JSA Suspended - Advice please

Cate1976

Situation is my husband works part time as well as claiming JSA. His contracted hours are 10 hours week term time but hours change during school holidays. he's gone to sign today to be told his JSA is suspended starting 05/01/2013, signing staff can't see reason on their screens as they 'don't deal with benefits', only thing on screen is a code which my husband thinks was SFOU.

He started the job on 07/11/2012. Pay is every 4 weeks. Below is list of pay periods, dates and amounts of pay and JSA payments.

Pay date 07/12/2012 for period ending 29/11/2012 - £274.75.

Pay date 04/01/2013 for period 30/11/2012 - 27/12/2012 - £288.88

JSA Payments are 12/12/2012 £222.90 (I know this was overpayment due to adjustment for wages not being made).
27/12/2012 £105.54 to cover up to 04/01/2013.

My husband thinks the reason could be due to wage slip he got last week not being in but he only got it last Thursday and signed today so I don't think this is the reason.

My thoughts are that it could be that 'computer says no' due to pay periods and dates not matching signing cycle which I think is unfair. He used to sign on a Friday but local jobcentre has policy that part time workers sign on a Monday but payment is for fortnight ended the Friday.

We're having to borrow money from my parents to pay this months rent but am concerned that if asked for last 3 months bank statements, money my parents have lent us will be counted as income/capital even though we'll be paying them back (Housing Executive in Northern Ireland tried to count money my parents had lent us as income until I went in and asked if family are allowed to lend us money). We're due our Housing Benefit next Thursday and rent has to be paid by 10th each month.

My husband has been handing in the forms saying how many hours he's done each fortnight with details of pay dates, amounts and what period of time the wages are for.

The jobcentre advised my husband to ring the benefits number but they couldn't 'get into the system' so are ringing us tomorrow. In the meantime if anyone can give any answers to any of my questions I would be grateful.

gay_guy

Hi Cate1976

I am sorry to hear your partner JSA has been suspended however first thing in the morning I would advice you to ring your local Jobcentre to see why they stopped your partner's Jobseekers.

Not sure what other advice to give you at the moment without you speaking to your Jobcentre.

But I wish you all the best and hope you get it sorted ASAP

Regards
Shaun

electic

Hi

By the way, you may wish to repost this on the Benefits board, as there will be more people able to help with your query.

Yes, it's difficult to advise fully without knowing more about the reason for the JSA suspension. Local Jobcentres often can't access information about suspensions etc (as you have discovered!), so your best bet is to call the DWP JSA helpline that should be on JSA letters from the DWP. It may be that the person you speak to does not know the reason for the suspension either (DWP staff seem incapable of writing proper notes apparently), but someone should call you back within a few hours.

Once you know the reason for the suspension, post again and we can advise further.

Due to the JSA being suspended, your HB and CTB will be suspended too. You will need to contact your council to advise them of the situation and ask how to continue to claim.

Strangely I can't find any law right now confirming that one-off payments from relatives etc shouldn't be counted as income, but you said you have confirmed this and it's probably just being stupid due to the time. If the DWP etc do request bank statements, I suggest you also include a letter stating that payments from family were one-off and purely to cope with the JSA suspension.

An alernative may be to apply for a Crisis Loan (can't post links but google them and check out the gov.uk link), although depending on your other income you may not be awarded one. If you apply and are rejected, always request a decision letter with a statement of reasons, as this will make it easier to challenge the decision not to award you a Crisis Loan.

Cate1976

Thanks gay_guy & electic. My husband got the phone call this morning and was told they need more details about work, he asked what information they needed but was told that all is on the system is more information about work needed. They did tell him that payment should be in our bank a/c tomorrow which covers up to last Friday. He then went out and I phoned dad to let him know and he suggested I phone and ask for exact details they need. I then phoned BDC and explained reason for my call, lady i spoke to was really helpful (got concerned when one of the girls started crying due to squabble over a toy) and said that what's on the system says 'Information about details of work to be provided asap'. I explained that my husband gets paid every 4 weeks and both wage slips he's had have been handed into local JCP on next signing day. I also asked if being paid every 4 weeks when JSA is paid every fortnight is going to cause this problem every 4 weeks and she said no, they should be able to do average based on wage slips and pay accordingly. She's asked me to wait until tomorrow and phone early afternoon as post doesn't get to sections until near lunchtime.

I have a very nasty suspicion that the problem is due to my husband signing on a Monday instead of a Friday. I hope someone can follow this. Due to his NI number, my husband's signing day was set to a Friday. The JCP he signs at has a policy that all part time workers sign on a Monday but signing cycle still ends on the Friday. I suspect that what happened is that BDC expected to get his wage slip yesterday as their system will have him as Friday signer and when it didn't arrive, automatic suspension. I'm hoping it's not this as it'll mean every 4 weeks we'll have JSA suspended and with bills to pay, we're going to be stuck and have to keep asking my parents to lend us money. I know its in the regulations somewhere but if anyone can post the link to where it says loans from family don't count as capital, I would appreciate it.

MODS: Please could you move this thread to Benefits & Tax Credits board.

Cate1976

Got a letter from DWP today saying that JSA cannot be paid from 5th January due to change in part time earnings. First thing I did was ring parents to tell them we're screwed for money, Dad offered to come down to try6 to help us work out exactly waht's going on. My husband rang the number on the letter and it seems that there's 2 issues:

1) They're claiming that the hours and earnings are too high for JSA which they're not and payslip proves this.

2) They can't pay for the period 5th January - 1st February based on wages received on 4th January, instead we have to wait for next payslip which will be 1st February and then they'll pay us.

This totally screws us for money, my parents have said they'll help us out if we can't get it sorted when my husband signs on Monday.

I always understood it that if part time hours vary, that JSA can be paid based on average of each payslip. eg pay on 4th January was £288.88/4 = £72.22 - £10 disregard - £62.22 so JSA should be £49.23 until next payslip when it'll be recalculated. If extra hours are worked then JSA will be adjusted after money is received but DWP are doing it other way round.

I'm going to Housing Benefit tomorrow to explain the situation to them and ask what impact it has on our HB. I'll also ask them what their rules are on family lending us money (parents are guarantors for the rent).

Seriously considering going to CAB or similar to find out what the rules are especially as we have 2 children under 5. DWP are basically saying that we can get food, nappies and pay bills on the CTC of £110.74 week and the CB coming in on 4th February.

jobbingmusician

Moved to benefits board by request of OP

[Deleted User]

it might be an idea for parents to lend cash and not a cheque etc

Paul_01

woodbine wrote: »

it might be an idea for parents to lend cash and not a cheque etc

Why would this make a difference?

Cate1976

Thanks to those who have replied.

Update, husband rang DWP this morning and I think I've worked out what the problem is. It's to do with the way his wage slip is set out. personal details such as name & address are at the top, then it 'splits' into 2 'columns'. The right hand one details tax and NI details, pay period that wage slip covers at top of column and then year to date below. The left hand 'column' lists the number of hours done each week as follows.

Units Pay Rate Total
Week 1 9.75 £#.## £##.##
Week 2 12.25 £#.## £##.##
Week 3 14.75 £#.## £##.##
Week 4 2.00 £#.## £##.##
Holiday Pay 4.00 £##.##

Total pay £###.##

Units = number of hours worked in the week except for the holiday pay when it is number of days. My husband is contracted 10 hours a week term time but holidays are different. The 4 days holiday is 4 days x 2 hours per day x pay rate.

The benefit centre in Basildon are saying that holiday pay has taken my husband over the earnings limit. This is wrong, in week 4 my husband did 2 hours work on the last day of term and got holiday pay for the 4 days of Christmas week, pay period ended 27th December but paid on 4th January. I think DWP have assumed that the holiday pay is for one of the weeks he did more hours.

The way we're going to deal with it is I'm going to write a letter over the weekend explaining it which my husband will take when he signs on Monday and it'll be sent to Basildon. I'll also print the term dates off the school's website as proof of when school holidays are.

My husband also has to take a copy of his contract showing what hours he usually works and that he gets paid every 4 weeks.

The good news is I went and spoke to Housing benefit today and they've said they can work out HB based on household income while JSA is being sorted out.

Cate1976

Update is that JSA still suspended and we're starting to lose patience. DWP are now saying that the holiday has taken my husband over the earnings limit in 1 week out of the 4 covered by the wage slip but they can't tell us which week it is.

When he signed on Monday, my Dad went with my husband just in case the person doing signing could access records and explain what's going on. My husband gave the jobcentre a letter explaining that holiday pay was for week 4, also with it was a copy of my husband's payslip on which I wrote the dates each week covered and that holiday pay was for 4 days in week 4. Tried to phone today and at 4.30pm, records couldn't be accessed as computer system was playing up, tried to ring again about 5.30 and person i spoke to couldn't access my husbands account either but said his colleague beside him has accessed 3 customer's accounts while he was on the phone to me, only explanation was a glitch on my husbands record. Was also told that it could be Monday or Tuesday before it's even looked at.

My husband phoned for a crisis loan today and they said it's showing that DWP are waiting for a wage slip but he can't give it till he gets it next week.

We were told when my husband started the job that even if hours vary, they can work out the average of each pay slip and pay based on that until the next one is sent in. If they did that, it would mean that if my husband does overtime, JSA goes down after he's been paid for the hours but the way they've done it on us means we don't have enough money to live on, crisis loans won't pay for bills so we're having to ask my parents to lend us money for the electric bill. Just have to hope that if housing benefit ask for bank statements and query the money my parents have lent us that the decision maker there doesn't decide to count it as capital/income.

Where do we go from here to try and get this sorted? Citizens advice already being considered. MP is out as MP for our area is conservative so not sure if they would help with benefit problems considering that they think all benefit claimants are scroungers.

To make it clear to anyone who believes the Daily Mail and what the government are saying, my husband & I aren't scroungers. We want to get off JSA asap, yes our income is likely to be low enough that we'd get some help through the working tax but we won't feel guilty about claiming that.