jobseekers allowance and holidays?!

lupylucy

hi there, im hoping someone can help me as ive hunted the internet for hours now and cant find any info on what im looking for!
firstly if this has been asked somewhere else on this forum previously i appologise.
right, i have been given some money for xmas off my grandma, and i would like to go on holiday with it as i havent been abroad since i was 11 and ive had a pretty rubbish year this year! im self employed so i dont have a problem with going abroad. the problem is i dont want to go alone and i was wanting to take my boyfriend.
hes on jobseekers allowance(income based) and signs on fortnightly.
can he come on holiday with me? can he still claim jsa or anything else while hes away? if not does he have to sign off and then sign on when he returns or can his claim be just suspended?
any advice or help on this subject would be greatly appriciated
thanks in advance, lucy

Nile

Hello lupylucy

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

He needs to fill in a holiday form (prior to the holiday) when he next goes to the JobCentre Plus or to make a special journey before his due signing date, if time is short.;)

I believe that jobseekers are allowed a fortnight holiday per year, when they will be out of the UK and not available for work.;)

Regards

Nile

healy

Nile wrote:

Hello lupylucy

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

He needs to fill in a holiday form (prior to the holiday) when he next goes to the JobCentre Plus or to make a special journey before his due signing date, if time is short.;)

I believe that jobseekers are allowed a fortnight holiday per year, when they will be out of the UK and not available for work.;)

Regards

Nile

I think you are only allowed to have a fortnight holiday per year if you stay in this Country.Reg 19(1)(p) of the JSA Regs does allow for a claimant to be away from home (on holiday) for up to 14 days, on the basis that they allowed to be treated as actively seeking work, although they must still be available for work. However, JSA entitlement is still normally dependent on the claimant being in GB (sec 1(2)(i) Jobseekers Act 1995). Regulation 50 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regs does allow for some exceptions to this for varying numbers of weeks where someone is “temporally absent from GB. These are also summarised on page 639 of the current CPAG Handbook, but none of the exceptions are as "straightforward" as a claimant being on holiday.

elisebutt65

......Sitting here watching this thread now, waiting for the Daily Mail readers to come and have a rant about doleys going on holiday............


Seriously though - I thin you can have 10 working(or not ) off a year, but he'd have to check when he next goes to sign on.

There have been other threads on here about this so maybe have a hunt on this forum???

lupylucy

elisebutt65 wrote:

......Sitting here watching this thread now, waiting for the Daily Mail readers to come and have a rant about doleys going on holiday............

for anyone who does think this, this is a treat and he doesnt even know about it yet, its a xmas suprise!

thanks for the replys and for your help, i just wish i could find out more off the internet!
i will have a hunt on this forum and see if i can find anything!
lucy

Labman_2

I'm on JSA at the moment & have asked one of the staff at the Job Centre about going on holiday whilst 'signing on' & was told as I wasn't available for work I'd have to 'sign off' whilst away & 'sign on' again on my return. I suggest you ask at your own Job Centre or phone them for confirmation.

Broken_hearted

I don't read the daily mail and accept its a treat, but if he was paying for it himself I'd love to know how.

Astaroth

Certainly my step son doesnt lose his benefits when he comes down to visit us for 2 weeks however I dont know about the being out the UK aspect which another poster mentioned.

ukdickie31

Hi all

I don't want to be a killjoy but you will lose JSA when you go abroad. It's just one of those rules (says he with 20+ years knowledge of the benefit system !).

There are regs about going for interviews abroad, but given this is a holiday, if the circumstances are explained as per the OP, no JSA will be paid.

peter999

ES674 is the JSA Holiday form.
Do a Google search on ES674.

Here's some info:

Absence from Great Britain, temporary childcare responsibilities, illness and holidays abroad

You will be treated as available for work if you (JSA Regs, reg 14):

-are temporarily abroad to attend a job interview and you have given prior notice of this to the ES for a maximum period of 1 week at any time

-are temporarily absent from Great Britain to take a young family member abroad for medical treatment for a maximum period of 8 weeks at any time

-are part of a couple and looking after a child in the family full-time (for a maximum period of 8 weeks at any time) because your partner is:
temporarily out of the country
temporarily away from home
caring for another family member who is ill

-are part of a couple and both of you are temporarily out of the country and your partner is in receipt of either a JSA pensioner premium or a JSA disability premium (maximum period of 4 weeks at any time)

-are being treated as capable of work for JSA due to a short period of illness for a maximum of 2 weeks and only on two occasions in each successive 12 months during a period of unemployment (see page * for more details).

You will be treated as actively seeking work in any of these weeks only if you are engaged in the activity for at least 3 days in the week in question.

Apart from the above exemptions you cannot normally claim JSA for any other period that you are absent from Great Britain. However, there are exceptions to this if you are going abroad as part of your training under the Work-Based Learning for Adults programme (see page * for more details) or if you are visiting Northern Ireland.

If you are simply going to Northern Ireland for a holiday, you are treated in the same way as a JSA claimant who is going on holiday within Great Britain (see below). If you go to Northern Ireland for an extended period, you can continue to claim JSA there for up to 4 weeks providing you continue to show that you are available for and actively seeking work and that you intend to return to Great Britain within a year (JSA Regs, reg 50(2)).

If ES staff know that you are going abroad for a holiday they will ask you to fill out the section of the Going away from home form (ES674) entitled "Going abroad". Your claim will be terminated and you will need to make a new claim for JSA when you return from abroad.

Holidays and absence from home in the UK

Although you cannot claim JSA when you go abroad on holiday (see above) you can go on holiday in the UK (i.e. Great Britain and Northern Ireland), or be absent from home in the UK for other reasons (e.g. to visit a sick relative), and continue to receive your benefit. In addition, you are excused from actively seeking work in these circumstances for a maximum of 2 weeks in each 12-month period, providing you arrange your absence with the ES before you leave and you remain available for work while you are away (JSA Regs, reg 19(1)(p)). You can stay away for longer than 2 weeks providing that you are available for work and actively seeking work after the first fortnight has elapsed.

The ruling that you must remain available for work means that the Jobcentre has to be able to contact you while you are away from home. You will be required to provide details of where you are staying in the Going away from home form (ES674). If you cannot give an address and telephone number at which you can be directly contacted every day while you are away, you can give "the name, address and telephone number of someone who you will be in contact with while you are away" (question 7 in the ES674 form). You should be able to demonstrate that this arrangement will enable the Jobcentre to contact you about job opportunities on any day that you are away.

There are a number of questions in the form asking whether you are willing and able to return home immediately to take up a job opportunity. If you do not answer yes to these questions your availability for work will be in doubt and you could lose benefit. This also applies if you cannot demonstrate that while you are away you will be available on the days and hours that are set out in your Jobseeker’s Agreement.

The form concludes with a number of questions about your jobseeking. If you are only going away for 2 weeks you can specify that you will not be looking for work. However, if you are going away for longer you must show that you will also be actively seeking work after 2 weeks has elapsed. Alternatively, you may be required to look for work throughout your absence because you have used your 2-week exemption period within the previous 12 months. If you wish, you can use your 2-week actively seeking work exemption for two separate periods of absence lasting a week each (AOG, vol 4, para 26743).

If you do not have time to complete the ES674 you may be allowed to make arrangements about your absence by telephoning the Jobcentre before you go (JSA LOA, ch 2, para 226).

You will be expected to return home on the date you gave on the ES674 (or verbally over the phone) and attend the Jobcentre on the appointment date given to you before you left or risk losing benefit.

Blind people attending a training course in the use of guide dogs can add the 2-week actively seeking work exemption to the 4 weeks they are allowed to attend such a course (see page *). They therefore have a maximum of 6 weeks during which they can be away from home without actively seeking work (JSA Regs, reg 19(2)(c)).

seven-day-weekend

You can have ten working days holiday in a rolling year but you are NOT allowed to leave the country.

I checked it for someone last March, so I know this is accurate.