Need Help With JSA Claim

Alistair1

I started my claim back at the begginning of October and I was finnaly got a decision on the 23rd Dec after closing my claim beginning of Dec as I got a job.

It was declined becuase It says i have more income than the law says I need to live on, but i dont get any income I explained my dad pays for my accomodation but none of the money goes to me I dont recieve anything, the rental isnt even in my name. And he has only been paying because what was I supposed to do from October i had no income, JSA didnt give me any money, so my dad had to pay until I got a job.

Do you think I have a chance of appealing or will they regard the rent paid as income to me?



Thanks

ALIBOBSY

Is this the only "income" you have were there any savings or anything else? How did you eat during the period?

May be worth checking with them first to establish exactly what has caused the disallowance so you can decide if you can claim.
You would have been better claiming housing benefit for you rent tbh.

ali x

Alistair1

the only saving I have was 600 pounds in my account which ive been using for food. The thing that caused the disallowance was that the rent is paid for me still counts as my income.

and I dont have time to claim housing benifi because im moving out in a week so unless it can be backdated theres no point but I dont think i have a good enough reason.

Newly_retired

Had you paid enough NI contributions over the past two years? If so, you should have got contribution based JSA which is not means tested.
If not, income based JSA is means- tested.
I cannot comment on the position regarding your rent but surely a bit of help from family does not count as income?
You have one month to challenge a DWP decision - from the date on the decision letter. Do you have a local CAB? They can help you to challenge this.

Alistair1

No it was income based so it was tested.

and that is what I thought but it seems to count as household income.

MX5huggy

Why did you not get conts based?

dmg24

Why did you not claim LHA at the correct time?

ALIBOBSY

Unfortunately I suspect they will have looked at your fathers payments, regardless of what you used them for as income. Look at it this way if you did a job that only just covered the rent, so it was used for rental only would they treat it as income? Yes of course they would.

You should have claimed the housing benefit for the rent, if you choose not to unfortunately they will treat the income as yours no matter what it was spent on.

sorry

ali x

ALIBOBSY

Alistair1 wrote: »

the only saving I have was 600 pounds in my account which ive been using for food. The thing that caused the disallowance was that the rent is paid for me still counts as my income.

and I dont have time to claim housing benifi because im moving out in a week so unless it can be backdated theres no point but I dont think i have a good enough reason.

You say you were finished/out of work from October, when you claimed JSA you would have specifically been asked if you wanted to claim help towards your rental, you must have said no. This is not about backdating, the HB claim would have ran for the same period as your benefit claim so would have been for current rental at that time.

ali x

Alistair1

Its income based because I havnt paid enough NI.

I dont understand how they can regard it as income when I dont see any of it, it doesnt pass to me, and so far none of it has been paid the rent isnt paid until the end of the tenancy which is next week, so since October my father hasnt paid anything.

And I said no at the time because I know its my fault but I had no idea what housing benifit is and that I was able to claim it, Im only 18 and at the time I was more concerned with finding a job at the time and claiming JSA while i was looking for that job as my father seemed happy to pay, or at least lend money to me for my rent when it was due, until I had earned enough to pay it myself. But if i were to claim HB now would it be able to be from the date of my JSA claim?

dmg24

No, HB will not be backdated without good reason, and not knowing is not good reason.