New claim for JSA messed up by WTC 4 week run on period??

dookar

no, only the claimant is required to look for work

Wig

dookar wrote: »

no, only the claimant is required to look for work

My brothers wife (with children) was given a Work Focused Interview after some 6 months or more of them claiming, as the jobcentre was "concerned to find out what efforts she was making to find work"

dookar

But she wasn't forced into work? And their benefit was unaffected?

Wig

Well she was 3 days away from 11 weeks before due date at the time, so they took one look at her & didn't say anything about finding work. So we never got to find out what the next step would have been.

dookar

Then you'll just have to take my word for it

Midnight_Tboy

thanks guys.

In the past before my other previous employments, my partner has never been made to go in to the job centre, and when I signed for those 4 or 5 days in between the recent jobs in the initial claim, I asked the lady on the phone at the time and she said that my partner would not have to attend as she is looking after children (applies to children under 5 I believe? or maybe 3?) I don't know about this thing about the partners having to attend after 6 months though as its been a long time since I've been unemployed for that length of time.

However, I posted the same message on a "consumeraction" forum I discovered in searching, and a lady has given an interesting reply

What they told you is absolute tosh. Contributions based JSA has nothing to do with tax credit income. It is based solely on your national insurance contributions in the qualifying years. If you have paid sufficient national insurance contributions in the qualifying years, you will receive contributory based JSA and can't "opt" to receive income based JSA instead, nor can DWP choose to place you on it. They can only pay income based JSA if you haven't paid sufficient contributions in the qualifying years, or after contributions have exhausted, or in the circumstances described below.

However, as your partner is not working and you won't be working, your contributory based JSA of £65.45 per week can be topped up with income based JSA to take you to your full "couples" entitlement.

Your savings of £2000 are below the lower capital limit so won't affect the income based part of the claim. You would not be entitled to the income based part of the claim during the "run on" if the income you receive from the run on is higher than the sum of income based JSA, but will remain entitled to the contributory part of £65.45.

Once the run on has ceased, and your household has no income save for the Child tax credit, child benefit and the contributory based part of JSA, and your capital limit remains below £6000, you would be entitled to the income based element to top up your claim to the couples rate of £100.75 per week.

Hope this helps and best wishes,
Erika

So it looks like they will 'top it up' somehow - though not sure if that is something that is done automatically....or if I have to request at the time

Midnight_Tboy

Wig wrote: »

and she hasn't worked in recent years? .... If she has worked enough she can claim her own JSA conts only claim.

Do you know how much the working tax run on will be each week?

She hasn't worked in quite a few years now since becoming pregnant with our first child, shortly after the company she worked for went into liquidation.

In the past about 3 or 4 yrs ago when I last had to sign on, I did get an amount in the region of £100, without her having to come in to sign on too - so presumably the same applies unless more laws have changed since then.

As to the working tax run, I've currently been getting approx £50 per week I think in WTC, so presumably it'll stay the same for those 4 weeks.

Interesting though that the lady in the previous quote though said the decision would be nothing to do with the WTC however.....but it does fill me with the hope however that come the WTC stopping that I could hopefully still get it 'topped up' to that amount until either CB-JSA ends and move to IB-JSA, find new job (hopefully - not a lot in public sector anymore though lol - so have to look elsewhere)

dookar

It should be automatic.

oldmotherreilly

You are part of what JCP call a 'couple' claim-if you've children of school age, your partner is part of the claim but is not required to look for work. There is a requirement for anyone who is part of a 'couple' claim to attend a work focussed interview every 6 months but only if your office has the staff to cover this-some offices don't. If you are entitled to JSA(Contributions based), you cannot choose to change this to JSA(Income based) but, as you have ascertained from previous posts, it doesn't have anything to do with the Working Tax Credits run on but with the National Insurance contributions that you have paid over the Relevant Income Tax Years (RITYs).
Hope this answers some of your questions.

Wig

oldmotherreilly wrote: »

You are part of what JCP call a 'couple' claim-if you've children of school age, your partner is part of the claim but is not required to look for work. There is a requirement for anyone who is part of a 'couple' claim to attend a work focussed interview every 6 months but only if your office has the staff to cover this-some offices don't. If you are entitled to JSA(Contributions based), you cannot choose to change this to JSA(Income based) but, as you have ascertained from previous posts, it doesn't have anything to do with the Working Tax Credits run on but with the National Insurance contributions that you have paid over the Relevant Income Tax Years (RITYs).
Hope this answers some of your questions.

Which would mean that a working person (lost their job) who has no money is not entiled to free dental treatment, or the SSMG before the baby is born - assuming they remain on JSA, as opposed to a life time benefits claimant who gets it all. Even though the working person would have otherwise qualified for JSA IB....