Clerical Claim JSA

RandD_2

Me and my partner are on a joint JSA claim, we have never had any problems with the claim being paid until a fortnight ago, the Jobcentre failed to pay us, I had been doing everything the Job centre ask of me , signing on and attending the work program, i called and they said that a sanction had been placed on the account, they checked it out and lucky for us it was them at fault and the paid us. Now this week is where the big issue is, the job centre haven't paid us again, i have called benefit enquiries to ask what the problem was and they have said its on a CLERICAL CLAIM and i will receive a phone call before 4.30pm for someone to help deal with it, now i find this unacceptable, we have a child to take care of and with no money, i have no idea how we are supposed to cope, we are really worried sick as we have no idea what a clerical claim is and why it has gone to this. ANYONE PLEASE HELP......we don't know what is going on.

HappyMJ

Means they are manually overriding the sanction. Wait for the phone call and resolve it then. Use the child tax credit and the child benefit for the child. The JSA money is for yourself and your partner. I know it's all one big pot but you really need to budget to expect delays in payment.

If you need food today and you really have nothing in the house the ask a family member or a friend to help you out. If you have no family and no friends then ask the jobcentre for a referral to a food bank where you can pick up 3 days of basic food.

If you have bills to pay...then don't pay them. All bills can be delayed.....

RandD_2

The phone call has happened and it was due to the previous payments sanction that this has happened, i still think it is diabolical the fact that the Job Centre is able to mess about with payments, i personally can't wait till the universal credit comes into action in my area, that will then prevent people from dictating what money should be used for just because of the name of the benefit type! Laughable how people who aren't in the situation i am feel as though they can dictate what money should be used for what! Just because we are claiming JSA does not mean i shouldn't be able to rely on a payment i am owed, we do not enjoy being unemployed, there just aren't any jobs! Sick of the dictatorship that comes from some people who are employed.

HappyMJ

RandD wrote: »

The phone call has happened and it was due to the previous payments sanction that this has happened, i still think it is diabolical the fact that the Job Centre is able to mess about with payments, i personally can't wait till the universal credit comes into action in my area, that will then prevent people from dictating what money should be used for just because of the name of the benefit type! Laughable how people who aren't in the situation i am feel as though they can dictate what money should be used for what! Just because we are claiming JSA does not mean i shouldn't be able to rely on a payment i am owed, we do not enjoy being unemployed, there just aren't any jobs! Sick of the dictatorship that comes from some people who are employed.

I am not employed...what do you think I'm doing on here at 11:30 in the morning...you cannot rely on the jobcentre for paying your benefits. They make mistakes benefits get delayed.

There are jobs...Why don't you work for yourself?

Universal credit will still have elements to it. It will be paid monthly. Any sanction will be applied to that benefit but will affect you more severely as any delay to that payment means you are missing quite a large chunk of money....including your rent.

RandD_2

You could be on a day off? lol and i am actually trying to set my own design business up not that its any of your business! again thanks for the advice!

HappyMJ

RandD wrote: »

You could be on a day off? lol and i am actually trying to set my own design business up not that its any of your business! again thanks for the advice!

Only trying to help..

If you spend more than 30 hours a week on your business...even though it doesn't make a profit then claim working tax credits. You only need to have a few customers....even one will do. It pays at a similar rate to JSA but doesn't have the requirement to sign on every 2 weeks or do whatever the jobcentre requires you to do in the way of the work programme.

If you do this before this April then you will not have to go onto universal credit until 2017. UC is much worse for self employed claimants than WTC's, CTC's and housing benefit who currently don't have to prove anything....a self employed claimant could easily just say they are working for no profit...such as invoicing a friend a few quid for work completed and claim it took 30 hours in a week to do. Therefore on WTC's you won't have to meet any of the UC conditionality requirements...such as earning a minimum wage or seeking more work to keep the full benefit until you are moved over to the new benefit.

RandD_2

I realise you are only trying to help, but help can sometimes over step the mark, i am actually the partner in the claim so i don't have to attend the jc and my partner who is signing on in the partner claim is looking for 24hrs and above work to keep the family and enable me to get the business going the way i want it to. I have a plan for what i want to do and if you know so much, why are you unemployed? I am fully aware of the Universal credit system i also have google lol

Confuseddot

RandD you were the one that brought up the child in the first post and not being able to take care of it, if you didnt want advice on that then why bring it up ?

Happymj has given loads of helpful advice I think to be given abuse in return and if you have google then why didn't you google Clerical Claim.

Wish you all the best with your business.

helentay_2

RandD wrote: »

The phone call has happened and it was due to the previous payments sanction that this has happened, i still think it is diabolical the fact that the Job Centre is able to mess about with payments, i personally can't wait till the universal credit comes into action in my area, that will then prevent people from dictating what money should be used for just because of the name of the benefit type! Laughable how people who aren't in the situation i am feel as though they can dictate what money should be used for what! Just because we are claiming JSA does not mean i shouldn't be able to rely on a payment i am owed, we do not enjoy being unemployed, there just aren't any jobs! Sick of the dictatorship that comes from some people who are employed.

I always thought that the name of the benefit you receive would give some indication as to what it is actually for?

Disability Living Allowance

Employment & Support Allowance

Job Seekers Allowance is specifically for the maintenance and welfare of the adults that are named on the claim as well as to pay for any expenses involved in looking for work.

Income Support

are some examples

Child Tax Credit

& Child Benefit are paid specifically for the child's welfare.

helentay_2

HappyMJ wrote: »

Only trying to help..

If you spend more than 30 hours a week on your business...even though it doesn't make a profit then claim working tax credits. You only need to have a few customers....even one will do. It pays at a similar rate to JSA but doesn't have the requirement to sign on every 2 weeks or do whatever the jobcentre requires you to do in the way of the work programme.

If you do this before this April then you will not have to go onto universal credit until 2017. UC is much worse for self employed claimants than WTC's, CTC's and housing benefit who currently don't have to prove anything....a self employed claimant could easily just say they are working for no profit...such as invoicing a friend a few quid for work completed and claim it took 30 hours in a week to do. Therefore on WTC's you won't have to meet any of the UC conditionality requirements...such as earning a minimum wage or seeking more work to keep the full benefit until you are moved over to the new benefit.

Personally, I would suggest that that advice is likely to lead to a full scale investigation by HMRC!

Currently HMRC are regularly asking the self employed to prove that (a) they actually work the number of hours they say they do and (b) that the business is viable and that it is carried out to make money and that it is NOT a business set up to abuse the Working Tax Credit legislation. More than a few posters on this site have been caught out recently and been told to repay a large sum of money.

missapril75

RandD wrote: »

... i still think it is diabolical the fact that the Job Centre is able to mess about with payments

It's not done deliberately. They don't want to have to resolve problems any more than you suffer from them. Of course it's worse for the person on the end of the problem.

Sometimes the computer claim just can't be maintained. There's no logical reason, just some fault in the system and because it's all linked into NI numbers, they can't just open a new account. It just means it's maintained clerically.

i personally can't wait till the universal credit comes into action

No doubt the same problem will exist. Just think of when your home computer doesn't "behave" as it usually does; computers at work are down; the shop is temporarily unable to process credit/debit cards etc and then think of the millions of active benefit claims and enquiries of the DWP computer systems daily. The only surprise is that there are not more problems like this.