JSA & working

Tabitha_T

Hi, can anybody offer any advice on this please. If my OH accepts a
paid, part time job of 16 hours per week (working for a charity) how does that affect his JSA? His Work Programme guy said he thought his JSA claim would be kept open if he was still seeking a role with full time hours (which is never going to happen with the charity). My OH has asked at the JC on his signing day but they had no idea! We assumed that if he was working, even on a part time basis, then he would have to come off JSA and all things like HB and CTB etc and even CTC would be adjusted accordingly. Confused! Also, possibility that I could work in a part time role aswell, is it right that my earnings (especially if 16 hours or under) wouldn't affect OH's claim? Thanks for any help.

HappyMJ

It will stop. He'll get at least minimum wage for his paid work which should be £97.28 per week and possibly lose £105.95 per week in JSA. It may or may not be worth it.

Tabitha_T

Thanks for your reply. We find it all so confusing and frustrating too, there is never any definitive (or correct) advice coming from the JC staff or it seems any organisation working with them. We are advised not to ring DWP direct (on the advice of JC staff!) as this could trigger an enquiry into our claim and cause no end of stress etc, it's a flippin nightmare. At the moment, we get £99 once a fortnight but as it's income based JSA we get max HB and all our CTB paid. If he gets minimum wage of 97 odd quid a week it would appear well worth it, not least for the sanity of my OH! having said that I don't know how him working on that rate would affect our other benefits though.......still confused...would WTC replace CTC I wonder?

Fiver29

If you have children, one of you working 16 hours will mean the JSA claim finishes and you will be able to claim WTC instead. On a low wage you will also be able to claim CTB and LHA (but might not get the full amount paid).

wannabehermit

If it is his JSA claim then 16hrs will bring it to an end. If it's your JSA claim he can work up to 24hrs a week, but obviously at 24hrs would be earning more than JSA anyway.

Re other benefits. DH works over 40 hours a week but we still get HB, CTC, WTC & CB due to it being a low wage (we also live down south so rent & lha rates higher than many parts of the country).

Why do you only get £99 a fortnight. It should be approx £210 a fortnight for a couples claim.

Tabitha_T

Yes, it is his JSA claim, and we still have one child living at home - 8 year old. The deducted JSA money is for a £2k pension received annually. So, looking at things, I'm still not really sure how the £97 for 16 hours would affect the actual level of total overall benefits. He is desperate to work, having been made redundant 18 months ago and nothing since. However, we're just really scared of not being able to pay our rent. We too are down south and rents and council tax are horrendous. Maybe there's a benefits checker tool that would be of help - I can't get a CAB appointment for nearly 3.5 weeks! Thanks guys for all your assistance.

sleepless_saver

Why not run the figures through this benefits checker?

wannabehermit

Yes check the figures on entitledto as sleepless savers link. The figures are not wholly accurate but are close enough to the genuine figures to give you a good idea of what you will be getting with a £97 per week wage. I completely get how your OH feels. Both DH & I were made redundant in 2009 (different ends of the year though) and it took DH almost a year and a half to find work.

Tabitha_T

Thanks very much for your suggestions guys, will give the benefit checker a try. Bye for now, Tabs