JSA for partner while I am a student

sharp910sh

I am confused. I am living with my gf. she has just graduated from uni. we are living together. I am still a student getting over 7500 a year from grants, loans and bursary. She is looking for work.

She applied for JSA with me as well giving evidence that i am a student.

She gets a letter from JSA saying she will get £111.45 a week. It says this amount is for me and her. How does that make any sense. I am a student still. JSA know this. What does this mean i should ask her for 1/2 the money? The money is being paid to her account.

I do not need or want the money, I am pretty well off with my 7500 quid plus the money i earned as a engineer over the summer. In excess of £3k. Strange. Does this seem right?

benefitbaby

For benefit purposes Jobcentre Plus have to assess you as a couple (unless your gf is getting contribution based JSA).

JCP have to take into account joint household income earnings, relevant student loans, grants, bursary (your gf should have disclosed these), savings etc and then calculate entitlement for you both as a couple.

As a f/t student you would be exempt from jobseeking but for the purpose of calculating entitlement they have to consider you.

Pennywise2012

sharp910sh wrote: »

What does this mean i should ask her for 1/2 the money?

Well technically, if she was single she'd get £71, so from that point of view £40.45 of the total is 'yours'. But from the sounds of it, you have about £200 a week to live off, so in the interests of harmony you might be better letting her keep it all :rotfl:

nannytone_2

you need to go back and talk to them because this award is wrong!
if she has paid sufficient NI contributions, she will get JSA for herself only, for 6 months.

if she hasnt paid enough NI, then your income would be deemed sufficient for you to support her.

sharp910sh

Pennywise2012 wrote: »

Well technically, if she was single she'd get £71, so from that point of view £40.45 of the total is 'yours'. But from the sounds of it, you have about £200 a week to live off, so in the interests of harmony you might be better letting her keep it all :rotfl:

Yes, it seems like the system is pretty good. She is getting £111.45 a week, as she is with me. If she say lived with her parents she would only get the minimum for one person. She is also confused. But this is why we live in britain not USA or Dubai. (well if I could afford to live in Dubai i wouldn't be here.

Just calculated I 5000 quid, and will be getting 5772 quid in grant, loans and bursary. So yes arguing over £40 odd seems crazy. When she is in her overdraft.

I assume for housing benefit they will class us as a couple again, as we are living in a one bedroom flat. So If my income is low enough we may get our rent paid for us, well her half and a bit (if not all) of my half. I assume they do not give the sharing rate for HB the claim for a couple.

enabledebra

Nannytone is right- the award is incorrect. They have made an ward on the basis that you are a couple (correct) but have not taken your student income into account when deciding how much you should be awarded.

This would end up with an overpayment that they may ask you to repay- you need to contact them and provide details of your student income. (NB she can't choose to claim just for herself unless she has paid enough national insurance credits through working over the last 2 tax years- unlikely if studying)

sharp910sh

nannytone wrote: »

you need to go back and talk to them because this award is wrong!
if she has paid sufficient NI contributions, she will get JSA for herself only, for 6 months.

if she hasnt paid enough NI, then your income would be deemed sufficient for you to support her.

She has not paid any NI contributions. My income not including loan is what about £4500. According to them loan is not income. This is not enough for two people.

She filled out the forms, with all the details of my loans etc. I provided all my evidence of every cent I get from my loans. So unless JSA people have basically ignored my my income then i cannot see a mistake. However, I have heard JSA are not the most intelligent people on earth...

sharp910sh

enabledebra wrote: »

Nannytone is right- the award is incorrect. They have made an ward on the basis that you are a couple (correct) but have not taken your student income into account when deciding how much you should be awarded.

This would end up with an overpayment that they may ask you to repay- you need to contact them and provide details of your student income. (NB she can't choose to claim just for herself unless she has paid enough national insurance credits through working over the last 2 tax years- unlikely if studying)

I fully provided details of my student grant, loan and bursary. We had to claim as a couple, which she did. The JSA person was shocked with the amount of evidence we provided. I was very thorough. I therefore assume JSA people have taken this into account. But hey i could be wrong!

She first filled her claim online, then she went to the appointment and they lost everything. As a result, she had to fill the form in again, with the evidence I gave her about my student loan and what not. They have copies of all my evidence, so I do not know. I am confused. She will ask them tomorrow when she has her appointment again.

Thanks

enabledebra

sharp910sh wrote: »

She has not paid any NI contributions. My income not including loan is what about £4500. According to them loan is not income. This is not enough for two people.

She filled out the forms, with all the details of my loans etc. I provided all my evidence of every cent I get from my loans. So unless JSA people have basically ignored my my income then i cannot see a mistake. However, I have heard JSA are not the most intelligent people on earth...

Your student loan is income- you have an obligation to let them know of their error if you know it's an error.

sharp910sh

enabledebra wrote: »

Your student loan is income- you have an obligation to let them know of their error if you know it's an error.

She has given all the detail they asked for. If I remember correctly (I could be wrong, as she had to do two claims. One for JSA and one for HB and CTB) They only asked for the grant and bursary.

Dunroamin

Are you sure your GF has provided all this information to the authorities? I see from your other posts that you're having problems and she may not be singing from the same hymn sheet as you are.