Why is my JSA only £20

shortp

Hi there. I just finished university and have applied for JSA, which came in about a week ago (only found this out from the housing benefit people as I've haven't received a letter from JSA yet)

However when I checked my balance it says that I only received £25

How is this possible? I've received no correspondence from them at all just this £25 sum (I should qualify for £70 per week)

Shouldn't it be 140 for two weeks? I have about 900 in savings which is going on my rent atm, could this be the reason? Thanks

Serenity

Ask them? But without more details my best guess it was a pro rata payment between your claim date and first payment date.

nannytone_2

you wouldnt have received payment for the first 3 days of your claim.
how old ar you?

shortp

Thanks for the replies

I'm 26

Thing is I claimed early in June one day after the official term time ended at my university, but they decided that the term didn't end until 01/08/2013 for some reason (I need to contact them about this but that's another story).

My next sign on date is on Monday. I just can't figure out why I only got that small amount. Can't ring them until Monday unfortunately so I thought I might ask in here :think:

Could it be an admin mistake or could it have something to do with the fact I had a bit of foresight and saved £50 a week from my student loan when at Uni which amounted up to about 900?

nannytone_2

student loans are meant to cover you until the 'official' end of term date and not just the finish of your course and so you will have no luck disputing this.
so you claim started 2/8 ( day after the term ended) you would have no payment for 2/3/4, so become entitled to payment from 5/8
what date did you receive payment to the bank of £25?

shortp

I got paid on the 8th and pardon me it was actually just a little over £20, sorry!

So does that mean I got paid £20 for 5th, 6th, and 7th
So 20/3 = 6.66 per day
Which is £46.62 per week

Is that correct or am I wrong?

nannytone_2

shortp wrote: »

Hi there. I just finished university and have applied for JSA, which came in about a week ago (only found this out from the housing benefit people as I've haven't received a letter from JSA yet)

However when I checked my balance it says that I only received £25

How is this possible? I've received no correspondence from them at all just this £25 sum (I should qualify for £70 per week)

Shouldn't it be 140 for two weeks? I have about 900 in savings which is going on my rent atm, could this be the reason? Thanks

you said £25 in your OP but nevermind....
that sounds about right as it only covers a couple of days.
JSA is paid in arrears and so 3 days after your next signing you will receive the full amount for the previous 2 weeks

shortp

nannytone wrote: »

you said £25 in your OP but nevermind....
that sounds about right as it only covers a couple of days.
JSA is paid in arrears and so 3 days after your next signing you will receive the full amount for the previous 2 weeks

Yeah sorry about that was my mistake. Thanks for your help I was freaking out. Just want a damn job now haha

Cate1976

Regarding the end of term date, even if your course finished early June, JSA will only be paid from from the official end of term date. I assume you can provide official proof of the official end of term date for your uni? If this was the 21st June for example, then JSA should start from 22nd but you won't get paid for the first three days so JSA should have been paid from 25th June.

Student loan for final year is only supposed to cover until the official end of term for your uni.

Your savings of £900 are well within the amount of capital allowed and again I assume you can show proof of what you've spent it on if questions are asked but don't know how likely this is.

Once you've given proof of official end of term date to JCP and they've sent it to whichever Benefit Delivery Centre is used for your area, then you might get your JSA backdated.

sammyjammy

1st August sounds really late for an end of term uni date. Have you googled the dates for your Uni so that you have evidence of the official date? These dates have in the past been provided to Jobcentres and shown on their official intranet but I understand this didn't happen this year. If you can find evidence that contradicts this 1st August date i would keep querying it.

sammyjammy

Whoops sorry Cate - didn't read as far as your post!