JSA Payment Times

mannaroth

My partner and I originally signed up for JSA as a joint claim on August 1st. Our first interview with the office was on Monday August 20th (due to them making errors with arranging it), and our regular sign ons began from Friday the 24th, every Friday.

When we went for our appointment on Friday the 31st, we got told by our advisor that our payment file hadnt been processed and that I should ring up the main office and get it sorted out.

On Monday September 3rd, I rang up and they were apologetic and told me that they had now sorted it out and we would be paid on Thursday.

So today (Thursday), they put £334.35 in our account, which is equal to three payments of £111.45 (the rate for couples). So we've been paid 3 weeks worth of JSA, but we've been signed up for 5 weeks and 1 day (and they confirmed that our claim starts from August 1st).

So - before I ring up and kick off - could someone explain to me why we're missing two weeks worth of payments? Will these come after our next sign in? One thing that did come to mind is that our appointment last Friday (August 31st) apparently was not a regular "sign in" but an advisor appointment or something, and the "last sign on date" was listed as 24th and I was told that would be updated after the appointment on the 7th (tomorrow). Could that be something to do with it?

Thanks for reading.

just_trying

Hi, the first thing is you don't get anything for the first 3 days of your claim. You have been paid correctly as you are paid in arrears, i pressume by trying to work it out on a calander you are due to sign on tomorrow so on Wednesday you will have another 2 weeks money in your bank. Hth.

mannaroth

Ok, thanks.

One other question. My girlfriend has been told she has a part time job starting from Wednesday September 19th. It'll be 8 fixed hours per week, but there will also be casual shifts available on occasion to bring her total hours to 12, or very rarely to 16.

Will she still get the full amount of JSA up until September 19th, or will they reduce the payments as soon as she lets them know tomorrow? Also, how do they calculate shift work in their payment calculations? Will they do it on a weekly basis?

sniggings

mannaroth wrote: »

Ok, thanks.

One other question. My girlfriend has been told she has a part time job starting from Wednesday September 19th. It'll be 8 fixed hours per week, but there will also be casual shifts available on occasion to bring her total hours to 12, or very rarely to 16.

Will she still get the full amount of JSA up until September 19th, or will they reduce the payments as soon as she lets them know tomorrow? Also, how do they calculate shift work in their payment calculations? Will they do it on a weekly basis?

not sure on couples and it will be different again if you have children but I was told JSA is taken pound for pound after the first £5, so if she were to earn £50 a week then her JSA would be cut by £45.

Then you have the rent to consider too as you might be over the limit so your rent may be cut too.

She will have to hand in pay slips weekly/fortnightly , this is the reason some people will not take part time/temp work, having your benefits stopped or recalulated will in many cases lead to reant arrears and upset landlords.

just_trying

Your girlfriend will still have to be actively seeking work up to the 19th, then i think the way it works if your still entitled to jsa she will have to send in wage slips or you could take them then they will make up the £111.45 you are entitled to so sometimes depending what her pay is you may not get much jsa. You can earn not much i think it's £10 and you can keep this without it affecting your money.

just_trying

ops sorry sniggings, my typing is just to slow !!.

mannaroth

just_trying wrote: »

Hi, the first thing is you don't get anything for the first 3 days of your claim. You have been paid correctly as you are paid in arrears, i pressume by trying to work it out on a calander you are due to sign on tomorrow so on Wednesday you will have another 2 weeks money in your bank. Hth.

Wednesday was the day the advisors said I should be getting paid, also. However, Wednesday has now been and gone... and no money. Should I ring or is this just a "taking time to reach account" thing?

sniggings

mannaroth wrote: »

Wednesday was the day the advisors said I should be getting paid, also. However, Wednesday has now been and gone... and no money. Should I ring or is this just a "taking time to reach account" thing?

ring, at least you will know.

mannaroth

Yeah they left me a voicemail after I rang to say something like "because you're now in a joint claim, we need sign in evidence from your partner before we can pay you" - except the claim has ALWAYS been a joint claim, and she signed in on the 7th literally 20 minutes before I did.

So now I had to ring back again, get them to send another email to their payments team, wait for another phone call....

Sigh.

Honestly, this system.