IS claim - question

icevaner

Hi there,

Just wanted to ask a question about a claim that I made for Income Support...just to see if anyone else knows how does it work. To cut it short...me and my partner have no savings, my partner receives Carer's Allowance and works however she is on a zero hour contract (works less than 16 hours but more or less depending on the week) and doesn't go over the earnings threshold for CA.

I am not in work at all...so we were advised we could claim either JSA or IS income-based. We are claiming Income Support however today the benefit delivery centre called saying that the was a problem. They asked my partner that there was any payslips yet for herself and then the conversation got cut off.

I will phone them tomorrow however had a couple of general questions in regards to the fact of getting benefits and working at the same time.

The first one is that she started on mid-September, however due to payroll cut off dates she doesn't receive payslips or pay until the end of October. Can they actually hold any payment of benefits for a whole month? If it was the case...I am really worried about being able to have money to buy food and my partner wouldn't be able to get to work as it is.

Secondly...if she receives her pay monthly - what would be the process of informing the JobCentre about the hours she has worked. Is there a system or a procedure in places for this cases? (since she will work 16 hours or less per week however with a different number of hours per week).

If anyone could answer the questions above it would be great.

Many Thanks!

DX2

You are aware that whatever she earns wages wise they will deduct this from IS, although her wages doesn't affect carers as long as she earns £100 per week.

Sam____2

No entitlement to income support and I'd be carefull with making sure your partner doesn't go over the threshold for earnings for carers allowance as DX states this is £100 per week. Someone else on here recently is being investigated for fraud because they didn't declare their earnings properly and they do check with employers.
If your looking for work you may be able to claim JSA, try for LHA/CTB if not already getting them.

FactualGnome

If she's monthly paid and she receives it on 31st october, it would be taken out for the following month. They will only take it into account when its received, so you wont have benefits stopped for a month just because you dont have your payslips. Secondly she will either have to provide the hours shes done on the forms B7 or just send her payslips to I.S as and when received, with her hours being different every time you would need to keep them informed as soon as possible.