New Enterprise Allowance & linking rules for JSA

karakul

I have a question about eligibility for the New Enterprise Allowance and linking rules for a long Job Seekers Allowance claim (1 year) that was split just recently with a 31 day family holiday.

JSA rules for rapid reclaims link the two claims into one continuous claim for such a modest break, but does this also apply for the purposes of applying for the NEA where you need to have been getting JSA for at least 6 months?

I've been gearing up to this self-employed plan for a while and it's suddenly become really urgent due to an impending Work Programme referral which would disastrously detract from the hours I've been putting into this. I announced my intent to the advisor at my last signing-on session only to be told my broken claim would prevent me applying for it, and that she was referring me to the Work Programme since I'd been signing on for a year (so it doesn't cancel eligibility for the Work Programme). Can this be correct? If anyone reviewed my work history they would see that the NEA was my best hope (past freelance experience and employed work skirting the same industry for all my working life). The Work Programme would not serve my needs at all and would only hinder my goals so I'm quite frantic. Can anyone help answer this?

Jdyer

karakul wrote: »

I have a question about eligibility for the New Enterprise Allowance and linking rules for a long Job Seekers Allowance claim (1 year) that was split just recently with a 31 day family holiday.

JSA rules for rapid reclaims link the two claims into one continuous claim for such a modest break, but does this also apply for the purposes of applying for the NEA where you need to have been getting JSA for at least 6 months?

I've been gearing up to this self-employed plan for a while and it's suddenly become really urgent due to an impending Work Programme referral which would disastrously detract from the hours I've been putting into this. I announced my intent to the advisor at my last signing-on session only to be told my broken claim would prevent me applying for it, and that she was referring me to the Work Programme since I'd been signing on for a year (so it doesn't cancel eligibility for the Work Programme). Can this be correct? If anyone reviewed my work history they would see that the NEA was my best hope (past freelance experience and employed work skirting the same industry for all my working life). The Work Programme would not serve my needs at all and would only hinder my goals so I'm quite frantic. Can anyone help answer this?

Hi, If you arrange a meeting with your JCP advisor and talk through your concerns and also whether an extension can be made to yourself before going onto the Work Programme (the only concern is the break of 31 days), the period allowed in normally 30days...If you do go onto the Work Programme you can still go Self Employed and the local provider in your area will help you achieve this goal, yes there will be key activities/ meetings you have to attend, If you do achieve to start on New Enterprise Allowance you will need to get the business up and running within 8 weeks, Hope this helps Julie

karakul

Thanks for your reply. I was unable to find mention of the 30 day limit anywhere when they told me this, and nothing to rule out the usual linking rule so where is this written down (in law)? It seems odd that the linking rule would apply for the purposes of them forcing me onto an entirely inappropriate WP but not for my choice of trying to claim Enterprise Allowance. Can they really enforce contradictory rules?

I think my main problem is the WP – being forced to work for my benefit on the whim of someone profiting from my sanctionable objections, wasting time better spent doing practically anything else, attending pointless classes and taking instruction on things I fully understand or have no need of. It's appalling really that the Geneva Convention prohibits forced labour unless your own Government decides it's a 'civic duty'.

The extension you mention – would that purely be until I am able to hopefully support myself or for the purposes of swaying a decision on NEA? That could be a lengthy extension if the statistics on new business start-ups are accurate. Going from zero income to a living income is quite a leap without any support. NEA isn't available to people on the WP according to my research (a parliamentary paper states NEA "… is available to those claiming JSA for at least 6 months, but before they are required to join the welfare-to-work scheme, the Work Programme." which presumably, therefore, cancels eligibility. Direct Gov says only "… NEA is available to those who have been Unemployed for 26 weeks or more who are claiming JSA …"

One of the DWP Customer Charter's aims is for 'providing appropriate help and support for those without work' but I doubt reminding them of this will sway any decisions. This seems more of a rant than a reply so I do apologise, but if you could point me to the 30 day rule somewhere I would be grateful.