any suggestions please

jenny66_2

Hi i am new to this forum, but would like to know if anyone knows what i can claim in entitlements
My OH has been made redundant and been told he cannot claim JSA due to paying self employed contributions even though he paid full contribution for last 18months while employed. we have 2 children at home and get child tax credit of £40 per week, I work 15 hours part time apparently we are not entitled to any benefit except council tax contribution, we have never claimed any benefits before this. hopefully he will find employment and we will not have to claim anything but i am worried until that time
any help will be appreciated thank you

McKneff

The beginning of your post is confusing, you say he has been made redundant, but then you say he paid self employed stamp.

He cant be made redundant if he is self employed.

He shouldnt be paying SE stamp if he is employed.

You need to clarify.

The criteria for benefits is to have paid full NI for the last two full tax years.

Have you tried to claim any income support.

pmlindyloo

McKneff wrote: »

The beginning of your post is confusing, you say he has been made redundant, but then you say he paid self employed stamp.

He cant be made redundant if he is self employed.

He shouldnt be paying SE stamp if he is employed.

You need to clarify.

The criteria for benefits is to have paid full NI for the last two full tax years.

Have you tried to claim any income support.

The OP's husband has been employed for the last 18 months. Prior to that he was self employed. (Well, that's how I read it )

As said he may not be entitled to contribution based JSA because it is based on the last 2 years NI contributions.

However, the Job Centre do make mistakes about NI contributions so it may be worth asking for a breakdown of their reckoning. (It's a little more complicated than just going on the last 2 years contributions)

Unfortunately self employed NI contributions (class 2) do not count towards contribution based JSA.

If he is not entitled to contribution based JSA then he should put in a joint claim for income based JSA since you are working less than 16 hours.

If you earn more than £111.45 (I think) then you will probably not be entitled to any money but your OH will get his NI credits which are important for his pension.

You may be entitled to CTB and HB (if you rent) so worth applying.

You should also inform Tax Credits of your change of circumstances and they may award you more. This is complicated though and you do not want an overpayment so be sure to inform them immediately if your OH gets a job and it can be recalculated.

JSA/HB/CTB are all means tested so you would only be eligible if you do not have savings above £16000.

jenny66_2

sorry, he was self employed and paid the necessary stamp for many years. He then finished that contracting work as he was offered a full time job which he then got made redundant after 18months. The JSA say that the NI is looked at in the full tax year that he was self employed and does not take into account the 18months of full contribution until the next tax year ??

jenny66_2

thank you pmlindyloo, your reply is what the JSA have said
I earn £200 per week and we have been told that is more than the legal minimum, they are paying my OH NI contribution now, but nothing else, I'm not sure how long this will continue they may just look at it again at the next tax year end ?

p00hsticks

jenny66 wrote: »

thank you pmlindyloo, your reply is what the JSA have said
I earn £200 per week and we have been told that is more than the legal minimum, they are paying my OH NI contribution now, but nothing else, I'm not sure how long this will continue they may just look at it again at the next tax year end ?

Although the contributions are looked at in tax years, it's not actually the tax year end when it changes, it's the 'benefit year' - which is at the beginnig of the calendar year (I think the first Sunday)

So if you started a claim last month (December), they woudl have considered the contributions made in tax years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

At the start of this month (January) the 'benefit year' advanced, and it's now contributions made in tax years 2010-11 and 2011-12 that are considered.

I'm not sure, however, whether claims are automatically reassessed when this move happens- I suspect not. Nor am I sure what (if anything) you can do if the change means that you would be eligible for contributions based JSA if you started a claim now, but were'nt when you did claim at the end of last year.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be able to advise.

McKneff

jenny66 wrote: »

sorry, he was self employed and paid the necessary stamp for many years. He then finished that contracting work as he was offered a full time job which he then got made redundant after 18months. The JSA say that the NI is looked at in the full tax year that he was self employed and does not take into account the 18months of full contribution until the next tax year ??

My apologies jenny, I mis read your first post and PML, explained nicely and I understood them, so not your fault.

Really, really good advice from pmlindyloo there.....