Work 60 miles round trip away - costing me too much

Tican

Hi there,

Can I voluntarily quit my job if I work 30 miles away from it, it costs me £10 a day in fuel (cannot get a bus to work due to shifts and location), £200 a month in insurance etc.
I have worked there since Oct 2011, and I was previously employed for 5 years until September 2011 (Made redundant)

I am on minimum wage, working 35 hours a week. I simply cannot afford to do it any more.

I have been looking for jobs closer to home, but I am getting no response.

Can I quit and then claim JSA?

Thanks in advance,

scooby088

Answer to your question you can quit but you wouldn't get any JSA for upto 26 weeks, as you have made yourself unemployed.

Emmzi

can you move?
can you get a scooter instead?

TeaCake

No, you will be sanctioned for anything up to six months.

Maybe you should look to see if you can car share with anyone or downgrade your car to one that is more fuel efficient or post your SOA to see if you can cut your outgoings more until you get a job closer to home.

HappyMJ

Tican wrote: »

Hi there,

Can I voluntarily quit my job if I work 30 miles away from it, it costs me £10 a day in fuel (cannot get a bus to work due to shifts and location), £200 a month in insurance etc.
I have worked there since Oct 2011, and I was previously employed for 5 years until September 2011 (Made redundant)

I am on minimum wage, working 35 hours a week. I simply cannot afford to do it any more.

I have been looking for jobs closer to home, but I am getting no response.

Can I quit and then claim JSA?

Thanks in advance,

Sell the car (saying it is now uneconomical to run) and attempt to get there by public transport. When that fails (you must attempt it) you will be dismissed and can claim.

If you are not willing to get rid of the car then the chance of you actually succeeding in a claim without being sanctioned is low.

When you do claim do not admit to being able to drive and do not say you would be willing to buy a car to get anywhere. They will only then refer you to jobs that are within 90 minutes commuting time by public transport.

Tican

Emmzi wrote: »

can you move?
can you get a scooter instead?

I can't move. Can't afford to. I still live at home with my parents because I can't afford to move out!

TeaCake wrote: »

No, you will be sanctioned for anything up to six months.

Maybe you should look to see if you can car share with anyone or downgrade your car to one that is more fuel efficient or post your SOA to see if you can cut your outgoings more until you get a job closer to home.

Car share isn't possible. Everyone else, apart from one, are local to the site. I will post up my SOA later.

HappyMJ wrote: »

Sell the car (saying it is now uneconomical to run) and attempt to get there by public transport. When that fails (you must attempt it) you will be dismissed and can claim.

If you are not willing to get rid of the car then the chance of you actually succeeding in a claim without being sanctioned is low.

When you do claim do not admit to being able to drive and do not say you would be willing to buy a car to get anywhere. They will only then refer you to jobs that are within 90 minutes commuting time by public transport.

Yup. With the buses, it takes an 2 hours door to door. My shifts are:
7am - 3pm (no bus at start of shift, but can get home)
3pm - 11pm (can get there for start of shift, but can't get home)
11pm - 7am (can get to work for 8pm due to last bus, and would have to wait around until 9am to get home!)

HappyMJ

Tican wrote: »

I can't move. Can't afford to. I still live at home with my parents because I can't afford to move out!

Car share isn't possible. Everyone else, apart from one, are local to the site. I will post up my SOA later.

Yup. With the buses, it takes an 2 hours door to door. My shifts are:
7am - 3pm (no bus at start of shift, but can get home)
3pm - 11pm (can get there for start of shift, but can't get home)
11pm - 7am (can get to work for 8pm due to last bus, and would have to wait around until 9am to get home!)

This is a job that requires a car. Get rid of the car then. Are you willing to do that? Is it an old car? Uneconomical to repair, MOT, tax and insure? I'd just scrap it instead of selling it as a working car to prove in a way that it just wasn't worth keeping.

60 miles at 15p a mile using my fuel calculator should cost you £9 so you are very close with your estimate of £10 a day.

Is there any chance of a pay rise? If they gave you an extra £10 a day would you stay? I'd ask about that too.

Dunroamin

HappyMJ wrote: »

Sell the car (saying it is now uneconomical to run) and attempt to get there by public transport. When that fails (you must attempt it) you will be dismissed and can claim.

If you are not willing to get rid of the car then the chance of you actually succeeding in a claim without being sanctioned is low.

When you do claim do not admit to being able to drive and do not say you would be willing to buy a car to get anywhere. They will only then refer you to jobs that are within 90 minutes commuting time by public transport.

I'd be very careful about acting on this advice, you could run into a lot of trouble if you follow it.

From your figures you are still slightly better off working than on benefits and you get to run a car as well. If you can't find something else while you're working it'll be even less likely and you could be looking at a period of months or even years unemployed, wrecking many of your future prospects.

It seems a very expensive car to run, both in terms of fuel and insurance; couldn't you buy something cheaper?

hcb42

30 miles is not a huge commute, and chucking in your job would seem senseless, especially as you are living at home and working FT.

the best approach would be to simply keep searching for something closer.

emg

Am I missing something? You don't need to quit your job to look for a new one closer to home.

Emmzi

soooo you didn't say why you can't get a scooter?