JSA benefit suddenly stopped!

sweetmisery

Hi there,

Could anyone help me please?

I left my job at the end of December 2009, I was working as Support Worker at a psychiatric hospital. However, due to a combination of danger of physical and verbal abuse, a constant [potentially dangerous] lack of staff, being over-worked and under paid, and a disregard for Christmas leave, I decided to leave. The jobcentre asked under what circumstances I left and they would make a decision about whether or not I was eligible for benefits and if my reasons were sufficient.

I supplied them with the reasons I've just given. They then sent me a letter at the beginning of March saying that as of January I was eligible for JSA, and that the doubt they had about how I left my job "no longer applied".

However, today (24th April, 2010) I received a letter from them that entirely contradicts the letter from March. They refer to the decision that needed to be made regarding a doubt on how I left my previous job, and that I in fact left voluntarily and that my reasons were not "sufficiently good reasons for doing so". This decision applies from the 22nd April. My last signing on was on the 21st, which is when the letter was dated. They told me nothing about my JSA being stopped and in fact told me I had a meeting on May 5th to discuss how the jobcentre could further help with the job search.

I have no idea what's going on. I can't speak to anyone until Monday due the offices being closed, and am panicking about what this means, can they just revoke the previous decision if it had already been settled? JSA is my only income at the moment. Any help/information/advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.

passatrider

That seems a bit odd to me. If they decided that you left your job voluntarily then surely they would say it was from January?

Iam no expert on this but it does seem very unfair on you to revoke their original decision at such a late stage.
Iam not sure if they can do this but someone will be along with an answer soon I expect.

I hope you get it sorted soon!

woody01

But you chose to quit work.
Their decision is theerfore correct, and you should not be able to claim public funds because of this.

vaporate

woody01 wrote: »

But you chose to quit work.
Their decision is theerfore correct, and you should not be able to claim public funds because of this.

Hardly. Taking crap for no reason is not fair/on.

I would have done the same.

healy

woody01 wrote: »

But you chose to quit work.
Their decision is theerfore correct, and you should not be able to claim public funds because of this.

People can receive JSA if the Jobcentre DM decides that they were justified in leaving their employment.

sweetmisery

passatrider wrote: »

That seems a bit odd to me. If they decided that you left your job voluntarily then surely they would say it was from January?

Iam no expert on this but it does seem very unfair on you to revoke their original decision at such a late stage.
!

That's what I thought. I've received several letters regarding the JSA since applying for it in December, some just notifying me of subtle changes like the entitlement going up in April etc. I've been receiving it since Januarly with no issues. What bothers me is that they already said they had settled the matter in March. This letter seems so sudden. I've checked all the letters I could find from them - none of them seem to say since the March letter that they were still making a decision. I'm totally confused

skintbint_2

it may be that the first letter was your actual award letter stating that benefit would be payable which everyone gets when the benefit rate is assessed whether there is a suspension etc on the claim,basically your overall entitlement looking at your contributions etc.
the second letter sounds as though that is Decision Makers making the decision after considering all the facts, possibly writing to your old employer and that is why it would take so long.
the local benefit office would not be aware of the letter going out to you as the decision makers are not part of the local office, and the interview is the labour market side of things which everybody has to go through if "signing on" whether in receipt of benefit or not.,

hope that makes sense!

sweetmisery

Hi,

I don't think that's it, I've had several letters from them in between applying for the JSA in December and receiving the March letter. The March letter was a "Change in circumstances" letter, which referred specifically to the decision they needed to make about how I left my job.

It said "From the 7th Jan 2010, your JSA will be £X amount a week. This is because we recently told you that a decision would be made about a doubt: on how your job with [previous employer name] ended. We have now decided that this doubt no longer applies."

They use almost exactly the same wording in the March and April letters, except of course the April letter states that I have insufficient reasons.

skintbint_2

sorry, cant be more help, usually once a decision is made that is normally it, telephone them on monday, wouldn't want to surmise and give you wrong information. if that is the case ask for a reconsideration and that you dont agree with their decision as the job was detrimental to your health and wellbeing - give full examples of this and go into great detail.

good luck

skint x

woody01

vaporate wrote: »

Hardly. Taking crap for no reason is not fair/on.

I would have done the same.

You are right...it isn't!
Leaving paid employment to go on the dole isn't fair/on either though.

HappyMJ

woody01 wrote: »

You are right...it isn't!
Leaving paid employment to go on the dole isn't fair/on either though.

Leaving paid employment for a "valid" reason is fair though. The reason given for leaving seems plausible so the decison to sanction needs to be appealed against. You need to go through the jobcentre appeals process as detailed on the letter. If you are short of money in the meantime request to be paid until a final decision is made.