JSA Contributions

HiToAll

Hi,
Hope someone can answer me this, I am new here.
I am entitled to JSA Contributions based until July 2012, and have been offered some work in March, just 9 hours per week, paying £40p/h for a few weeks in March and possibly April.
What I want to know is how does this affect my benefits as I will do work in the weeks of March to start with but will not be paid until the last friday of the month.

How does this work, I mean, do i still get paid JSA until i get paid from my employment, or do i lose money every week as i am earning more than I would on JSA and therefore get no money until i get paid. Or do i get paid JSA each week as normal and then have to pay it back??
Sorry if this is confusing.
Thanks

dseventy

You declare the work and they deduct it from your JSA payment after £5 (assuming you are single, its different for couples and single mums).

D70

HappyMJ

If these weeks are consecutive weeks you will be better off signing off the day before you start work and sign back on again the day after the last day of work. You will get part week benefits instead of zero benefits for the weeks in question and you get a couple more weeks added onto the end of your six months on contributions based if that is of any help.

If you signed off tomorrow you will still be paid once more for an amount since the last time you signed on so would get another small payment. As this probably won't be enough to survive on until you are paid you can apply for a crisis loan and repay that when you are either paid or reclaim your benefits.

HiToAll

So what you are saying is that I would be better off signing off, then working for say two weeks, and then signing on again. So that would give me 6 months and 2 weeks JSA (including the to weeks i have signed off for in this example).

Is that better than filling in a form each time i go to the centre detailing hours worked etc. i went to the jobcentre the other day and the lady there showed me a form i could fill in.
Which way is better?

epitome

HiToAll wrote: »

Hi, I am new here.

I'd never have guessed

Why only JSA conts? Is there a partner who works more than 24 hours or is there savings of more than 16K........? Just a yes or no would do you dont have to say which one if you don't want to.

For the record.....if you start work but you do not get paid for that work until the end of the month....Your benefits will only be affected in the week that you finally get paid. If you sign off before you get paid they won't be affected at all. AFAIK (from personal experience). But as it is JSA conts, I would sign off at the end of the last complete whole week of JSA, i.e. if you sign on a Thursday and you get paid on a Friday, then make the Thusday before you get paid as your sign off day - last day of claim.
If you sign on a Wed make the Wed before payday the last day of claim
If you sign on a Tue make the Tue before payday the last day of your claim yada yada yada yada

This will mean however, that you cannot do a Rapid Reclaim.
And no, you don't have to pay it back when you get paid.

If you were to continue working after the first pay day and you had not signed off, they would then adjust your JSA to take into account what you will be paid on the projected next payday. But this would be a bad idea on JSA conts as you would be losing out in the long run.



Alternatively you could sign off altogether (from the end of your "jobcentre week") for the whole of the working period, and then do a Rapid Reclaim when you finish work. Secure in the knowledge that you will have extended your end date of JSA by however many weeks you were working for..... but it would still be 6 months in total IYSWIM?

HiToAll

Yes to both of your questions about why i am on JSA cont.
Thanks for the reply.
My signing on day is wednesday and my next signing on day is next wed (14/3) and i will start work on the 15/3. Total i will be earning for the week will be approx £400/week up until at least May.
I however wont be paid until the last friday of April and then monthly after that.

In your opinion, should i therefore sign off completely on the wed before the last Friday of April?

thanks