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Yet more financial faux pas and many other disasterous decisions
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and to make things more fun I've been paid in full. Again. Despite having left two months ago. I suspect today will be spent on the phone to payroll.Saving for a Spinning Wheel and other random splurges : £183.500
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And so death by ritual humiliation begins.
I went to the job centre to sign on for 6 months worth of Jobseekers allowance. I arrived 15 minutes early and was told to wait 5 minutes. 20 minutes later I enquired again only to be told I'd missed my appointment and have to go back next week.
Pants, pants and pants again. If I wasn't really !!!!ed off I could cry.
:eek: How did you not go postal!? That's absolutely sh*t. Hugs to you, Hun. xCredit Card Freedom gained 14 Feb 2014!!Total Debt Freedom gained 29 Apr 2014!!Savings goal 30/9/23: £72,000/£538,001.....yes I'm serious!Total Debt August 2013: [STRIKE]$21,587[/STRIKE] April 2014: $0!!!!:j0 -
It will be interesting to hear how this progresses - in England (though don't know if things have changed) you can't receive jobseekers allowance if you voluntarily gave up your last job. I seem to remember that there had to be a six month gap before an application could be considered. I've also heard that you have to jump through so many hoops (to deter the fraudsters) that it becomes more bother than it is worth!0
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If you claim JSA after voluntarily giving up your job you will be sanctioned for 12 weeks which basically means no money.
They sort your claim out and start paying you £71.70 per week and then about 4 weeks later you get the letter asking why your other job finished and then they write to your employer and then 2 weeks later you get a letter to say it was voluntary blah blahblah and then you get no money for 12 weeks.
So that is half the 6 months you are entitled to gone.
There are a lot of hoops to jump through now but for people who really want to get back to work it is fair, for the ones who don't want to work then they see it as very hard.
I agree with KAMH it can be more bother than it's worth - my dad is being made redundant in the next few months, he is 60 in December.
He has mild learning difficulties so struggles with reading and writing and wouldn't know a computer if it hit him in the head but when you claim JSA if you say you can't use a computer then you also get sanctioned for not following instructions!! Oh yeah and he cant drive and he lives in a village.
To be honest we are looking at him taking his pension early - he has been with the same company 35 years. I don't want him to have the humiliation of signing on and then being picked on for not conforming.
Moo - I think you are better off doing some craft stuff and having a stall to sell bits and pieces at fairs etc - at least then it is all on your own terms.0 -
Eager_Elephant wrote: »
He has mild learning difficulties so struggles with reading and writing and wouldn't know a computer if it hit him in the head but when you claim JSA if you say you can't use a computer then you also get sanctioned for not following instructions!! Oh yeah and he cant drive and he lives in a village.Be the change you want to see -with apologies to Gandhi
In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death. ~Sam Llewelyn
'On the internet no one knows you are a cat'0 -
If your father has problems with literacy, a claim can be taken over the phone and he would receive help with other aspects of a claim.
Hi Igamogam
Thanks for your post.
Obviously our family will help my dad with his online claim but it is the looking for jobs on the internet and completing job applications.
All my brothers and sisters work full time so it is difficult.
I know in the Jobcentre ideal world they will help you with all these things but the reality is very very different.
I am a benefit and debt adviser and I have seen no end of people lately being sanctioned for not using a computer even when this has been mentioned at the initial interview and they are not put on courses to improve IT skills.
Obviously we are complaining about this but it all takes time and in the mean time the family have no income - it's a vicious circle.
(Apologies to Moo for taking over her thread)0 -
This gets more and more farcical by the minute.
I phoned my car insurance provider to change my renewal details and informed them that I was no longer employed. The underwriter doesn't like unemployed people or stay at home parents and my policy was terminated on the spot just like that and I have to take out a new policy as of today.
Own up. Who kidnapped the money fairy?
Finally got my appointment with the job centre earlier in the week and was issued with a list of things to achieve which includes cold calling companies to see if they have any jobs to offer and whether they'd like to offer them to me because I phoned them. Another !!!!!! moment.
On the brightside because I'm a goody two shoes I have done some of the things they've requested (the sensible ones) which has resulted in an application to Boots who have Christmas vacancies that fit round school hours and also a playgroup within walking distance of the house.
Back there again today to prove I've been applying for stuff and officially sign on and gain my next set of instructions. Tis like being a top secret agent on a mission. Well ok it's not but if you don't approach this with a sense of humor I suspect you'd lose the plot. No wonder you have to walk the gauntlet of security guards before you're allowed to approach the hallowed lectern of shame in order to obtain entry to the inner sanctum. Getting into a military base is easier.
At least today I should find out whether I'll actually get any JSA at all. The handy book of words informs me that by leaving voluntarily I could lose my benefit for 13 weeks, 26 weeks or even 156 weeks. Oh joy. This could be the biggest waste of time and fuel ever. They could take pity on me being a working mum with late night childcare issues, but somehow I doubt it. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I get some money out of it whilst I find another job then thats a bonus. If not at least it guarantees me one grown up conversation a fortnight. I clearly need to get out more.
In slightly more positive news the OHs course is finally signed, sealed and paid for, although the back out clause gives his company another 3 weeks to change their minds before they have to pay regardless. He's booked on many other training trips to accompany it which means he's away for both the demonic daughters birthdays. They've decided to be like the Queen and have two birthdays. A grown up one with daddy and sleepovers without. Eeeeeeek.
EE- I think you're right about the crafty stuff, it's a way to generate an income but it's not really viable as a means of reliable regular income. I've been racking my brains for something that I can make that has a long term market but I'm kinda stuck. PE bags for school is restricted to the back to school in September market, Christmas stocking is a December thing. Knitted hats is fun but far too time consuming to do in bulk. I'm sure theres something blindingly obvious that I'm overlooking but I'm not entirely sure what it is. Kindle covers and ipad covers and wot not are fab to do but the market is flooded with them. Stalls are an expensive gamble. Etsy would be a sensible start point I guess, but not something I can do whilst claiming JSA as I'd have that offset against the allowance, unless of course I don't qualify in which case the world is my lobster.Saving for a Spinning Wheel and other random splurges : £183.500 -
I have a letter...... it says I will get JSA starting immediately or at least I would have done had I gone to my initial appointment but I've been penalised 3 days for "missing" it :mad: . Whether they change their minds at some point is anyones guess but it means I should have some money by the end of the month :j
My day has improved no endSaving for a Spinning Wheel and other random splurges : £183.500 -
You could not make it up.I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.0 -
and so today starts gloriously with an in-box full of rejections. Rejected by the playgroup for their minimum wage 3 hour a day job, although this one I was expecting because I have no relevant qualifications. But rejected by Boots for failing their online personality test. Really.I didn't see that one coming. The whole try not to take it personally thing is only going to last so long. How on earth do you fail an online test for a part time temporary shelf stacker? I mean it's clearly possible because I've done it. But really. I'd have thought you'd get as far as the whole cattle shed interview scenario where they select the bimbo with the biggest cleavage, but to be turfed before I even got that far. Humph. The OH thinks it's rather funny that I'm offended because I've failed the online test. I never fail anything. Ever (With the exception of my A-level Pure Maths with Mechanics exam but then I did miss most of the course so that wasn't really a surprise).
In even better news I checked my bank balance which is incidentally gloriously healthy, but from which my car insurance is destined to bounce if the gods of money don't come into alignment pretty fast. Once the cheque I've written to repay my salary clears that leave me about £50 short of the car insurance direct debit. Much emptying of all manner of teeny tiny bank accounts is required asap.
How is it I'm out of money already? Knowing this was going to happen I've paid for everything I possibly could upfront whilst I had an income so the phone line rental is covered until next year, both cars are taxed until next summer, all the demonic daughters school trips are paid for so in theory I only need to cover the general day to dayness of life and yet I'm skinter than a very skint thing
Operation Mother Hubbard is in full swing. We're eating our way through the kitchen cupboards. Unfortunately this involves a whole lot of pulses. Turns out no one else likes pulses unless they're in a soup.
Off to knit a sock in the hopes of cheering myself up just a tad.Saving for a Spinning Wheel and other random splurges : £183.500
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