Job Seekers Allowance

1985dj

Hi All

My partner is currently unemployed and has been since i met her in November of last year. I work full time. We have discussed moving in together to save on both of our bills.

She went to the job centre the other day and enquired about moving in with me.

They told her that if she did, then she would lose all the benifits that she was getting now including her Job Seekeres Allowance.

She is her own person who wants to take responisbilty for herself, so why should she lose her benifits if she moves in with me?

Is this right?

karenx

Yes its right, you are a couple therefor that involves supporting each other in their hour of need. That being now when she is unemployed, you can help support her. You shouldnt base moving in together or not on whether one of you is going to lose benefits

healy

1985dj wrote: »

Hi All

My partner is currently unemployed and has been since i met her in November of last year. I work full time. We have discussed moving in together to save on both of our bills.

She went to the job centre the other day and enquired about moving in with me.

They told her that if she did, then she would lose all the benifits that she was getting now including her Job Seekeres Allowance.

She is her own person who wants to take responisbilty for herself, so why should she lose her benifits if she moves in with me?

Is this right?

It is because you are treated as a couple for benefit purposes and expected to support each other.

Jowo_2

1985dj wrote: »

She is her own person who wants to take responisbilty for herself, so why should she lose her benifits if she moves in with me?

Is this right?

Baffled by the responsibility bit - she is receiving support from the state (i.e. the public purse) and how could continuing to accept it when she moves in with you be an indicator of taking greater responsibility for herself?

when she moves in with you, you jointly take responsibility for paying your household costs. she transfers from being dependent on the state, to dependent on you...

but its still worth running your situation through the entitled to website to double check if there are any other allowances/credits unrelated to JSA.

you are correct that the benefit system is seen to penalise couples (according to those that prefer the state to support claimants rather than their loved ones) or, from another perspective, that the benefit system encourages partners to take responsibility for their loved ones instead of the tax payer.

It doesn't normally greatly impact a household financially if there are two people in it (slightly higher food bills, perhaps the loss of CT single person allowance) and you get to reap the benefits when she's in employment and there's only one lot of rent and bills to pay rather than running two households.

bunny999

1985dj wrote: »

Hi All

My partner is currently unemployed and has been since i met her in November of last year. I work full time. We have discussed moving in together to save on both of our bills.

She went to the job centre the other day and enquired about moving in with me.

They told her that if she did, then she would lose all the benifits that she was getting now including her Job Seekeres Allowance.

She is her own person who wants to take responisbilty for herself, so why should she lose her benifits if she moves in with me?

Is this right?

How romantic.

So why is she claiming benefits ? !

dmg24

1985dj wrote: »

I had purchased a Bed Frame and matress from Benson Beds in April 2009, and had it deilvered in the May when i moved into my new house. The bed was in full working order when i had it, not issues at all. However, by the end of November/beginning of December, the centre legs and bars under the bed had bent, along with the screws. I rang the store when i purchased the bed, who said they couldn't do anything, but to ring Customer Services. Upon putting the phone down to them i rang Customer Services, i told them what had happened and the parts that i required. The lady i spoke said that she needed to see photos of this just to make sure, so she gave me an email address to email the photos to. A fews days had passed before i sent the photos as i had to locate a camera and the relevant leads to my laptop. Anyway, a few days after i sent the photo i got an email back from Customer Services telling me the parts that they were sending (which were exactly what i had told them in the first place, meanwhile my partner and i sleeping on the floor).

5 days later a parcel had been delivered with the parts to fix the bed, i had been at work that day so couldnt check what was included in the parcel. I began opening the package to assemble the parts to the bed. About to assemble the parts, i realised that they had not sent the screws to put everything together. The customer service line had closed by this time so i had to wait untill the morning to tell them what was missing.

The next morning i rang Customer Services, told them what was missing. They said that the screws should have been sent with other parts and they were already on the order. Eventually they agreed to put in another order of the screws, which meant sleeping on the floor for a little longer.

A week or so had passed, and still no screws. I rang the store and told them this was not acceptable, and told them i wanted a refund. The manager said the he would personally come and deliver the screws to me that day, if i wasnt in he would post them through the letter box. Having been out all day i didnt know if he had been or not, as soon as i opened the front door i was expecting to see a package, but no, nothing, not even a note. The following day i rang the Store Manager who said that he had delivered them but left them with a neighbour. ok, so now i have the screws, the bed was assembled, so now everything was all good.

5 days after this, some of the slats decided to snap, rather than ringing Customer Services and waiting a week to get them slats, and spare me and my partner sleeping on the floor again, i rang the Store Manager, again he said that he would deliver the slats himself the following day, so i left it at that. The next day, being a Sunday, still no parts, but i was surprised at this anyway. Monday moning there is a knock at the door, the Store Manager is there, with spare slats in his hand. Great, i can fix my bed for the second time.

10 days pass, 01:00 in the morning, sound asleep, go to roll over, and the bed breaks, in the same place as it did in the first place, and a little worse this time. The centre bars had a big rip in it where the bar had bent.

I have tried to insert a photo here, but wont let me.

Not much i could do at that time apart from getting up to go and sleep on the settee, not exactly designed for 2 people to sleep on. Anyway i rang the store then next morning (WEDNESDAY) and spoke to a sales assistant. I told her that i wanted a refund on the bed. She told me there was nothing that she could do and said to ring Customer Services. I spent 30 minutes or so trying to get through to an adviser, only to be told that they dont authorise the refunds, they only sorts replacements parts. The Customer Service advisor said if i wanted a refund i would need to ring to store where i purchased the bed. Now starting to get frustrated i rang the store wanting to speak to the manager, i was told that he wasnt in untill Friday so i would have to wait till then and call back.

I rang the store back on Friday asking to speak to the manager, granted, he was back in the store. I explained my situation to him, asking him about getting a refund. He told me that he couldnt authorise this it was down to the Area Manager, he said that he would try and get in touch with him and then call me bak once he had done. All day had passed and i eventually got a phone call in the evening from the Manager telling me that he couldntn get through to the Area Manager, that he would try again and call me back by 10:00 am on the Saturday morning.

10:30 Saturday morning and still no phonecall, so i rang the Manager again (good job i get free minutes) he said that he hadnt spoke to the Area Manager yet, he would call me back as soon as he did. 15 minutes later i got a phonecall from the Manager telling me that he had spoken to the Area Manager. I was the told that the Area Manager would only offer me more replacemnet parts or a replacement bed. Not being happy with this i asked for a refund, only to be told that he coldnt do this.

Later that morning i got in touch with Citizens Advice, Trading Standards and Consumer Direct. Both Citizens advice and Consumer Direct both informed me that i was well within my right to pursue a refund. The bed is only 8 months old has broke 3 times already, and in the same place. I was told about the Sales of Goods Act, and items being fit for purpose, not conforming to contract. Having this in mind i rang the Manager back. The Manager wasnt even aware of the Sales of Goods act. After quoting this to him, he still wouldnt budge, but now he was saying that its against store policy to give refunds.

I have now put my complaint into writing, hopefully this gets something sorted, and quick and me and my partner are sleeping on the floor yet again. Is there anything else i can do?

According to your previous thread you already are living together. We do not condone fraud on MSE!

Jowo_2

To be honest, dmg24, the consumer complaint could equally apply to a previous partner or the current partner stopping over occasionally rather than benefit fraud.

Remember the forum etiquette - "Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps."

So very nicely I am happy to remind the OP that he shouldn't be much 'worse off' by buying groceries for his loved one and there is a huge capacity to make savings when she is fully independent. She doesn't 'lose' benefits, you both gain through a committed partnership.

For example, single mothers who live apart from the father's with whom they are still in a relationship with may get greater Benefits that way but lose out in other non-material ones.

PasturesNew

On the plus side, moving in with you will require a lesser income for her to be able to support herself. With £0 coming in, anything's better than £0. While she stays living alone she has to find a job that pays her JSA + Rent + CT.

This will free her up to be able to take jobs she'd have not been able to afford to take before.

You also get your meals cooked, place cleaned, tasks undertaken, errands run ... for free.

[Deleted User]

PasturesNew wrote: »

On the plus side, moving in with you will require a lesser income for her to be able to support herself. With £0 coming in, anything's better than £0. While she stays living alone she has to find a job that pays her JSA + Rent + CT.

This will free her up to be able to take jobs she'd have not been able to afford to take before.

You also get your meals cooked, place cleaned, tasks undertaken, errands run ... for free.

Thought this was about wanting the girlfriend to move in not obtaining a slave!!

Jowo_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

On the plus side, moving in with you will require a lesser income for her to be able to support herself. With £0 coming in, anything's better than £0. While she stays living alone she has to find a job that pays her JSA + Rent + CT.

This will free her up to be able to take jobs she'd have not been able to afford to take before.

You also get your meals cooked, place cleaned, tasks undertaken, errands run ... for free.

Good point, PN.

Strictly speaking she does lose approx £1.50 an hour that she would have got through JSA (if we analyse it like a wage). Therefore even if she gets a full-time minimum wage job, she more than trebles her income compared to JSA and has vastly reduced overheads, too (much lower grocery, gas/utility, broadband, telephone line, CT, etc). Kerching!

Even a part-time low paid job has the capacity to earn much more than JSA and have much less expenses when sharing a household rather than running her own.

Jowo_2

_shel wrote: »

Thought this was about wanting the girlfriend to move in not obtaining a slave!!

Sorry if this takes it off topic but we've been discussing the social contract that's in place, the notion of reciprocity and mutual support.

If her OH is in full-time work, and has a 30 minute journey, she effectively has more than 40 hours free time compared to him who is picking up her tab with the shared groceries.

If we are promoting mutually beneficial dependence, then I think it is incumbant on her to reciprocate in ways that she can.

I'm not being absurd - my partner and I are self-employed so can have void periods of no contract and it is a virtually unspoken and automatic thing that the working one picks up the tab and the non-working one does the household errands.