Income support after gap year

SLW_2

Hi all,

I have been trying to establish from the government direct website whether my boyfriend and I will be eligible for any job seekers/income support assistance when we return to the UK.

We decided in October 2010 to follow our dream and go travelling for 18 months, and we will actually be back in the UK in May 2012. We plan to start applying for jobs across the UK from April time in the vain hope that we might be able to get something for once we hit Blighty, but I am not overly optimistic. I have been reading alot of media reports about the number of people unemployed in the UK at the moment and the number of applicants companies are receiving for each job opening.

We own a house, and have been renting that out while travelling, and will have to continue to do so until we have a job that can pay for the mortgage, and so we will have to rely upon spare rooms at our friends and family.

Me and my boyfriend are both 31, and have worked full time since leaving university (apart from this gap in employment while being abroad).

Could anyone advise on whether we would be able to get any income assistance while we search for jobs?

planning303

no idea whether you can or not... but as a uk tax payer i hope you can't!

:mad:

LondonDiva

Why aren't you planning on coming home and living off your savings, or if you don't have enough signing up with a number of temp agencies before you get back and trying to arrange a series of interviews with the agencies for the week after you get back?

With the slightest effort there is no need for anyone with rental income and well enough to travel for a year to jump straight into income support - if you can't find work in your chosen field there's always domestic care or administrative agencies etc

tincat

The above 2 posters are a bit judgemental or what?

I think you're entitled to jsa, if you're both residents. Go and see them the minute you get back. I think you have to have a permanent address, so if you stay with a single person they will lose their council tax discount or something.

Not sure for certain, but hopefully you'll get more advice from more reasonable posters soon.

tincat

LondonDiva wrote: »

With the slightest effort there is no need for anyone with rental income and well enough to travel for a year to jump straight into income support - if you can't find work in your chosen field there's always domestic care or administrative agencies etc

How do you know they haven't exhausted their holiday money? Are you saying that loads of people jobseeking at the moment haven't expended the slightest effort to get out of their situations?

t0rt0ise

If you're renting your house out then you have income so I can't see you getting income based JSA and not having paid NI contributions in the last two years you won't get contribution based JSA. Added to that you made yourselves unemployed. So I wouldn't say it's as cut and dried as tincat supposes but you can but ask the Job Centre.

planning303

Tincat, clearly they havent exhausted all their holiday funds else they would be pretty screwed for the next 6 months as they don't intend to return untill next may.

Yes i'm judging them because they have effectively choosen to chuck away their jobs to go on an extended holiday and then expect the tax payer to bankroll them.

I am a tax payer and i can neither afford to go on expensive foriegn holidays nor buy a house! :mad:

Oldernotwiser

t0rt0ise wrote: »

If you're renting your house out then you have income so I can't see you getting income based JSA and not having paid NI contributions in the last two years you won't get contribution based JSA. Added to that you made yourselves unemployed. So I wouldn't say it's as cut and dried as tincat supposes but you can but ask the Job Centre.

As above^^^^

Your house will stop you getting means tested JSA and you won't have the current contributions needed for contributions based. You're not eligible for IS either.

If you move back into your house on your return, you could make a joint claim for means tested JSA and claim help with your mortgage interest after 13 weeks.

zzzLazyDaisy

ONW has it spot on.

And just to clarify... the rent is still counted as income even if it only covers the mortgage, because the mortgage is ignored for this purpose.

whitelabel

you say extended holiday, but they could have been working while abroad and supporting themselves that way rather than living off savings.

They could be renting the property at mortgage rate level and not make an income from it.

Maybe you cant afford expensive foreign holidays, but given you can get trips to corfu for £120 inc flights, foreign holidays are not unaffordable in comparison to uk holidays.

the other response to liggins would be to find some where cheaper to live and increase your earnings... Im just saying

zzzLazyDaisy

whitelabel wrote: »

They could be renting the property at mortgage rate level and not make an income from it.

As stated above, for means tested benefits, the rent is considered to be income and the mortgage is not taken into account.