Confused re contribution based JSA - please advise

Dubito_ergo_sum

Dear all,

I have worked for the same company for a number of years and I will potentially be made redundant soon. I understand I am entitled to contribution based JSA as having paid NI for several years without any claim. What Im not sure about and I could not find anything to cover this scenario is, what if someone has several instances of unemployment in a relatively short space of time? Basically given the current climate, where do i stand if i found contract work, ie in and out of work repeatedly, as far C-JSA is concerned?

a) you are entitled to one instance of up to 26 weeks of contribution based jsa or
b) you are entitled to any number of instances of contribution based jsa up to a combined total of 26 weeks or
c) every new instance of contribution based jsa resets the clock and you are entitled to 26 weeks of benefits

Any means tested benefits do not apply due to savings. If there is any legislation to cover this scenario I would appreciate it if someone could please point me in the right direction.

Thanks.

anniecave

You can claim up to 26 weeks contribution based JSA based on 2 year's worth of NI contributions. So if you you were out of work and didn't work for 6 months then that would be your 26 weeks. Or if you claimed for 2 months then worked for a month then you could claim again until you worked again etc up to 6 months maximum of claim.

I'm not sure how it works if say you claimed for 3 months then worked for a year then claimed for 3 months again then worked another year, whether you'd then be entitled to another six months or if it needs to be 2 years consistently working if you see what I mean!