New job: when to REALLY sign off JSA?

gettingready

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If you have been claiming a qualifying benefit for at least 26 weeks immediately before moving into work you can claim a Job Grant of £100 for single people .

As I was short one week only, my adviser practically begged that grant for me to help me with travel to work.

2 weeks later I got a letter from JC asking to give the money back as I did nto provide them with "monthly travelcard receipt" to which I have replied that my monthly travelcard would have costed £132 so £100 was not sufficient to cover even that and that I was buying weekly travelcards and sent them receipts for 3 of those.

That £100 is a laugh - in London anyway. It costs much more to get to work monthly, never mind any food/bills or whatever

Working for 2 months has actually put me more in debts than if I have stayed on JSA.

Will NEVER do any temp work again, sorry.

spartacusthe1st

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

You sign off the day before you start work. There are provisions for benefit run-on for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, and you can ask for a crisis loan to tide you over the intervening period.

Depending on the employer you may be able to ask for an advance of wages by cheque. Be aware that many companies have a monthly payroll; if your start date is too close to the payroll date to be included then you may be waiting until the next pay run for your salary.

same here hubby started work yesterday and doesnt get paid for 5 weeks!rang up for a crisis loan to cover food and elec for the period as it doesnt cover petrol etc so have had to borrow that off parents but got told by crisis loans until im down to my last penny i wont get anythig

spartacusthe1st

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

That's because (a) you're supposed to live on benefit, and (b) if you're skint enough to need a crisis loan you won't be able to pay it back. Neither applies if you have a job to go to so hopefully the Jobcentre will be more reasonable.

Tell the Jobcentre you can't take the job unless you get the crisis loan to tide you over.

If you have been claiming a qualifying benefit for at least 26 weeks immediately before moving into work you can claim a Job Grant of £100 for single people and couples without children, £250 for lone parents and couples with children.

why 26 weeks though?doesnt that just encourage ppl to be o the benefit for longer so they get this grant!?its ridiculous!

andygb

I pity anyone who has to apply for any of these "special" benefits, because it would seem that if life is difficult out of work, then it is an absolute nightmare when you are actively looking for, or even find a job.
I have never received any travelling expenses for an interview - ever! The excuse given to me, was always that I had not given the Jokecentre enough warning, or that they didn't give interview expenses for temporary jobs.
What happens when you take on temporary work, and you are told that the assignment will last a couple of months, so you sign off, and then the company tell you that they have appointed someone on a permanent basis when you have only been there three days - that happened to me, and I was out of pocket for rail fares and disputed hours on a timesheet.

gettingready

I never claimed interview expenses - I was told that to do that I have to come to JC once to fill in the forms and then second time to collect the giro/whatever.

In London, travel to an interview can easily be nearly £10 but to get this back - travel to JC TWICE costs too so....

Also, sometimes an interview was a case - a call from someone in the afternoon one day for an interview the following morning so what kind of "warning" did JC expect?

Nearly a tenner is a massive chunk of the £67.50 per week...

NASA_2

For the love of !!!!.

Now people are complaining about 'only' getting £100 for being unemployed for six months? Absolute jokes.

gettingready

NASA wrote: »

For the love of !!!!.

Now people are complaining about 'only' getting £100 for being unemployed for six months? Absolute jokes.

And how is this a joke?

I would nto mind if it was a loan as long as it was a suibale amount to cover travel/food/billes till one gets first salary.

Otherwise, how on earth is one suppose to survive?

I have no family here and nobody to borrow money from for that time, please - explain to me how would YOU manage to take on a job knowing you have no money to get to/from work or to eat or to pay bills for 4-5 weeks?

spartacusthe1st

gettingready wrote: »

And how is this a joke?

I would nto mind if it was a loan as long as it was a suibale amount to cover travel/food/billes till one gets first salary.

Otherwise, how on earth is one suppose to survive?

I have no family here and nobody to borrow money from for that time, please - explain to me how would YOU manage to take on a job knowing you have no money to get to/from work or to eat or to pay bills for 4-5 weeks?

EXACTLY!!!my hubby ent getting paid for 5 weeks as he started a new job yesterday it is a 50 miles round drive there and back this is gonna cost at least 50 quid a week in etrol!i have aplied for a crisis loan but aparently it isnt a crisis when you dont have enough money to buy petrol to get to work!!lus our car tax is due at the end of august thats another 120 quid for 6 months!lus the usual bills,elec,gas and food just the basics!

gettingready

... but if you refuse a job offer - for the job you have no means to get to - you are making yourself unemployed

As I said, I would not mind to take a loan from JC and pay it back in say 2 instalements but there is no option to do so.

By the time one gets paid for the first time, one is normally behind with rent and council tax already so has to pay 2 of each from the first pay, never mind the debts (if one has someone to borrow money from) for food/travel/other bills. No, nu luxuries - basics to enable one to take on a job AND survive (somehow) till the first pay day.

NASA_2

There is a loan available under Crisis Loans - alignment to wages - at least there was a few years ago.