Still waiting decision on JSA claim made in April

Hinckley

Hello there,

I hope you can help.

I applied for JSA on 8 April 2012, and have not yet receieved written confirmation of the decision. Today I applied for and received a crisis loan and now I'm finding myself really tearful and distressed. I visited the local Job Centre today who advised a decision has not yet been made!

I understand JSA is calculated on your last two years contributions. In 2010, I was in full time permanent employment. I was due to be made redundant but (considering the job market was in a bad way, didnt want to wait around) immediately took a six month contract, then another one three month contract which lasted a year to end 2011. From November 2011 to March 2012, I have been working in contiunous temporary (secretary) roles but at a massively lower income but work is work.

Additionally, over a three month period to supplement this income, I took home based typing work, but was advised to register with the HMRC for a small earnings exemption certificate which I received in February (but cancelled in April as did not do the work anymore).
I declared this work openly on my JSA application form, completed form B19 or B16 whichever it was and explained that it was short term self employment (3months) alongside paid employment, I held no profit/loss accounts etc, it was simply work to avoid me claiming benefit which I had never done before. I even sent them copies of my P45s and 60s over the past two years to prove my PAYE and NI contributions paid.

As you can already work out, the JSA people keep making the assumption when I call them that as "I am self employed I am not entitled", for which I keep repeating the same explanation but am getting nowhere. Now my rent is two months in arrears as HB claim is delayed and even if I wanted to apply for jobs, what about travel and subsistence costs, I am totally at my wits end with my former debts creeping back up again as I have no income or proof of benefit.

Can anyone please advise what I should do next?

Many thanks,
H

mynameistallulah

Six weeks is not bad for a standard JSA award to be made, and it does tend to take longer when there is a self employed element to the claim, especially where you have no formal accounts. Hopefully you will hear something soon.

With regards to your HB, you can ask that they assess your claim on the basis of being on a low income. Therefore they do not need to wait for the JSA award to be made.

Hinckley

Thank you for that, particularly on the HB side, gives me something to follow up on but they would still need my JSA confirmation letter too I guess.

If I received letter saying no decision has yet been made - that would show to everyone that I'm on zero income but I have applied, instead of being hounded by all and sundry. Six weeks is normal - my goodness - what do they expect people to do in the meantime - all I can do is wait.

Caz3121

The tax years they will look at for your claim are Apr 09-10 and Apr 10-11 so anything before or after this 2 year period are irrelevant
Were you working and paying NI for the whole of this 24 month period?

Hinckley

Yes, I have been working and paying NI not only for 24 months for near on 24 years - without gaps, that's why I'm even more annoyed about the whole process taking so long.

baza52

My son applied for JSA on april 3rd and got his first lot of money today.
He is signing off next week.

Hinckley

Oh my goodness, your son had to wait so long, thats a ridiculous length of time! He is very fortunate to be signing off next week - all the best to him.

Hinckley

I just took a call from the Job Centre Plus who advised my case had only been passed to the "Decision Maker" last week!!!!! The old self employed issue reared its ugly head again and (thanks to you) I reminded them that my NI contributions from 2009 to 2010 were paid in full from the same employer 2010/2011 another employer so the only thing the "decision maker" has to decide is whether my 3 months self employment from Dec 2011 to Feb 2012 means I'm eligible for JSA or not!?! The advisor says she has diarised to contact them towards the end of this week.

Caz3121

Hinckley wrote: »

the only thing the "decision maker" has to decide is whether my 3 months self employment from Dec 2011 to Feb 2012 means I'm eligible for JSA or not!?! .

That period should not even come into it, they should be looking at the 2 tax years ending April 2011

ALIBOBSY

Caz3121 wrote: »

That period should not even come into it, they should be looking at the 2 tax years ending April 2011

This is not quite right. Whilst they are only looking at the credits/ni paid in those earlier years, they also look at what the person was doing just before they signed on. The DM will look at S/E cases to see if the person has actually finished work completely or is on a natural break ie gap in work available as a self employed trader. IE a plumber has 2 weeks without a job but will work if a job comes up but signs on. The DM may say they are still "working" but not "earning". Someone who is S/E would be expected to put some earnings away for quiet periods. But given that this was a short period and is completely ended the DM should allow it.

What will have happened is there are so many claims in the offices that they are stacked in date order. It probably took weeks for it even to be looked at in the first place. The claim would be started online then referred to the DM where again it will go on a pile in date order.

Sorry, at least once the DM makes the decision the award should be fairly quick to do.

Ali x

Hinckley

Thank you for that detailed explanation Ali, it was helpful.

I hope so too that now its being looked at (as confirmed) I should know by the end of this week either way, and will definitely feedback any developments.