Income Based JSA - Help Appreciated!

Clean_Hat

I am currently out of work and claiming JSA but on Saturday received a letter saying "We cannot pay you because you have not paid, or been credited with, enough Class 1 National Insurance Contributions". They have used the tax year 2005/2006 to work this out, when I was out of work and not claiming any benefits, hence the NI shortage.

Since then I have phoned JC+ and been adviced to fill out a JSA3 and claim income based JSA. I have done this and returned the form to my job centre today. My situation is that I am single, living with parents and have £1500 in savings from my last job, and this is what ive put on the form.

My question is, will this qualify me for IB JSA? Is there likely to be any problems here or this a straightforward claim? Also, how long does this process usually take? I am starting a temporary job in 2 weeks time (only for one month) after which ill have to sign back on.

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated as im worried about this!

Just to add an extra question, would it be possible to start a new claim for CB JSA, which would be reviewed on a different tax year? If so, how long would I have to wait before I could make such a claim?

Many thanks for any help!

sammyjammy

You should be entitled to income based JSA based on what you say in your post. I'm confused though, if youve made your claim to JSA since 2/1/11 and it doesn't link to any other benefit claims you've had (in the 13 weeks previous to that) then you should have been assessed on tax years 08/09 and 09/10.............

Clean_Hat

Thanks for the help. I have been on JSA for 3 years, that will be why I was assessed on those years. Does the year you are assessed on change every 12 months or is it just based on when you first claim?

Clean_Hat

Also, just to add, its strange that this hasnt been a problem till now given that ive been on for 3 years if that tax year is being used. Could it be due to the fact I had a 2 month job over christmas where I signed off and then had to do a rapid reclaim? Would the switch to IB have been automatic previously, but the rapid reclaim has somehow messed things up?

cassieB57

Clean_Hat wrote: »

Also, just to add, its strange that this hasnt been a problem till now given that ive been on for 3 years if that tax year is being used. Could it be due to the fact I had a 2 month job over christmas where I signed off and then had to do a rapid reclaim? Would the switch to IB have been automatic previously, but the rapid reclaim has somehow messed things up?

I suspect that when you reclaimed, you ticked the 'contribution based JSA' box not the 'income based' one, (or gave this information on the phone)indicating which you wanted to claim. Your reclaim links back to the previous claim as the break was under 12 weeks, so the same income tax years would be used as for the oriiginal claim, and you will have already had the maximum conts-based JSA from those contributions. You will, I think, need to complete that JSA3