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

piglet25

Will go in the jobcenter on Monday with her and ask for the hardship payment paperwork, and about appealing. Thank you for all the helpful advice given by people - its much appreciated. To the less helpful folk, I hope you are never unfortunate enough to be in need yourselves.

I have a two bedroomed house with myself and two other children in, with my daughter that would be three children in one room with a baby on the way, cosy but not really practical!

What is the DHP?

NickyBat

She needs to apply for hardship, it's paid at a 40% reduction to her normal benefit, this can be claimed after 14 days of the sanction and will cover the necessities, fill the form in asap it should be processed within a few days and will go into payment at the same time as her normal benefit.
Once hardship has been granted she can then also request a crisis loan - but this can only be done IF hardship is granted.

sammyjammy

jamespir wrote: »

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

Such eloquent language. It doesn't work like that. She clearly didn't follow instructions to apply via their website, ergo she didn't apply as her form was not accepted by staff in store.

oldmotherreilly

Every week that someone claims JSA for, you have to be actively seeking employment, whatever your circumstances and you also have to apply for any suitable jobs that the Jobcentre staff believe to be suitable. When your daughter was told to apply for the job, she would have been given a piece of paper called an ES12, which gives details of the job and how to apply for it. If this states that the employer states that applications are made via the internet (and I believe that all Boots stores use this process), then your daughter did not comply with the required application process and this is why the sanction would have been imposed. The maximum sanction for this (it is called Refusal of Employment, RE for short) is six months, so the Decision Makers (the people who consider all the facts and decide whether a sanction should be imposed and if so, for how long-they use the Social Security Acts to determine this) have taken into account that the job was temporary and that your daughter did try to apply but used the wrong method, as the sanction is not for this length of time. They will not have taken into account the fact that she is pregnant, as she is still capable of working-if she isn't and her doctor considers that she is not able to work due to the pregnancy, she should not be claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, she should be on Employment and Support Allowance. She can move over to Income Support when she is 29 weeks pregnant.
In terms of what she can do now-as ONW states, she should apply for Hardship (she needs form JSA10) and then she can apply for crisis loans. I would also contact the local authority to explain why JSA is not payable at the moment-it may not be required but it will keep them 'in the loop' and DWP does notify them that JSA is no longer payable, so best they know what is going on until the Hardship comes through.
In terms of an appeal-most often the DMs write to the customer to ask why they did not apply in the prescribed manner-if your daughter has answered these questions and has given all the relevant information, then an appeal would be pretty much fruitless, I'm afraid. If she didn't, she needs to ask for any outstanding questions, answer them and return them to the JCP for a 'reconsideration'.

piglet25

Thanks for that, its really helpful. The whole benefits system is just a big maze to us! I know she has had no letter, so hopefully it will arrive on Monday, but if not we can ask for a copy as we need to go to see if she can get the hardship payments, and go from there. Its just so frustrating!!

terryw

Perhaps the child's father could help out until the hardship payment comes through.

piglet25

She has an injunction on him due to domestic violence and the last I heard he was on a park bench drinking cider with his new alcoholic girlfriend, so properbly not an option!

disability_brown

curls wrote: »

The truth is that she isn't working and can't afford to support herself. The country (ie. tax payers) can't afford to support her either. My 'children', both single, in their twenties and working full-time, would love to have their own places. They can't afford it, so are still living at home and saving.

What is it with bloody taxpayers, i wish they'd climb down off their high horse occasionally and realise that people sometimes hit hard times, i was a precious f..king tax payer for 20 years, i hit hard times and am now homeless, s..t happens, the last thing i want when i come on here to ask for advice, is to be preached to by some smug mug who pays his poxy taxes, get over yourselves. it's christmas for chrissakes, good luck op, i hope things work out for you:)

piglet25

She fully intends to look for work to support herself and the baby when the baby is six months old and childcare will be split between family members. She has no desire to live off the state, its just the way things have turned out at the moment means she needs some help untill she can help herself.

djbum_syd

morganedge wrote: »

How does this all work then?
She is already moved into the flat.
Do people find a flat, pay the deposit themselves and the first months rent upfront out of their own pockets and THEN apply for housing benefit?
Or do you contact the housing benefit people and they find you a council flat (i thought this took years?)

Yes, that's how it is done - you can only apply once you have the tenancy agreement signed as you need that for proof of rent.

She's already been living there for a month.
I persume then that the governemt didn't pay for her first months rent. Are you saying that she is only entitled to a bedsit or a 'flat share' and that she wont recieve anything for her rent for the flat anyway?

Until she has has the child they will only pay for a 1 bed flat at the very most. I lived in a bedsit until I had my daughter as the council couldn't pay HB for a 2 bed until the child was physically here.

Anybody going on about how the girl "should have thought about how she would earn money before getting pregnant" are talking a load of old c**p.
Sorry if that seems rude. I was working when I became pregnant and was made redundant when I was 4 months pregnant - was very out of the blue. So people can end up in the sitaution of needing to claim benefits whilst pregnant - we're not all after a free ride and just pop the kids out to have the tax payers look after them.
Employers don't want to employ somebody pregnant, that's the sad truth - but she should still keep applying. I hope something is sorted out soon for her! x