I've declared earnings but I still get paid JSA

HAYWAIN

I'm signing on, getting Income based JSA. Whenever I get the chance to do a few hours work I fully declare this to the Job Centre Plus. As yet however, they have never reduced my JSA to take this into account.

Has anyone had the same situation happen to them?

clairec79

Have you received payment for the work? I seem to remember it affects your JSA for the week that you get paid not for the week you worked

HAYWAIN

Yes,

I filled in form B7, declared the amount I earned yet still got money paid in to my account the next time I was due to receive JSA.

Victoriajayne

In about a weeks time, you will get a letter saying they have recalculated your benefits due to a change in circumstances.
I've been declaring casual work which is not regular hours every week - got paid for it for the first time last week, declared the earnings when I signed on, got paid as usual on Friday, then got a letter on Saturday saying that my benefit is going to be reduced as of 19th May... (huh ?). I'm going up to speak to someone later, as they've decided its a regular job rather than treating it as casual income, and there are weeks when I don't get offered the work so can't manage on reduced benefits.

Update - just spoken to someone at BDC call centre - apparently it will now change every 2 weeks, depending on how many hours I work every week and how much I get paid. And I guess they will deal with the amount I've been overpaid last week in next payment.

Interesting thing she told me though - I have been offered 3 days work next weekend - I have to sign off on Thursday and make a rapid reclaim on Monday. Because I'm not making a claim for those 3 days, the earnings won't be offset against any JSA payments. Hmmmm.....

HAYWAIN

The thing is this was about 2 months ago when I filled in form B7. I heard nothing thereafter and just wondered if it takes a few weeks to process?

Is there a point where benefits will remain un-affected if you receive no letter?