New Link for ESA with JSA

andyandflo

Hi,

I claim JSA more out of necessity than choice! I used to claim ESA, but failed the medical and became so stressed out with the appeal system that I moved over to JSA.

I have read that the government are to link ESA and JSA together. Those that are in the 'Support Group' are unaffected, but those that are put in the work group will have to treated as looking for work although with some restrictions. I presume that failure to comply will result in sanctions as it does with JSA.

Those that fail, whether they put in an appeal or not will have to claim JSA. At the moment they can claim ESA whilst waiting for the appeal hearing.
I presume that they will be treated as any other JSA claimant and have sanctions for all manner of things that they don't do.

Having said all of that, there must be a system that allows 'sick' people who have current sick certificates yet have failed the medical, to restrict what they can and cannot do in terms of jobs and hours. What are they?

In my case, I also have a current (until March 2011) sick note but I am being treated as any other JSA claimant and am being made to look for full time jobs - 30hrs +pw, in all manner of positions - manual and clerical.
I know I am restricted through ill health, but the JSA guys will not hear of it - maybe because they don't know that I have the sick note??
My fear is - to get some restrictions placed on my searching, I will have to show the certificate, then my worry is that I will have to go back on ESA which I don't want to do. If I am made to go on ESA then the whole thing starts revolving again.
How do I stop this happening?

Oldernotwiser

You still have the option of claiming Pension Credit so I don't really see why you're bothered.

andyandflo

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You still have the option of claiming Pension Credit so I don't really see why you're bothered.

Because maybe I would like to think that I could do something with my time - work eventually. On Pension Credit, you get parked there, given your money, don't have to do anything for it, but on the other hand you don't get any help either to maybe earn an income.

sunnyone

andyandflo wrote: »

Hi,

I claim JSA more out of necessity than choice! I used to claim ESA, but failed the medical and became so stressed out with the appeal system that I moved over to JSA.

I have read that the government are to link ESA and JSA together. Those that are in the 'Support Group' are unaffected, but those that are put in the work group will have to treated as looking for work although with some restrictions. I presume that failure to comply will result in sanctions as it does with JSA.

Those that fail, whether they put in an appeal or not will have to claim JSA. At the moment they can claim ESA whilst waiting for the appeal hearing.
I presume that they will be treated as any other JSA claimant and have sanctions for all manner of things that they don't do.

Having said all of that, there must be a system that allows 'sick' people who have current sick certificates yet have failed the medical, to restrict what they can and cannot do in terms of jobs and hours. What are they?

In my case, I also have a current (until March 2011) sick note but I am being treated as any other JSA claimant and am being made to look for full time jobs - 30hrs +pw, in all manner of positions - manual and clerical.
I know I am restricted through ill health, but the JSA guys will not hear of it - maybe because they don't know that I have the sick note??
My fear is - to get some restrictions placed on my searching, I will have to show the certificate, then my worry is that I will have to go back on ESA which I don't want to do. If I am made to go on ESA then the whole thing starts revolving again.
How do I stop this happening?

wasnt it only 2 weeks ago that you wanted to be on ESA to do permited work to get even more money out of the system, or have you forgotton that?

andyandflo

sunnyone wrote: »

wasnt it only 2 weeks ago that you wanted to be on ESA to do permited work to get even more money out of the system, or have you forgotton that?

You seem to have slept for the past month or so. I have dealt with that subject elsewhere in my posts and don't intend to reiterate them here.

I cancelled the ESA claim because of the stress of the appeal system and now claim JSA instead.

I will say that the intention to work under the Permitted Work rules was to try and start a self employed business. That has all now ceased because of the JSA claim

Sam____2

why can't you just start your self employment while claiming JSA, seems your never happy...

Indie_Kid

andyandflo wrote: »

In my case, I also have a current (until March 2011) sick note but I am being treated as any other JSA claimant and am being made to look for full time jobs - 30hrs +pw, in all manner of positions - manual and clerical.

This is rubbish:
I claim JSA. I have never been told that I have to find a job for 30 hours pw. I asked an adviser (I think it was the interview thing when you first claim) and got told that as long as it's 16 hours a week or more, (enough to get me off JSA) then it doesn't matter.

In my agreement, it says I don't have to look for full time work - I've said that I can only within certain hours per day, 5 days a week and a certain amount of hours per week.

andyandflo

Sam___ wrote: »

why can't you just start your self employment while claiming JSA, seems your never happy...

Because if you work for more than 16 hours you lose your JSA even if you don't earn anything. Then you have to work more than 30 hrs pw to get WTC!

Anything in between - 16 or more but less than 30 does not count for anything except CTB & HB.

andyandflo

sh1305 wrote: »

This is rubbish:
I claim JSA. I have never been told that I have to find a job for 30 hours pw. I asked an adviser (I think it was the interview thing when you first claim) and got told that as long as it's 16 hours a week or more, (enough to get me off JSA) then it doesn't matter.

In my agreement, it says I don't have to look for full time work - I've said that I can only within certain hours per day, 5 days a week and a certain amount of hours per week.

Well then I don't know how you managed that then!

When I signed on they said that it was normal to look at 40+ hrs pw but in my case they could not see any reason why at least 30 hrs pw was not acceptable. In my agreement they put that in - that I have to be looking for jobs working at least 30 hrs pw!!
In my agreement also there is a bit about working 7 days a week, shift work.
They never mentioned or offered anything about part time jobs or being allowed to restrict it to 16 hours or only Monday to Friday!!!
How on earth did you get away with that?
If that is the case then I will be down there in the morning demanding that they do the same for me!!

Indie_Kid

Because they're aware of my disabilities. They asked me what hours I could work and what days. It's down in my agreement - something like 5 days Mon-Fri, 10-6pm.

andyandflo

sh1305 wrote: »

Because they're aware of my disabilities. They asked me what hours I could work and what days. It's down in my agreement - something like 5 days Mon-Fri, 10-6pm.

Ah I see. So it was a two way discussion - that didn't happen in my case!
But you said that you have restricted your agreement to over 16 hours, but from the above, you have agreed to work 40 hrs per week?

Maybe the answer is that they don't know anything about my illnesses/idsabilities and they have just assumed that I am fit. They didn't ask any questions about my fitness to work, or indeed anything that resembled the fact that they knew that I had failed the ESA medical.

That then is a problem for me then. The last time (Jan 2010) that I stopped my ESA claim after failing the medical and signed on for JSA as per their letter, I showed them a copy of my sick note and some medical evidence. They then refused to carry on with the JSA claim saying that I wasn't fit for work. They helped me fill out a rapid reclaim of ESA. The reason I mention this is that this caused a very long delay in getting any money. It ran into months with ESA arguing that JSA should pay then JSA saying that I had not been on JSA long enough to pay anything (24 hrs).

If I go down that line again now and tell them what is wrong with me, and show them the copy evidence, they will probably push me back onto ESA which I do not want to claim again for obvious reasons to do with my last claim. That will cause a problem with my money again.

How on earth do I demand a change to my JSA contract to limit my working ability to 16 hours per week Monday - Friday without running the risk of them kicking me off the benefit altogether?