Jobseekers allowance stopped cos wife earns a lot

duncan1892

Hello

I've been claiming JSA for two months now after been made redundant. Got a wife and 10 month old baby.

I receive Child Benefit (£80), Child Tax Credits (around £33) and i found out that I will get council tax benefit today. Just relieved of the council tax i think. no income there.

My JSA contribution based £270 a month (67.50 x 4 weeks) was about to stop and i told over the phone to change it to income based. Still the same thing as she told me I will be getting about £3 a week..:T

So my wife got paid for doing 70 hours a month, £488. Is that a lot of money to the government for a family? What is the threshold so i can earn my JSA?

Torry_Quine

If enough NI contributions you should get JSA for 6 months. With your wife working you won't get income based as she earns over £105 per week. Not sure about children making a difference although you are getting benefit for the baby.

duncan1892

Torry_Quine wrote: »

If enough NI contributions you should get JSA for 6 months. With your wife working you won't get income based as she earns over £105 per week. Not sure about children making a difference although you are getting benefit for the baby.

but i was on contribution based JSA and they said they'd stop it cos of my wife. Does her earnings of £105 a week apply on contribution based as well?

what is your advise?

hcb42

why has your contribution based JSa stopped after 2 months, it is normally 6?

Torry_Quine

duncan1892 wrote: »

but i was on contribution based JSA and they said they'd stop it cos of my wife. Does her earnings of £105 a week apply on contribution based as well?

what is your advise?

No, you can get contribution based even if you have a fortune in the bank and your wife is earning a large salary. If you've only had contribution based for 2 months then you should get it for another 4 presuming your contributions were all in order.

duncan1892

thanks Torry Quine

hcb42 they said my wife earns more than the jsa... It is a joint claim.

So should I contact the jobcentre plus and ask them to put me back on contribution JSA? or cannot do anything once its been changed?

I am very worried I will have to live on £3 a week.

HappyMJ

You would normally jave a single claim on contributions based and would get £67.50 per week. A joint claim would be on income based. Have you notified tax credits of your drop in income? That will increase and they will backdate your tax credits.

duncan1892

Torry_Quine wrote: »

No, you can get contribution based even if you have a fortune in the bank and your wife is earning a large salary. If you've only had contribution based for 2 months then you should get it for another 4 presuming your contributions were all in order.

Is it not correct that if you have over £6,000 in the bank it will reduce the JSA? also if you have over £16,000 then no JSA at all

duncan1892

HappyMJ wrote: »

You would normally jave a single claim on contributions based and would get £67.50 per week. A joint claim would be on income based. Have you notified tax credits of your drop in income? That will increase and they will backdate your tax credits.

can i do a single claim if i am married ?

do you think i can get to contribution based now?

HappyMJ

duncan1892 wrote: »

can a do a single claim if i am married ?

do you think i can get to contribution based now?

Yes the contributions are based on your own personal national insurance record.

I am not sure. You would need to ask the jobcentre. You should get 6 months of CBJSA so I would think so.

MattLFC

Does IB JSA not take into account Tax Credits when working out the amount someone is eligable to? As the OP is recieving CTC, and IB JSA award may be subject to this??

Regardless, inclusive of the £488 your wife earns, the total income comes to £985 per month, plus your CTB. On top of this, you will recieve free dental care, and prescriptions (and I think your wife will too for maybe 2 years after the babies birth - not sure though correcvt me if I'm wrong).

It's not by any means, a massive amount, but how much exactly do you want the government to hand you - they are effectively more than doubling your household income at present. Is your wife working more than 16 hours per week? I assume she has checked whether or not she is eligable to WTC? Do you have a mortgage or do you rent? If the latter, have you checked if your eligable, or are you waiting on a HB decision?