Can I claim Jobseekers while living with girlfriend?

easyrider81

Hi everyone,

A couple years ago i moved into a flat with my girlfriend and not long after lost my job so i went to the jobcentre to sign on and i was told something along the lines of because i was living with my girlfriend i would only get £10 per week or 2 which was a shock so i had to find work and became self employed.

Now i have started to fall on bad times again and so wondered if what they said above was correct, that i won't recieve much Jobseekers if i live with my girlfriend as i could really do with the money from JSA and the help finding work.

Our situation is that we live in a private rented flat and my girlfriend works as an administrator earning £13,500 a year. She's 26 and i'm 25 and have been self-employed for the past 2 years earning my own money and not claiming any benefits. Oh and we have no dependents

Also any info on other possible benefits i could claim would be great :j


Thanks everyone for any help you can give me.

dmg24

You will be able to claim contributions based JSA if you have paid enough NI contributions over the past two years.

If you are not able to claim contributions based JSA you can claim income based JSA, but they will take your girlfriend's income into account.

You may be entitled to housing benefit, but I doubt it considering your girlfriends income.

You can get more information at https://www.entitledto.co.uk.

bonnie_2

don't forget the girlfriend can claim working tax credits on that income.

easyrider81

Thankyou for your replies, i have just tried the entitledto website and it's running very slow so will try later. Will get the girlfriend to take the eligibility test for working tax credits when she's home so thanks for your recommendations.

I haven't made enough contributions to claim Contributions based JSA so i would have to claim for Income based, any ideas of how much i would be gettting when taking in to account my girlfriends income?

Also was wondering if i might be eligible for Council Tax/Housing Benefit although not sure the landlord would like being paid in this way, don't know how it works.

Scarlett1

you wont get housing or council tax benefit on the income that your g/f has, althought its not a big wage its not considered low enough for benefits, definately look into getting your g/f to claim working tax credit

Scarlett1

use this as a guideline http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/benefitscalculator.asp