OH jsa, working tax and free school dinners help please

mirrorimage0

hi all will try and keep it in order but am getting confused and jobcentre people dont help .

so husband has been out of work for around 6/8 weeks

he went to sign for jsa and they sent him a letter saying he hadnt paid enough national insurance, but he can still sign to get this paid.

we have appealed as my husband is 45 and never been out of work apart from around 2 weeks in between jobs in 2009 so am just awaiting the appeal decision.

he has decided to go to college so he can go self employed after and starts next week now, he will be doing two days a week but they are classing this as full time? so as i understand it he will have to sign off is there anything else he can claim ie free school dinners for the children or anything

i work but have just started maternity leave so for this year will only earn around 9k , we do get working tax credits but this still brings us under 16k pa

the job centre wont tell us exactly if he has to sign off or if he continues to sign for ni or if we can get extra help anywhere, does anyone know please

thankyou for taking the time to read and reply

karenx

In majority of the councils if you get WTC you do not qualify for free school meals.

If you are struggling is this really the right time for your partner to be going to college and not earning?

mirrorimage0

we have enough to pay the bills on my wages as over the yrs we have both worked full time and got our mortgage low. he cannot find a job with hrs to suit or with a sensible pay, so he will be going to college two days a week and over the course of the next couple of months will be going self employed so he will work for himself.

we wont be struggling i never said we would be otherwise he wouldnt be doing it.

what i needed to know was does he still sign so he gets his national insurance paid for the time being or does he sign off when he starts college next week.

it isnt about wether we can afford to live, its about what we are entitled to, ie school meals etc. and any extra things we can ask for .

as said before we have always worked and paid our taxes.

thanks for reading. x

coffeeandfags

I dont think he would still be allowed to sign on because he will be classed as being in full-time education and therefore not able to be looking for full-time work.

However, you should be eligible for a council tax reduction (i think its 25%) because students dont pay council tax.
He might also be eligible for a bursary from college. Best bet is to go to the student finance office at college and ask. They are usually really good at telling you what you can and cant claim.

mirrorimage0

thanks for this, think i will go and have a chat down the job centre too, i need to find out if he has to pay his own ni or if it gets paid for him, because he is a student etc. will write myself a list and pop down with him.

he does try bless him but i always tend to get half conversations and and not all the info i need when he goes on his own, is this just a typical bloke or just mine lol

skater_kat

i think to get council tax discount you have to be single - dont think there is a discount for one person in household being a student. there is exemption if all the occupants are FT students but i dont think there is anything if just one person in household is.

tboo

skater_kat wrote: »

i think to get council tax discount you have to be single - dont think there is a discount for one person in household being a student. there is exemption if all the occupants are FT students but i dont think there is anything if just one person in household is.

People in the following groups do not count towards the number of adults resident in a dwelling:

• Full time students

so bill will reduce by 25% - unless there are more than 2 adults in the property
but please check with the local council as certain rules have to be meet for the discount to be applied

Transformer

Has partner considered the open university?

mirrorimage0

no he has the course he wants, and we can afford to get by with just my wages, i was just wondering if there was anything we were entitled to.
thanks again for replies.x

mirrorimage0

he is doing a painting and decorating course so needs to be in college to do the work, not sure if you could do this on open university anyway, thanks though. x

oldmotherreilly

Is the course funded by the Learning and Skills Council? What does the prospectus for the college say-do they consider it to be full time? If it is LSC and it is classified as full time (ie 16 hours plus of guided learning per week), then it is correct that your husband would not be entitled to claim JSA.

In relation to your appeal against the JSA (contribution decision) decision-if your husband has proof that he has paid Class One National Insurance contributions for the last two COMPLETE tax year, by which I mean his P6os, then all you have to do is take them to your JCP, who should photocopy and verify they have seen the originals. They should then send these of to the Benefit Centre as urgent, and they will manually adjust the National Insurance information that has been downloaded.

There are two types of Jobseeker's Allowance-contribution based and Income based. Did your husband apply for both when he made his claim or are you still currently receiving wages from your employer for maternity pay and therefore not eligible to claim?

If you are still receiving Working Tax Credits you will not qualify for free school meals.