Backdating a JSA claim?

Kajimba

Posted in the redundacies section, but it might be better here:

I went to the Job Center to sign on for the first time on Tuesday and they said it might be possible to backdate my claim, since I last worked on Jan 31st. I was already looking for graduate jobs, but not other types (as I still thought I had my part time job).

I started a new part-time job in Sept 2010, which I was told was a permanent 16 hours a week with the option for more hours at Xmas, etc (shop was part of a 4 shop franchise for a very well known card company). The shop I was employed in was a brand new addition to the franchise.

On Feb 4th, I was phoned by the shop manager & told not to come in as the owner of the franchise was having problems with the lease. Over the next 2 weeks, they continued to text me (& other staff) to say the owner was in talks with solicitors and to be on standby for when the shop re-opened. I was a little paranoid about this, because a couple of years ago, a company I worked for went insolvent without paying any wages. However, I knew all the other shops in the franchise remained open.

Finally, I got a text from the manager saying that the franchise owner has decided to pull out of the lease, leaving the shop closed. The text said we would be paid for hours done up til the shop closed and that we would be phoned by both the manager and the franchise owner. I have not had a call from the manager, but the franchise owner called today. I asked about the wages, & they said we would not be paid for being on standby, as the contract was only ever for " whatever happened to be available", but that's not what I was told before!

However, if I do this will my ex-employer be able to argue that I was n't on standby after all?
If I do get paid wages for the lay off it would be more than the job seekers allowance. However, it might take longer to get it because of legal proceeding etc. What should I do please?

Thanks for any advice.:)

cassieB57

You can ask to backdate a claim up to 3 months but will only succeed if you reason for not claiming earlier falls into a set of specific circumstances; there is no real 'discretion' to backdate a claim. If you 'were given written information about income or capital by an employer or former employer" which led you to beleive a claim would not succeed, then you'd have grounds. The key phrase here is "written information" so if your employer told you you would receive pay (ie in return for work which was promised but never materialized or led you to believe you would be paid for being on standby) you may have a case, but if it was not put in writing you may not. Doyou still have the texts? You could ask the employer to confirm in writing what they told you by text and use this to support your claim. However as well as showing 'good cause' for the delay in claiming, you would also have to show that you were both available for, and actively seeking work. This means were you taking any steps to seek other employment? If so what did you do (eg looked in the papers, internet, contacted other companies to ask if there were vacancies etc)

Kajimba

Thanks Cassie. It was never put in writing formally, but I have kept ALL the texts.
I was looking for graduate jobs and they all sent emails acknowledging my applications, so I could print these out.

atomicsheep

generally speaking you would get paid benfeit from the date you started your claim over the phone or on the internet. I cant remember the list of acceptable bacdating reasons. The only one I ever saw paid was due to the person being in hospital for an emergency (or something along those lines)

cassieB57

The list of reasons is in Regulation 19(5) and 19(7) of the Social Security (claims and payments) regs