Jobseekers allowance question

Legacy_user

Basically I want to claim for Contribution based Job Seekers allowance which you can get if you 'have paid enough National Insurance Contributions' My question is: What is meant by 'enough'?

I doubt anyone will 100% know the answer to this as I have tried everything to find out the answer. These are the things I have done:

1. Asked various employees down the job centre, they don't have a clue. Who do they work for YES the job centre the place you go to get job seekers allowance but they do not know!

2. Looked on the internet but every time it says the same thing 'you need to have paid enough NI contributions' and never specifies what 'enough' is.

3. Phoned the main job centre helpline. YES again the people directly involved in dealing with jobseekers allowance and guess what, I phoned 3 times and spoke to 3 different people. 1st person said I needed 2 full years and I said I only worked 20months so he said I needed to speak to HMRC about filling in the 4 missing months so that I can get Jobseekers allowance so I phone HMRC and they said that filling gaps does not count towards benefits and that they did not know what 'enough' was. 2nd person I spoke to was in a different department as I could not get through to the Jobseekers department and she said I needed to have paid at least 6months in each of the 2 specified tax years. I could not be sure of this as I had been told different things and needed confirmation. So I phoned again...3rd Person said that he did not know so again I was told to phone HMRC and again HMRC said they did not know, they only could tell me if I had qualified for my pension those years but not jobseekers. So people at the jobcentre are useless tell you a load of rubbish and tell you to phone HMRC which is wrong. They deal with jobseekers allowance surely they should know the answer to such a basic question which should be common knowledge.

If knowone knows what you need to have paid to qualify WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AT THE JOBCENTRE + SOME OF THESE PEOPLE ARE STRIKING TODAY. WHY? THEY DON'T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND WHENEVER I GO IN THERE THEY HAVE LOADS OF BREAKS WHEN THERE IS NO JOBSEEKERS IN WHICH IS VERY REGULAR.

DCFC79

Why did you use capitals, is the caps lock stuck

just apply for job seekers and you will find out if you can get it

System

DCFC79 wrote: »

Why did you use capitals, is the caps lock stuck

just apply for job seekers and you will find out if you can get it

That was hugely useful NOT

DCFC79

dburford9 wrote: »

That was hugely useful NOT

thanks for that

so why not apply for job seekers then ? if you dotn qulaify for jsa you do get told why not

i think its a years worth of paying NI you qualify for jsa but im not sure

DCFC79

A quote i found
"
To get Contribution based Job Seekers Allowance you have to have paid National Insurance Contributions in both tax years prior to making your claim to benefit. For example if you made your claim today they would look at the tax years ending April 2005 and April 2006. If you have paid enough NI contributions in these tax years you qualify for Contribution based Job Seekers Allowance."

just used google for it

here, its post number 20, its a bit though so might have changed

Sambucus_Nigra

I know the answer.

However I feel that your attitude stinks so I'll keep it to myself.

Have a nice day

System

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

I know the answer.

However I feel that your attitude stinks so I'll keep it to myself.

Have a nice day

HAHA very funny. My attitude? When you have been on the phone for 4 hours trying to find out the answer to a simple question what do you expect? Wow I used capitals, I am soooo sorry that offended you. Also I am sorry if I offended you because I criticised employees of the jobcentre for not doing their job properly. Maybe you work there and you are on strike today.

Plus I now know the answer, finally after 20 phone calls. I would not be surprised if you did not know the answer, the only person that knows is the woman I just spoke to.

Sambucus_Nigra

Google would have got it for you in seconds!!!

System

DCFC79 wrote: »

thanks for that

so why not apply for job seekers then ? if you dotn qulaify for jsa you do get told why not

i think its a years worth of paying NI you qualify for jsa but im not sure

I have applied its just taking ages and I wanted the piece of mind to know if I was entitled to it (or not). And as I have said no1 knows at the jobcentre so its a bit concerning. Someone at the job centre was concerned that I would not get it as he thought I needed to have worked 2 full tax years when I had only worked 20months but....

After 4 hours on the phone I finally got through to someone who actually knew and the guy at the jobcentre is completely wrong, you only have to had paid National Insurance on around £5000 worth of earnings over 2 years. Thanks for your help anyway.

DCFC79

dburford9 wrote: »

HAHA very funny. My attitude? When you have been on the phone for 4 hours trying to find out the answer to a simple question what do you expect? Wow I used capitals, I am soooo sorry that offended you. Also I am sorry if I offended you because I criticised employees of the jobcentre for not doing their job properly. Maybe you work there and you are on strike today.

Plus I now know the answer, finally after 20 phone calls. I would not be surprised if you did not know the answer, the only person that knows is the woman I just spoke to.

using capitals comes across as shouting plus was it needed

i actually dont care if you criticised the job centre staff, the staff i have met were actually quite good, maybe the staff didnt the answer themselves so hardly they're fault is it,

20 phone calls when you could have submitted a claim for job seekers in under 20 minutes(you never said in the first post you had applied for job seekers)

Arg

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

I know the answer.

However I feel that your attitude stinks so I'll keep it to myself.

Have a nice day

You probably don't and are just being an !!!! because you have a hardon for the incompetents at the jobcentre and hmrc.