Do you think i will be able to backdate JSA?

yimbo

Since 31 May i have been self employed as a google rater, managing an average of 5 hours a week for the month of June and so far 2 hours a week for this month. I know i can claim JSA because i am earning less than £71 a week, so i have an appointment next week.

When i filled the claim form online, i said i wanted to claim from 31 May, for this i can show copies of my weekly time sheets and also the invoice for the June month if necessary to prove how many hours i was doing.

Do i also need to show proof that i was looking for another part time jobs? i have been looking at and applying for other self employed jobs and also looking at general part time jobs. What sort of proof would this be?

HappyMJ

No backdating is not possible.

rogerblack

Backdating may in rare circumstances be possible.
But this will always require actual evidence of jobseeking, similar to what is required of normal jobseekers.
Records of jobs applied for, copies of CVs sent, ...

'Just' stating that you were looking for work won't qualify.

dookar

rogerblack wrote: »

Backdating may in rare circumstances be possible.
But this will always require actual evidence of jobseeking, similar to what is required of normal jobseekers.
Records of jobs applied for, copies of CVs sent, ...

'Just' stating that you were looking for work won't qualify.

I disagree, I wouldn't expect a person to know what the expectations are when claiming prior to making a claim, neither would I expect them to necessarily keep evidence

von

They will want to know why you didn't claim on 31 May?

elaine12022

you have to show good reason for not applying at the time to have your jsa backdated.

Torry_Quine

Why didn't you claim as soon as you could?

rogerblack

dookar wrote: »

I disagree, I wouldn't expect a person to know what the expectations are when claiming prior to making a claim, neither would I expect them to necessarily keep evidence

This is an arguable position.
I however doubt extremely that it's one that would be taken by the DWP.
Certainly, a tribunal would not accept a bare assurance that you were looking for work.

dookar

You'll have to take my word for it then, it really is a position they would take. There's also a commissioners decision that states claimants should be belIeved

Nevertheless, it's the good cause decision which would cause problems rather than any labour market question

RoxRoxBling

elaine12022 wrote: »

you have to show good reason for not applying at the time to have your jsa backdated.

Such as being in hospital, or other medical condition.

yimbo

The reason why i want to backdate it to 31 May is because i was expecting at least 10 hours a week and 40 hours a month but i ended up with fewer hours, i obviously waited to see how Junes month would turn out because i may have gotten more hours in the later weeks.

Maybe they can make an argument that i should have made a claim directly at the end of June, i didnt because i wanted to see if July would offer me more hours to make up for June, it didnt and i have ended up with even less hours than June.

If i knew i had to keep evidence for a future claim then maybe i would have, im not sure if i need evidence in this situation, although i can maybe check my emails and create a list of jobs that i applied for. I guess i will attend my appointment with my time sheets and invoice, if they ask for job application evidence i will have to look back at what i applied to, the only evidence i can give them is a word document with dates of applications and who i sent them to.