JSA: what counts as a holiday?

paulineb_2

Vampgirl wrote: »

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.

I wouldnt be filling in that form without speaking to a manager first

If hes declaring that hes unavailable to look for work on two days it might end up affecting his benefits

I also agree, its better if you dont just put Monday-Friday 9-5 even if you come from a line of work where thats the normal working hours, anyway, thats stating the times you are available for work, the issue at the moment is that the job centre are counting the two days away as a holiday when its actually a visit to a relative and his ability to search for jobs and answer the phone should a job become available wont be affected

I certainly wouldnt sign that form without speaking to a manager, its not a holiday, its a visit to a relative and theres nothing to say you cant do a jobsearch in someone elses home

I was only asked to do a jobsearch on certain days anyway, I had to do a certain number of jobsearches a week, certainly wasnt 7 days a week.

Basically, its better to stick to your regular signing on time if you can and tell them nothing else, because you'll always find an overzealous jobsworth who wants to make your life tough

dibuzz

HappyMJ wrote: »

LOL...I work in IT too. The jobcentre are no help at all...they are just there to make sure you've looked for work and sign the bit of paper every two weeks....and I agree about working pretty much anywhere. I've worked in every large city in the UK and many other towns. Just be home whenever they need you to sign or attend appointments. The hassle caused by not signing on or missing appointments is far too high and that it just isn't worth it. If an interview is offered at the same time you are supposed to be signing on I've found it better to rearrange the interview rather than rearrange the signing on time....which I know really is not the way to go about getting a job.

I agree they are no help for IT jobs, they even sent my son on a 2 week basic computer skills course in another town. He was more qualified than the person taking the course and had to keep correcting her.
He never had a problem changing his signing on time if he had an interview, they just told him to come in afterwards or the next day as most of his interviews were a couple of hours + travelling time. It must depend on the staff but it seems they are more flexible at our jobcentre.

Nada666

HappyMJ wrote: »

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.

In that case you have no right to claim income-based JSA. You get six months to be a fantasist. After that do what jobs are available or sleep on the streets.

A month does not go by without another news story crying out for IT workers. If you have genuine skills then the opportunities are there. And, by the way, 'love doing' work is not an option for many. If you are claiming benefits then it should certainly not be a barrier.

And the apologists keep denying British not-workers are not willing to work.