I quit my job, can I get any benefits?

stevethos

I worked in retail for 5 years as a member of management. Money was tight, so I stole some (£30), and I got caught. I got called into the office and told I could either resign or an investigation would be opened and the police involved. I resigned.

Today I applied for JSA and housing benefit online. I was unaware of all this "no benefits for you if you quit your job LOL" business, so when asked for my reason for leaving, I put "I resigned pending the result of an investigation". I've since been told that I'm a numpty and shouldn't of said that I quit. I'm now waiting for the phone call to tell me to go to the job centre and have my interview with them.

Bring on the judgement, I know I deserve it. I shouldn't have stolen anything, I know I don't deserve any benefits, etc. But what do I do? I have rent, bills, car insurance to pay. I don't have anywhere to shack up or any family I can move in with. If my landlord doesn't get his rent, I essentially get put on the street.

I'm genuinely concerned now. I didn't think twice about quitting because I hadn't been unemployed for going on 10yrs and thought finding a new job would be an easy task. I was wrong, it's proving quite difficult.

Any and all help is appreciated.

miduck

You will receive housing benefits, however you should expect a sanction on your JSA. You should still continue with your application though, as you will be able to claim a hardship payment for the duration of the sanction (apart from the first two weeks).

DevCoder

Contact Shelter.
See if your previous employers will agree a negotiated reference (I doubt it but worth a try)
You admitted guilt by resigning so thats not going to go away.

How long were you at the job you resigned from? (I know you say 10 yrs employed but was this with the one company?)

lighting_up_the_chalice

You will receive housing benefits IF YOU APPLY!

Torry_Quine

You did the right thing in telling the truth. They contact the previous employer to confirm the reason the employment ended and so would have found out that way.

stevethos

krisdorey wrote: »

How long were you at the job you resigned from? (I know you say 10 yrs employed but was this with the one company?)

I was at that job for 5 years. I'm 28 now so been employed for nearly the entirety of my adult life.

Shelter? Seriously? Would it come to that?

rogerblack

As I understand it, any employment, even short-term will reset the sanction.
Hence, it's very important to get any sort of work at all, as you may be able to reclaim JSA if you leave that, on acceptable grounds.

jobseeking_help

Torry_Quine wrote: »

You did the right thing in telling the truth. They contact the previous employer to confirm the reason the employment ended and so would have found out that way.

Torry

Yes, supposedly. Probably depends on the set up of each JCP office and how strict they are, depends on each New Claims Adviser and on how tired that adviser is when the claimant sees them. My expereience is that if the claimant simply says they were made redundant then the adviser will rarely complete the additional paperwork to commence that checking process.

Of course I an mot condoning falsehoods but the penalty for volunteering the information and being sanctioned is the same for offering a different perspective of the truth, being found out and being sanctioned

All the best

epitome

They would have found out anyway why your job finished. I guess they don't always phone up the previous employer for every customer to check but they would do checks for most of the claims. You did the right thing, if you get sanctioned you can claim hardship (if eligible) but I thought it was only after the 3rd week you got it. If you have any savings I reckon you won't get hardship until you have spent your last penny.

fawd1

stevethos wrote: »

I didn't think twice about quitting because I hadn't been unemployed for going on 10yrs and thought finding a new job would be an easy task. I was wrong, it's proving quite difficult.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Not meaning to be harsh, but you thought it would be easy to walk into another job after being caught stealing in your last one? What about references? Even if you voluntarily resigned, they're hardly likely to be singing your praises are they?

busy_mom_2

jobseeking_help wrote: »

Torry

Yes, supposedly. Probably depends on the set up of each JCP office and how strict they are, depends on each New Claims Adviser and on how tired that adviser is when the claimant sees them. My expereience is that if the claimant simply says they were made redundant then the adviser will rarely complete the additional paperwork to commence that checking process.

Of course I an mot condoning falsehoods but the penalty for volunteering the information and being sanctioned is the same for offering a different perspective of the truth, being found out and being sanctioned

All the best

Makes no difference the time of year or who takes the claim, every claim is followed up. An employer may not reply in which case there isn't much than can be done but all new claims will be and are followed up.