Why do I need to carry on signing on?

bigalec

Or do I need to?

I have been out of work since the end of March and have been receiving contributions based JSA.
These payments have now stopped as I have reached the 182 day limit.
I don't qualify for income based as my wife works full time, albeit on a low wage, therefore we are expected to live on just her wage which we can only just manage.

I have now been appointed a new advisor at the Job Centre whose role appears to be to patronise me and get me to apply for jobs that I have no experience in.

I understand that my NI contributions are kept up to date by me attending the Job Centre and proving that I am actively seeking work but what are the ramifications of me not attending?

Hopefully I'll find a job before my next appointment as all I seem to be doing is wasting time, fuel and money on parking.

joanne_d_3

If the only reason you are still attending the job centre is to keep you're national insurance payments up to date then the only other options for this is for you to start making you're own national insurance payments on a voluntary basis OR if you have children , you could switch the child benefit entitlement over from you're wife to yourself ?

Which ever parent claims the child benefit also receives a national insurance "stamp".

So , either make voluntary NI payment youreslf and continue to seek work without help frm the jobcentre or swithch the child benefit into you're name......

Details of how to do both of the above can be found on HMRC website.

joby1

has your wife tried tor working tax credits???
if your over 25 and working 30+ hrs a week OR have dependant children in full time education she might be enititled to something

bigalec

We have no dependant children, all grown up and not at home.

Will try for working tax credits and see what happens I think I did look into it before but isn't it based on income earned in the last tax year which meant we weren't due anything.

But what happens if I stop paying my NI contributions?
As far as I can see it might affect my state pension but there is no way of telling if any of are going to get a state pension in the future the way things are going in this country.

I'm not planning on being out of work for long (said that 6 months ago mind)

MissMoneypenny

bigalec wrote: »

We have no dependant children, all grown up and not at home.

As you have grown up children, have you already got the 30 years needed for a full state pension? You can get a pension forecast if you aren't sure how many years short you are.

bigalec

Thanks, I have worked without any breaks of longer than a week between jobs since September 1980, so just over 30 years of NI contributions.