Can't Claim JSA?!

danjones

Looking for a bit of advice for a mess that my housemate has managed to get himself into. He accepted a new job and put his notice through on his old one. The company accepted his notice and that was that. The new employer wanted a CRB completed before he could start work. The lady who was supposed to be doing his CRB became ill, then had a berevement and hence the crb has only gone in a week ago. Now my housemate has found himself unemployed and struggling to pay the rent.

He went to the JobCentre and explained his situation to them, they filled in forms for council tax, housing allowance and also JSA so he could claim. We had a letter through yesterday explaining he could not claim JSA because he has not paid enough Class 1 NIC last year.

Can anyone shed some light on what Class 1 NIC is, the government website is exceptionally confusing and what can he claim for?

Thanks
Dan

dmg24

He will need to claim income based JSA instead. Does he have savings over £6,000? He should be aware that he is expected to be seeking other work whilst claiming JSA.

NASA_2

danjones wrote: »

Looking for a bit of advice for a mess that my housemate has managed to get himself into. He accepted a new job and put his notice through on his old one. The company accepted his notice and that was that. The new employer wanted a CRB completed before he could start work. The lady who was supposed to be doing his CRB became ill, then had a berevement and hence the crb has only gone in a week ago. Now my housemate has found himself unemployed and struggling to pay the rent.

He went to the JobCentre and explained his situation to them, they filled in forms for council tax, housing allowance and also JSA so he could claim. We had a letter through yesterday explaining he could not claim JSA because he has not paid enough Class 1 NIC last year.

Can anyone shed some light on what Class 1 NIC is, the government website is exceptionally confusing and what can he claim for?

Thanks
Dan

Class one NIC's are the contributions that employers make for someone who is employed by them. Basically he hasnt earned enough over the relevant period and is entitled to !!!! all based on his NIC's.

Assuming he has a partner or savings though if he didnt claim JSA(IB).

danjones

Well, hes not sure what he applied for! He has no savings or partner so i suppose that will help him in getting income based JSA. We only had the contribution based one through. I can't belive the benefits system, hes out of work a month and we can't get anything whereas you have some people who have never worked get everything! I would assume myself being a housemate my income won't be counted as being "household" as we don't share income?

Thanks for your help so far!

NASA_2

danjones wrote: »

Well, hes not sure what he applied for! He has no savings or partner so i suppose that will help him in getting income based JSA. We only had the contribution based one through. I can't belive the benefits system, hes out of work a month and we can't get anything whereas you have some people who have never worked get everything! I would assume myself being a housemate my income won't be counted as being "household" as we don't share income?

Thanks for your help so far!

Maybe my ever present cynicism coming into play but the word in bold caught my attention.

Assuming you arent a couple and just sharing accomodation then they are unlikely to take your income into account but may look further into living circumstances.

If he claimed just JSA(C) then it will be his own fault that there is no income available for him when he could have claimed JSA(IB).

danjones

Haha, i knew that would have been flagged up straight away as soon a i wrote it :P. We are purely housemates sharing with one other as well. Can he still claim IBJSA now that he's tried to claim CJSA?

NASA_2

danjones wrote: »

Haha, i knew that would have been flagged up straight away as soon a i wrote it :P. We are purely housemates sharing with one other as well. Can he still claim IBJSA now that he's tried to claim CJSA?

Yeah, he will need to request a JSA3 form, which can be requested from DWP.

Do you have seperate tenancy agreements?

danjones

All of our names are on one agreement as all of us share a house. He should be able to get a form from the Jobcentre?

MsDee

Sorry to hijack, but out of interest what 'isn't enough' NI contributions to ensure that you are entitled to.

I've tried to google it and to no avail, am just trying to work out how they work out whether you have paid enough in NI contributions and are entitled to contributiob based JSA.

Thanks

NASA_2

danjones wrote: »

All of our names are on one agreement as all of us share a house. He should be able to get a form from the Jobcentre?

Yeah, he should be able to.

absent_dad

He accepted a new job and put his notice through on his old one.
This could get you unstuck claiming ib-jsa as you may be deemed as making yourself voluntarily unemployed.
The rules governing voluntary leavers are applied like a two stage test.
If the adviser at the JC thinks you may have left your job voluntarily, in your case ‘put in his notice’ you may be asked to complete a form giving your version of events, and your former employer might also be asked for their version.
The papers will be passed to a decision maker.
If the decision maker rules that you left your last job voluntarily, you may be barred from claiming JSA for 26 weeks.
However, if you can show that you had just cause for leaving then the decision maker may rule that you receive JSA immediately.
Just cause could occur if you were being paid less than the national minimum wage or are alleging some form of workplace discrimination. Leaving your last employment hoping to secure a promised job that did not transpire may not be ‘good cause’
Proving just cause is not straightforward, and you must show that you have asked your employer to rectify the situation prior to leaving your job.

Contribution based job seekers allowance
There are two main contribution conditions:
1) You must actually have paid Class 1 National Insurance contributions with an earnings factor of at least 25 times the lower earnings level in one of the two relevant contribution years.
Class 1 National Insurance contributions are only paid by somebody working for an employer (not self-employed).
Earnings factor of at least 25 times the lower earnings level means that, for example, in 2003/04 you must have paid 25 x £77 = £1,925.
Relevant contribution year runs from April to April in the two years prior to the date of claim. The benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January to the end of the first Saturday in the following January.
2) The second contribution condition is that in each of the relevant contribution years you must have either paid or been credited with Class 1 contributions with an earnings factor of at least 50 times the lower earnings limit for that year.
In 2003/04 this was 50 x £77, which is £3,850.
Even if the contribution conditions are satisfied, contribution based job seekers allowance may not be paid at the start of or during the claim for several reasons:

• The full time work rule
• Waiting days
• Other benefits
• Absence from Great Britain
• Capacity for work
• Availability and actively seeking work
• Misconduct or leaving previous job voluntarily
• Failure to take up a job or training
• Personal occupational pension

Hope this helps

Good luck