JSA: what counts as a holiday?

busy_mom_2

JSA is paid over 7 days, the JCP staff do not make the rules they follow them, every time an interview is rearranged the person has to record the reasons. Some-one somewhere will check all the re-arrnaged appointments and if the corect process is not followed then the member of staff will be asked why.
It doesn't necessarly make sense but this is how it is. I would love to revert back and JSAC have differnt rules for JSA IB.
As for the holiday, there is no issue but the form must be completed.

Nada666

If your sign-on day is a Friday (or a Monday) then you have twenty-six weekends a year you can take a long weekend without a hitch. Indeed you can take thirteen-day weekends if you like. If you happen to need to take a break on a day you are signing or have an interview then, yes, you have to declare a formal holiday (from the two per year) or you have to go through hoops to assure you are fully job-seeking whilst away.

Hardly unfair or unreasonable.

dookar

Vampgirl wrote: »

But they still say he needs to fill in a holiday form, even though he won't be away during working hours - this is the bit I don't get :huh:

It's less to do with looking for work than being available for work. The form is simply the way in which you demonstrate that you are available.

More importantly, what are 'working hours' and why does you partner have a pattern of availability outside of these?

scootw1

Hope I never lose my job is all I can say. What a palaver!:mad:

Vampgirl

Nada666 wrote: »

If you happen to need to take a break on a day you are signing or have an interview then, yes, you have to declare a formal holiday (from the two per year) or you have to go through hoops to assure you are fully job-seeking whilst away.

Hardly unfair or unreasonable.

If you check my previous messages you'll see that he us attending the rescheduled appointment in Friday afternoon and we are now delaying setting off until Friday evening. But they still want him to fill in a form to cover Saturday and Sunday.

Vampgirl

dookar wrote: »

It's less to do with looking for work than being available for work. The form is simply the way in which you demonstrate that you are available.

More importantly, what are 'working hours' and why does you partner have a pattern of availability outside of these?

"Working hours" are generally accepted as Monday-Friday 9-17:30. He doesn't have a pattern if availability outside those hours....that's what I'm struggling to understand.

Anyway, he'll go into the job centre tomorrow to tell fill in their form to say he's not available on Saturday or Sunday.

dookar

He doesn't need to fill out the form and no harm can come to the claim if the time he is away from his home district is outside of his pattern of availability

Dunroamin

Vampgirl wrote: »

"Working hours" are generally accepted as Monday-Friday 9-17:30. He doesn't have a pattern if availability outside those hours....that's what I'm struggling to understand.

Anyway, he'll go into the job centre tomorrow to tell fill in their form to say he's not available on Saturday or Sunday.

Nowadays there is very little pattern to working hours and your husband shouldn't suggest that these are the only times he's available.

HappyMJ

Dunroamin wrote: »

Nowadays there is very little pattern to working hours and your husband shouldn't suggest that these are the only times he's available.

If you are unemployed the advice is to give limited availability hours to the jobcentre. If they happen to come across a role (even a good one such as a network manager requiring IT qualifications) from midnight to 8am and you've said you're available 24 hours a day you must apply for it whether you wanted to or not. If your availability is set at 8 till 6 weekdays they cannot force you to apply for it.

Once your unemployed for 6 months they can get you to apply for anything including working in a warehouse 90 minutes away in the middle of the night catching the last bus there and the first bus back in the morning....being IT qualified it's not exactly something I'd want to be doing for minimum wages. I'll leave that job to the night owls who live locally and love doing that work.

paulineb_2

Vampgirl wrote: »

He already explained that that he will have internet access at my Mum's (and his phone is never switched off) so being physically out of the house doesn't prevent him looking for work. But according to the woman he spoke to, it makes no difference.

The jobs he's qualified for do not appear on notice boards or local papers - they tend to advertised via recruitment agencies online or via LinkedIn so all this emphasis on his physical location makes even less sense.

We both come from an IT/Communications background so are used to being able to work wherever we are in the world - with a suitable device and internet access there is no reason why jobseeking should be any different. Except in the eyes of the job centre of course

Shes talking nonsense. When I was last unemployed I used to do training courses at the weekend (Im a fitness instructor), it was easier to do them on a saturday and sunday than do them one day a week at a local college, because then I would be studying part time during the week and a bit more red tape was involved

They were more than happy if I handed in my forms showing that I was doing a jobsearch and they certainly didnt expect me to stay in my own home 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

As long as you are available should an employer contact you, you should be able to go anywhere in the uk and not have your benefits affected.

However, changing a signing time can be problematic. I was doing an svq course one morning a week and that had been agreed with the DWP and my signing time was changed, but I still got lectured more than once when I turned up at the newly arranged time even though they agreed to that and it was on my notes.