Help - think i'm going to lose benefit

braineebird

Hi everyone.

I'm currently on JSA and have been told I must find a job or lose benefit. I have 2 10 year old twins and am a single mum so can only do part time and I am also in receipt of housing benefit.

I found a job cleaning which is 10 hours a week in evenings but i have just checked using the 'turn2us' checker to see how this will affect my benefits and it says my housing will reduce by £46 pw and i will lose my JSA. The job pays £60 pw so overall I will be £51 a week worse off. I am not entitled to working tax credits so I can't really afford to take the job. Then, if i don't, I may have my jsa stopped anyway.

HELP!!! I'm starting to panic

Indie_Kid

How much does the job pay? You can usually keep the first £5-£20 (depending on circumstances) of JSA before your wages affect it.

braineebird

Hi. The job pays £60 pw so even if I could keep the first £20pw I will still be £31pw worse off.

shegirl

Really you need to find yourself something that's 16 hours or more a week.Is there a lunch time job or something that you could go for in addition to this one to bump you up to 16 hours?

Providing you can find a 16 hour or more job a week there shouldn't be any reason it wouldn't be possible for you,and for greater earning potential,is there a breakfast club and after school club your twins could attend?

Don't panic.I'm sure they aren't going to kick you off benefits quickly.Why not give them a ring tomorrow and ask them about the requirements and see if they can offer you some help so you don't panic so much

cit_k

braineebird wrote: »

Hi everyone.

I'm currently on JSA and have been told I must find a job or lose benefit. I have 2 10 year old twins and am a single mum so can only do part time and I am also in receipt of housing benefit.

I found a job cleaning which is 10 hours a week in evenings but i have just checked using the 'turn2us' checker to see how this will affect my benefits and it says my housing will reduce by £46 pw and i will lose my JSA. The job pays £60 pw so overall I will be £51 a week worse off. I am not entitled to working tax credits so I can't really afford to take the job. Then, if i don't, I may have my jsa stopped anyway.

HELP!!! I'm starting to panic

What exactly did they tell you?

They can only stop JSA if you breach the agreement, ie do something sanctionable - not being able to get a job, as long as you are actively seeking work, and complying with JSA terms is not something they can just stop your benefits for.

libbysmum_2

why can you only do part time???????

libbysmum_2

why can you only do part time????????????? if its because of child care then tax credits pay towards the cost of it, you will also probably find if you can find full time work then you would be a lot better off than you are now with the 30 hour plus element as i am single parent of two kids and work 37 hours a week x

FBaby

I'm confused, if you took on a job in the evenings, who would be looking after your children? And if someone can look after them, why can't you do a full-time job?

Jowo_2

Single parents are not obliged to find full time employment. In fact, noone on JSA is obliged to find a full time job.

It's her right to opt for part time employment but unfortunately the benefits system tends to work better for some employees when they do 16 hours as that's a key threshold for tax credits to be maximised (if I remember rightly, as I haven't kept up with the latest proposed changes in benefit regulations)

In the past, I think single parents could opt out of employment until their youngest child turned 14 (if I remember rightly) but this has been reduced twice over the last few years and may be reduced again.

there is no obligation for her now to take up full time employment at all, other than it may lift her out of poverty and state dependence (I say may) so please stop giving the impression that she must.

gravitytolls

I'm not sure where you got the info from, but you shouldn't be worse off, you should be able to keep £20 of your earnings, the rest will be deducted from JSA, and as you will only be £20 per week better off, you should not lose your HB.

Entitled to may be a better place to check your figures.

The twins will be off to secondary school next year, so hopefully more hours will be an option. Particularly if you are going into cleaning, you could perhaps start your own business, and increase your hours as you build your business. Once the girls have gotten a little older, you would be able to employ them too, so they can earn some pocket money.

Indie_Kid

Jowo wrote: »

Single parents are not obliged to find full time employment. In fact, noone on JSA is obliged to find a full time job.

I'm sure I read that if a single parent has a child under 12, they only have to look for work during school hours.

I asked my adviser whether I have to look for full-time work. I got told that as long as it's at least 16 hours, (enough hours for me to get kicked off JSA) it doesn't matter.