Training or Self employment and benefits

sp1-paul

Hi all,

Any advice or pointers in the right directions as I am feeling a little trapped and confused as to my available options.

My family consists of: 2 children, My partner and Myself.

Beforehand I was the main carer for our children due to my partner having health difficulties. We were then told that we were no longer entitled to claim income support as my partner was not considered ill enough to continue claiming after she had a medical review. We were advised that either her or myself needed to claim JSA or make an appeal for the decision to be changed.

Initially we thought the decision was a bit unfair due to my partner suffering pains that can flair up for no reason due to a blood disease (SCA). and also (ITP) which causes low platelets. She also suffers from severe depression due to her illness. Her crises can occur at anytime and when they do i need to be available to care for both her and my kids. Most of the time she can manage the pains at home with strong prescribed painkillers from her GP but occasionally she is admitted to hospital until she recovers. When she has a crisis it can last a good two weeks before she is well again and then she is often fine until her next crisis. The trouble is we never know when to expect these attacks but when see gets them it affects the whole family routine.

We decided not to appeal against the decision and I went ahead and claimed JSA of which i have been claiming since 25th March until now. Since I have been claiming I have applied for various jobs without success. My age (43) seems to be a barrier when attending interviews and I find myself competing for job vacancies with people half my age and more skills than me. Skills are an issue as I have only ever done manual labour work previously to the 4 years of caring for my partner and children. I also have no references and no certificates to prove I have skills.

Ultimately we do not want to rely on benefits any more especially with the state of things today which is why we decided not to appeal. It also feels anybody with genuine need who claims is also labelled a benefit scrounger and both me and my partner no longer wish to be looked down on by society so we figured we can work something out around our current problems.

My Questions:

What type of training is available while i am claiming JSA that would actually lead to a new career. I am particularly good with computer repairs and IT support and also internet development so anything related to this would be preferable. It seems a lot of the courses available through the Job centre only offer basic qualifications. Yet if i were to opt for a full-time college coarse my JSA benefit would be affected. Is this true?

Another option which I have often warmed to is self employment so any advice on this and how benefits are affected when initially starting a business would also be very welcome.

Please remember I need to feed my family so this must be taken into account. ;-) .......There must be some way out of this trap..!!

In the meantime i will keep searching for something but any advice is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

paul

LittleVoice

sp1-paul wrote: »

Hi all,

Yet if i were to opt for a full-time college coarse my JSA benefit would be affected. Is this true?

Hi, Paul

Yes, if you do a full-time course, you cannot claim JSA - because you are considered not to be available for work.

Have you investigated whether something under 16 hours a week is available which would provide the training you think would be helpful? You can claim JSA if you are doing work and/or training of less than 16 hours a week - as long as you are still looking for work and would take it if offered.

LV

sp1-paul

hi,
thanks for the reply.

Have you investigated whether something under 16 hours a week is available which would provide the training you think would be helpful? You can claim JSA if you are doing work and/or training of less than 16 hours a week - as long as you are still looking for work and would take it if offered.

I have looked at a few part-time courses which is indeed an option but like you say i would still need to be available for full-time work.

It does kind of puts the dampener on starting a course whilst claiming JSA. Bearing in mind i am hoping to finds something which actually means something to an employer. E.G. degree level and then only to find i can not continue the course due to family commitments and full-time work, but hey ho,,!!

It is a pity there are not more training options available while claiming JSA but it seems that the courses i want to do are not offered. And although they are available elsewhere i can not do them without it affecting benefits.

Probably my best option is to find part-time work (16hrs or more) and study around work or look into self employment etc.

It is a shame that i am finding it difficult to find a job as once i do the rest will probably follow.

Hammyman

Training? Nothing of any value - they're mainly figure manipulation devices.

Self employed - You'd be eligible for working tax credit as long as you did 16+hrs and what the award would be would be determined by your gross profit which could even be a loss in the first year. DWP have a range of schemes to help people get started, not limited to one off payments and weekly payments.