JSA help?

KayleighMT

Hello!

I'm a new poster, though I've been lurking for a while, and was wondering if anyone could give me a little bit of advice?

I made a claim for jobseekers on 13 Dec 2010 after being made redundant (£600 redundancy pay) in Nov, and was told that it I'd need to apply for the couples based JSA, as I live with my boyfriend, whose a full time uni student. We've had to wait a long time, and have had to send in a lot of supporting evidence, and we only got the approval and the decision via post yesterday.

The decision they've come to however is surprising. They've said I'm entitled to only £36 JSA per week, down from the couples rate of £102, due to other earnings/money coming in. I wasn't expecting to get the whole £102, but such a low amount is surprising, as together we have no savings, no pension, nothing! The only income coming is in is my boyfriends student loans, which total £3029 per year.

I'm going to query it tomorrow once they open, but I was just wondering if this sounds right? Surely, my boyfriends student loans can't be expected to cover both of our living costs until I can find a job? His mother already has to supplement his living costs, as the loan doesn't cover everything...

Thanks for taking the time to read this - I'd be really grateful for any opinions! JSA is completely new to me!

Kayleigh

karenx

Is there any loans that were availble to him that he did not take? As these also count as income as its money that was available for him

KayleighMT

Hi Karen!
Thanks for your reply. No, there were no other loans. He gets the max student loan that was avaliable to him, as judged on his mother's income. She is expected to buffer the discrepancy, as he doesn't get the full amount as his mother earns above the threshold. No bursary or anything either. Its just going to be really difficult, as I'm not sure how we can manage on my JSA and his meagre loan, which barely covers his expenses. To me it doesn't seem right, but I just wanted others thoughts before I ring tomorrow.

Thanks again!

tcr_3

I can't remember exactly how they work it out, but yes, student loans are taken into account as an income.

I think they take the annual figure, divide that by the number of weeks in the academic year (38/39 wks ? varies), ignore the first £10 of that then deduct the rest off JSA (Income Based).

From your own figures, £3029 divided by 39 is £77.66, ignoring £10 pw of that brings it to £67.66. And £67.66 deducted from couple rate JSA £102.75 leaves you with JSA payable of £35.09 pw.

Might be wrong in the detail, but I think that's the jist of how it works.

briggy

as tcr has said it does seem correct. Have you applied for housing / council tax benefit? Do you not qualify for contributions based JSA?

KayleighMT

Thanks TCR! Thats a bit disheartening... looks like I might have to become super super frugal. It's so frustrating - I'm desperately trying to find a job and been on plenty of interviews, but just miss out. I wouldn't have thought they would judge a student loan a sufficient enough income for two people to live off, bar £36 a week. He lives in his overdraft, and I'm at the end of mine. Tough times ahead.

KayleighMT

Hi Briggy, thanks for your reply - I have applied for housing benefit to cover my share of the rent, but it's still pending, so have had to pay the last two months rent via my overdraft. My boyfriend is paying Febs months rent for me, until housing benefit is sorted and then I can pay him back. I don't qualify for contributions based JSA, as I was a student till June. I worked straight out of uni, till I was made redundant in November, and stupidly thought I would hold off claiming straight away, in the hope that something would come up jobs-wise. So, I've not paid enough NI for contributions based...

chrissiesurfergirl123

tcr wrote: »

I can't remember exactly how they work it out, but yes, student loans are taken into account as an income.

I think they take the annual figure, divide that by the number of weeks in the academic year (38/39 wks ? varies), ignore the first £10 of that then deduct the rest off JSA (Income Based).

From your own figures, £3029 divided by 39 is £77.66, ignoring £10 pw of that brings it to £67.66. And £67.66 deducted from couple rate JSA £102.75 leaves you with JSA payable of £35.09 pw.

Might be wrong in the detail, but I think that's the jist of how it works.

Yes that is how it works however there is a disregard of approx £700 for books and travel which ould have been taken of the £3029 before dividing by the number of weeks in the academic year

tcr_3

chrissiesurfergirl123 wrote: »

Yes that is how it works however there is a disregard of approx £700 for books and travel which ould have been taken of the £3029 before dividing by the number of weeks in the academic year

Thank you for that :beer:

I should re-visit the arithmetic for the OP's benefit but it's late & I'm cream-crackered