Was told im not entitled to job seekers because i am self employed

trevc

Hi

I was told at the benefits office that i am not entitled to job seekers or any other benefits because i was self employed and had paid the wrong national insurance even though it was the one i was told to pay and had paid ordinary N.I. for over 30 years before the 10 of being self employed, i have just about managed to get by for over a year on savings and bits and pieces of work but have no work at all now is there anything i can do?

any help would be appreciated...

HappyMJ

How much in savings/investments do you have? If over £16,000 then you won't get any JSA. If under then you can apply for income based JSA.

trevc

Including in my wifes name? or just mine? or mine and both? or alltogher?

sueturnersmith

Both yours and your wife's savings are jointly taken into account. Plus, if your wife is working, you are not likely to get income based JSA.

trevc

My wife is a pensioner so has some income... seems like i wont be entitled then even after having tried to do the right thing all my working life just because of the advice the government gave on what n.i. to pay as a self employed person...

merlin68

Can your wife claim pension credit? then you would get £200 a week as a couple.

trevc

Yes she can although if i find work it is alot of hassle although is probably the point, the way the building industry is though work is hard to come by...

sue1953

When you are self-employed you pay Class 2 national insurance contributions. These count towards all contributory benefits except for contribution-based JSA. The other contributory benefits are ESA, state pension and bereavement benefits. You haven't been given the wrong advice on what stamp you pay, you have paid the correct stamp for your employment status. The only class of national insurance that gives rise to a claim for (C) JSA is Class 1 which is paid by employees with a contribution also paid by their employers.

jetplane

trevc if you are self employed you do not have the option to pay class 1 national insurance which is the only stamp to pay contribution based JSA. You could claim ESA if you are too ill to work if you paid class 2 stamp.

Also the years used to determine entitlement for a new claim are the last two full tax years eg. for a new claim this year they will look at apr 2008 - apr 2010 and even if someone has paid enough class 1 for every other year (but not in these two) they would not receive contribution based. On the other hand if someone had not worked at all except for those 2 tax years they could qualify Bizzare eh?

However your wife should claim pension credit for you as a couple and yes it can be a palava but it can be paid even if you have savings. It also passports you to many other benefits such as council tax benefit & housing benefit, health benefits, home improvements such as heating and insulation regardless of whether your savings are above the usual threshold.

eg. someone has £20,000 savings so are usually not entitled to HB & CTB but if they get even a smidgen of guarenteed pension credits then Housing Benefit ignore your savings.

robus

jetplane wrote: »

eg. someone has £20,000 savings so are usually not entitled to HB & CTB but if they get even a smidgen of guarenteed pension credits then Housing Benefit ignore your savings.

Are you sure you are right on that point?

My neighbour who asked me to help him fill out a pension credit claim has savings. When the assessment came through he was awarded the grand total of £3.65 a week as 'Guaranteed' pension credit plus another £16.34 'Savings' credit.

He had to complete the Local Authority's Council Tax Benefit form and sent it in at the same time as the pension credit form.

The council gave him very little CTB due to savings, despite him getting a few quid as guaranteed credit.
The council insisted that he filled out their form even though he was told that the pension credit people pass the info on.

So in his case, getting any guaranteed pension credit does NOT automatically give 100% CTB!! It is still worked out by using the LA's rules.

jetplane

Are you sure you are right on that point?

Hi yes, has your neighbour checked that the pension credits have forwarded the information to the local authority and have they acted on that info? He will have an award letter which will show the income they used.

The LA may have asked for a form to be completed to check liability for rent etc and they may have processed it and assesed the claim on his savings before pension credit made their decision.

Usually when the LA recieve the info from the pension service they ammend the HB & CTB and passport the person on to full benefit and backdate to the date of the GPC award. Ask your neighbour to check this out with his local housing benefit office.