JSA sanction - 18, pregnant,lives alone- help!

piglet25

My daughter has had her JSA stopped two weeks ago because she failed to apply online for a Christmas job at Boots. She had physically taken the form into the store but they refused to accept it from her,so she explained this to the jobcenter people and they told her they would have to consider her benefit and let her know within eight working days, on the ninth one she rang and has been told that she can't get any money for another three weeks, which would make a total of five weeks with no money.
She is 21 weeks pregnant and lives on her own so has no money for food, heating or electricity. She applied for a crisis loan and they gave her £17 to last her. Is it even legal to do this as she was waiting for a housing benefit claim to be processed and she won't get that because she 'isn't' on benefits so will lose her home, and surely she is classed as vunerable due to being pregnant?
Any helpful advice welcomed, we are at a loss what to do!

passatrider

If your daughter's been sanctioned for three weeks then her housing benefit will not be affected as her claim is still ongoing. You do not need to inform the housing benefit dept of this sanction I believe anyhow, unless your claim is withdrawn completely. If you stop claiming JSA then the DWP will inform housing benefit so you have no need to worry on that front.

I'm not sure what you can do as regards her financial situation other than to contact the CAB and see if they can help you in any way.

piglet25

I have been giving her food and putting money in her meters for the past two weeks, however, due to my own circumstances I can't afford to keep paying two lots of heating and electric bills.
I don't understand how the jobcenter can basically tell someone that they can go and live without food or heating and electricity for five weeks because they didn't submit an application form in the correct format. What are the chances of Boots, or any other company, employing some who was 18 weeks (at that time) pregnant anyway? She had applied for numerous other jobs and surprisingly not even had a reply.
Is there an appeals process for this decision as she hasn't even recieved the letter yet from the jobcentre? And if there is does anyone know the best way to appeal their decision?

morganedge

what do you mean 'she was waiting for a housing benefit claim to be processed'?
She is already living there isn't she?
Was she paying her own rent, but now is trying to get housing benefit do you mean?

When she has the baby she wont then have to worry about the jobcentere as a single monther, will she?

(sorry for stupid questions. Dont know much about this sort of thing but trying to get it clear in my head)

I hope it works out for her.
JSA people can be a right pain in the !!!.

piglet25

They didn't tell her she had to apply online, just that she had to apply. I am also a taxpayer and would prefer my tax to be spent on other humans rather than some random government study or scheme.

Her housing benefit claim is being processed because she only moved in there just over four weeks ago, and what spare cash I had then was used towards getting her deposits and basic essentails.

Danielle1977 - move on to someone elses thread as you obviously only want to spout rubbish.

londonirish_3

I wrote "didn't"! who knows if she was happily settled, and then became single? anyway, it doesnt matter, the fact is the OP is asking for advice,telling her her daughter should have thought about it all before is irrelevant now.

Wee_Willy_Harris

I'm not fully up to date with DWP rules and regs, but I believe she may be able to claim "Severe hardship". It's a reduced payment of JSA which covers issues like these. And a tip for ANYONE claiming JSA... If you are notified of a vacancy via the JC, APPLY FOR IT!! They do check these things.

Oldernotwiser

piglet25 wrote: »

I have been giving her food and putting money in her meters for the past two weeks, however, due to my own circumstances I can't afford to keep paying two lots of heating and electric bills.
I don't understand how the jobcenter can basically tell someone that they can go and live without food or heating and electricity for five weeks because they didn't submit an application form in the correct format. What are the chances of Boots, or any other company, employing some who was 18 weeks (at that time) pregnant anyway? She had applied for numerous other jobs and surprisingly not even had a reply.
Is there an appeals process for this decision as she hasn't even recieved the letter yet from the jobcentre? And if there is does anyone know the best way to appeal their decision?

But there will have been no proof that she actually applied for this job, will there? Also the fact that she's unlikely to be offered work is irrelevant; she has to be actively seeking work in order to claim JSA.

Although it's good that you have been giving her some money, would it not be better for her to be living at home rather than having to pay two sets of bills and claim rent for a flat she doesn't really need.

You do realise that she won't be able to claim rent for a whole flat in her situation, don't you?

Wee_Willy_Harris

jamespir wrote: »

either way it dont help

if she applied for the job then it dont matter hwo she did it unfortunatly the department of !!!!!!s and pratts have targets to meet and couldnt care less who the hurt in the process

But she DIDN'T apply. Her form was refused and, no doubt, Boots will have told her that they only accept online applications. It seems pretty simple to me. I don't want to do the "Well, she should have done X" thing, but the JC staff are there, in part, to ensure that the taxpayers money is distributed in a slightly more productive way than just taking sackfulls of it onto the roof and throwing it to the wind.

jamespir

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

But she DIDN'T apply. Her form was refused and, no doubt, Boots will have told her that they only accept online applications. It seems pretty simple to me. I don't want to do the "Well, she should have done X" thing, but the JC staff are there, in part, to ensure that the taxpayers money is distributed in a slightly more productive way than just taking sackfulls of it onto the roof and throwing it to the wind.

thats crap if she can prove she took the form in then no matte how she applied she applied !!!!

thorsoak

Could not the father/other expectant grandparents assist your daughter?

If I were in your position, I think I would be suggesting that for the time being at any rate, she temporarily comes back home to me - you'd only be using the same amount of electricity etc.