Can my parents give me money while I am on JSA?

mariobasler

Hi

I am on JSA. I am very close to my overdraft limit so my parents have loaned me about £1000 in cash since Christmas to pay for food etc. I have paid back about £450 of this to them. (I paid it through my bank account, I make about £150 a month extra from housing benefit because my rent is low - hey, I didn't make the rules).

As it is a loan I have not informed the job centre. However, because I have bought all my food and household things with cash I have not withdrawn any money in this time. Can I get into trouble for this? I am seriously in debt and live hand to mouth so I would guess its clear I have no money but I don't know how it works.

karenx

If its regular money then yes you need to tell them and your JSA will be deducted accordingly

Fang_3

So to the JS is will look as if you've been paying money to your parents from your bank account?

mariobasler

karenx wrote: »

If its regular money then yes you need to tell them and your JSA will be deducted accordingly

It's not regular money, it was 3 cash loans of about £300 they gave me at the start of the year to help me out (dss messed up my claim by not telling council i wanted to make a housing benefit claim along with JSA which took months to sort out).

I paid parents £450 back when my claim got sorted out and my parents said just to keep the other £450 until I could afford to give it back.

Fang wrote: »

So to the JS is will look as if you've been paying money to your parents from your bank account?

yeah that's what it will look like to them I guess.

Prinzessilein

mariobasler wrote: »

Hi

As it is a loan I have not informed the job centre..

....you are supposed to tell the JC+ if you have a loan...and how much you are repaying. (Unless they have recently changed the rules on this)


You say you are near the overdraft limit at the bank...can you not use your 'excess' Housing Benefit, which you said is £150 a month to reduce this - and pay something off your debts, and then live just off your Jobseekers?

karenx

DSS didnt muck it up at all. Its up to you to ask the council for a claim form yourself and fill it out and send it back.

karenx

Prinzessilein wrote: »

....you are supposed to tell the JC+ if you have a loan...and how much you are repaying. (Unless they have recently changed the rules on this)

JSA doesnt take into account debts and loans you have to pay. Your JSA money is there for utilitys and food. Whether you had a loan of £500 you pay a month or £50 it doesnt matter to them.
And I would guess a loan from parents wouldnt make any difference as its not urgent to pay it back

mariobasler

karenx wrote: »

DSS didnt muck it up at all. Its up to you to ask the council for a claim form yourself and fill it out and send it back.

Hi, that's not how it works. When you make a phone claim for JSA they ask you whether you also want to make a claim for housing benefit. They are then supposed to forward this information to the council so as to save you from having to provide the same information twice. Perhaps you are unaware of this.

They did note that they were supposed to forward the details for me but they didn't do it and therefore they did muck it up. They have admitted this in a letter and paid me compensation for it. The compensation didn't even cover my bank costs but there you go.

mariobasler

Prinzessilein wrote: »

You say you are near the overdraft limit at the bank...can you not use your 'excess' Housing Benefit, which you said is £150 a month to reduce this - and pay something off your debts, and then live just off your Jobseekers?

That's what I am doing one way or another. I live frugally and am paying everyone off as I can. Hence I have not had to withdraw any cash from my bank for a few months.

ariarnia

karenx wrote: »

DSS didnt muck it up at all. Its up to you to ask the council for a claim form yourself and fill it out and send it back.

When i signed on last september it was part of the same form, I didn't want LHA as I was living with a family member (kind of) but whenever I did any temp work and signed off, they promptly told the council within the day, but when i signed back on took a week to confirm it with the council.

terryw

Prinzessilein wrote: »

....you are supposed to tell the JC+ if you have a loan...and how much you are repaying. (Unless they have recently changed the rules on this)

Oh no you're not. You have never had to tell the JC+ anything of the kind.