Joint claims and working (Any help/advice)

Kristov_12

Hi there first time posting.

I need some advice or help no matter how big or small. Unfortunatly a few months ago i lost my job and had to claim JSA, I have a partner who lived seperate and worked part time. Unfortunatly her minimum hours are 4 she has no maximum hours, one week she can have the minimum of 4 and others she'll have upwards of 30. To save money on travel and housing etc i asked her to move in to my place (privately bought house by parents so no rent or housing benefits) at which point my partner was working no more then 8 hours, so we decided a joint claim would benefit us both.

It took a week to go through and make an appointment, on the day of the appointment my partner got her rota and it came to 28 hours, and under the rules of JSA the second claimant cant work more then 24 or you have to close the claim down, but the week after her 28 hours shes back to only 12 hours. Are we expected to close the claim down for that week and spend another fortnight waiting to sign on with the chance her hours could be over 24 again or will the job centre make an exception for 1 week or do they go off the months average.

Any help will be greatfully recieved.

Kristov_12

Kristov_12 wrote: »

Are we expected to close the claim down for that week and spend another fortnight waiting to sign on with the chance her hours could be over 24 again or will the job centre make an exception for 1 week or do they go off the months average.

Sorry for the selfish bumping, but i made abit of a mistake in the wording.

If one week she has 26 hours (just over) then the next week she has 12 (under) do we have to sign off for the week she works 26, thus ending in a 2 week wait to even be able to sign back on loosing money, or do they do it on a monthly average with (24 x 4 = 96 being the most she can work)?

Sorry again for the bump but iv rang the Benefit enquiry line and my local job centre and its like talking to a 4 year old with an attention disorder.

rogerblack

Are you - or have you ever - lived together and shared a house?
Or do you use both of your houses as one?

dookar

Kristov_12 wrote: »

under the rules of JSA the second claimant cant work more then 24

You're mixing your terminology - for a joint claim neither can work 16 hours or more.

As for your question - it can be averaged but there are other factors involved, such as can a pattern be discerned etc

Torry_Quine

If you've enough NI contributions then you will be entitled to six months contribution based JSA and it doesn't matter about household income.

Kristov_12

dookar wrote: »

You're mixing your terminology - for a joint claim neither can work 16 hours or more.

The second claimant can work upto 24 hours, i double checked and tripple checked to be sure, citizens advice, benefit enquire and the DWP, confirmed the second claimant can work upto 24 hours.

dookar

This is what I mean about mixing your terminology up.

The partner on a claim must work fewer than 24 hours, a joint claimant must work fewer than 16.

It's called the remunerative work exclusion