know if I dont bother with the CTF ,they will stop / sanction the JSA, however, I know that if the JSA is stopped you can ask to claim Hardship allowance.

I know its a reduced rate, but without going into all of my personal circumstances, it wouldnt make too much difference to financial things as it is.
If the council tax / rent office dont see my income ( if the JSA is sanctioned / stopped), they will 'probably' charge the full rate of tax and rent because they cant calculate it with a figure of £0.00 basically., which there is absolutely now way we can afford to pay full rent / tax.
This would be avoided if I was able to clain hardship allowance, as they would have a sensible figure to base their calculation on.

Question is: would it be possible to .........Ignore the community task force , and they can sanction the 'full JSA' all they like, claim the hardship allowance and still be able to pay my digs...just, and then be able to continue looking for allmost ANY employment unhindered, in the hope of finding something, and signing off?[/QUOTE]

If the JSA wont make much diffrence to your finances then pay your own rent and council tax if you dont want to fulfil your obligations under your JSA contract.

Almost any job? In a year you havnt found a job, what makes you think that one will be along anytime soon?

sunnyone

mark555 wrote: »

LIsten, 2.5 years ago, I was referred to one of these classes, after I couldnt find anything, the other 12 people in the class just sat and swore, shouted, smuggled in alcohol / drugs which they consumed at break time , and I was very unhappy at being there, the class was also told that if their 'personal hygeine wasnt up to standard' theyd be sent home.

THAT was the sort of group I was in , and it was very demeaning, as that was the sort that this agency would be dealing with, they almost expected it, sorry if is sounds arrogant, but I'm definately wasnt one of them. , I kept my mouth shut when I was there as much as possible, to avoid anything unpleasant.

As a result of that experiance, I cetrainly dont want to go through that again, and if I have to get a little less money to avoid that, it would be worth it I'd say.

I'd be gratefull to an answer of my original question please.

So this is your latest longterm spell of employment then?

You need all the help you can get to get a job then.

dmg24

mark555 wrote: »

LIsten, 2.5 years ago, I was referred to one of these classes, after I couldnt find anything, the other 12 people in the class just sat and swore, shouted, smuggled in alcohol / drugs which they consumed at break time , and I was very unhappy at being there, the class was also told that if their 'personal hygeine wasnt up to standard' theyd be sent home.

THAT was the sort of group I was in , and it was very demeaning, as that was the sort that this agency would be dealing with, they almost expected it, sorry if is sounds arrogant, but I'm definately wasnt one of them. , I kept my mouth shut when I was there as much as possible, to avoid anything unpleasant.

As a result of that experiance, I cetrainly dont want to go through that again, and if I have to get a little less money to avoid that, it would be worth it I'd say.

I'd be gratefull to an answer of my original question please.

You really need to look at your attitude towards other people. In your working life you will come across all sorts of different people, some who might smell, and many who have literacy and communication problems. It does not make them any less of a person than you are.

I really think the CTF could be a productive experience for you.

mark555

I wasnt slating the other people that attended that class on the basis of their education or whatever they smelled like, it was the ADVISOR on the class that mentioned it!
It was the fact that they had absolutely no interest and the outbursts of swearing and aforementioned anti-social behaviour that was INTIMIDATING to be in amongst.
The drinking that took place on the stairwell that you had to pass was INTIMIDATING.


I have a perfectly good attitude towards other people, and have got on very well with people at previous work and Uni etc.....


Its having to attend something with people behaving like what Ive just described is that THEY are the ones who need to change THEIR attitude / behaviour.

The JC fine well knew what went on in those classes as the advisor basically said beforehand that was what went on.
All the rules that they gave out at the start of those classes: no swearing, shouting, weapons, drugs, drink etc........, to be brought in, were ignored / flouted by almost all of the rest of them, it was in one ear and out the other.

You wouldnt come accross these people in your ' working life' as you put it dmg24, as no employer would put up with that sort of misconduct, so why should it be tolerated?


Ill probably be critisised again, but I can tell you that these were EXACTLY the sort of people you see hanging about in streets corners , drinking, causing disturbances, damage and any other reckless criminality etc.........

When you behave sensibly , responsibly and safely like the MAJORITY of society in general, you would be unhappy in such surroundings especially when forced upon you.
If you saw a crowd in the street behaving like this , you would, if you have any sense, go another way or cross the road to avoid it.


If anyone can then go on to describe how such a class where that sort of behaviour is expected to go on is beneficial, then well done to them.


I havent been out of work constantly for 2.5 years, its less than 1 year when I was forced out of my last job ( which I did for over 1 year), and have been unable to find work that I'd studied for, only for the last wee while I'm looking for just about anything.

Its bad when OTHER peoples UNNACEPTABLE behaviour causes such an unpleasant experience , when it is actually deemed to be beneficial.

If anyone can then go on to describe how such a class where that sort of behaviour is expected and you learn NOTHING because of the behaviour, is beneficial, then well done to them.



PLease can we now put all that to rest and get back to the finance point.

I dont pay the rent and tax in my house, its the person I live with that does at the minimum rate, I pay the digs.

The council office what knows my 'income' is (JSA just now) , that figure allows them to calculate that the lowest rate of tax and rent is what they can charge us.

What Im saying is that if JSA were stopped / sanctioned ( or I signed off,whatever) they would then charge the highest rate of tax and rent , because they would claim ' not to know ' what my income is if there is no numerical value to base it on.

If I can claim the hardship allowance ( by ignoring the CTF basically due to all the above ramble) , then that would still be just enough to pay what I can in digs AND the council would have a sensible number, other than zero to calculate, and the rent and tax would stay the same.

AsknAnswer2

Hardship isn't a given, particularly where a sanction exists for failure to follow a direction. There has to be reasonable grounds to grant hardship; it is very rarely awarded.

On what grounds would you be claiming hardship?

seven-day-weekend

As AsknAnswer says, you can't be sanctioned for not complying with the terms of one Benefit, then claim another on grounds of hardship.

steph911

Hiya not sure if you can help but I'm after any advice I can get my hands on.

My husband knew that his job was coming to an end so we made the choice for him to work away from us and stay with family while he does and he comes home on the weekend. We knew it was going to be hard but becoming unemployed was not an option he wanted.

Our 4 year old understands that daddy has to go to work to earn pennies for us to have nice things but over the last week she has become really clingy and has started biting!! The reason he moved is there is no work in our area and the to commute every day makes it pointless working and he still wouldn't be with the children. We have talked over the weekend about him leaving his job and coming home but we know this will effect getting JSA. So I'm just looking for some advice on if he leaves his job would he be entitled to anything or do we just have to keep going and hope it gets better. I don't want to be slated on this as I know it was our decision for him to work away and we knew it wouldn't go without its problems but surely it would be better to be broke and our children happy than our daughter becoming a monster.

Many thanks in advance for any help xx