Thread on employment further advice please

boobyd

Posted on behalf of daughter on employment thread.
Bit of further advice needed.

Outline- daughter was on JSA,got a p/time job 16 hours a week.
After 2 weeks told by her boss didn't have enough work,only get 6 hours a week.
Went to job.centre to see if could sign on,had interview told no.
After advice from MSE'ers reapplied ,decision has come back with no again ,saying has more than gov guidelines to live on.
She gets Child benefit £20 p/w, £62 Child Tax credit and £31 wage.

Also gets HB and council tax credit.(she pays £50 month offsetting difference in rent payable)
Is she entitled to income support ?
Have tried CAB re job but no real advice.
Can't resign otherwise will get sanctioned.
Daughter is 18 months old.
Partner is at Uni f/time away from home (don't ask,!)

pmlindyloo

boobyd wrote: »

Posted on behalf of daughter on employment thread.
Bit of further advice needed.

Outline- daughter was on JSA,got a p/time job 16 hours a week.
After 2 weeks told by her boss didn't have enough work,only get 6 hours a week.
Went to job.centre to see if could sign on,had interview told no.
After advice from MSE'ers reapplied ,decision has come back with no again ,saying has more than gov guidelines to live on.
She gets Child benefit £20 p/w, £62 Child Tax credit and £31 wage.

Also gets HB and council tax credit.(she pays £50 month offsetting difference in rent payable)
Is she entitled to income support ?
Have tried CAB re job but no real advice.
Can't resign otherwise will get sanctioned.
Daughter is 18 months old.
Partner is at Uni f/time away from home (don't ask,!)

I am presuming the following. Please correct if wrong.

Your daughter is treated as a single claimant?
Job Centre Plus (ie the Decision Maker) are refusing a claim for JSA because they say she has a contract for 16 hours a week (although this is the 'sticking point' as there is no written contract)?
The 'you have enough to live on' was referring to making a hardship payment?

Based on the above my advice would be to resign from the job and make a claim for Income Support as a lone parent with a child under 5 years. There would not be a sanction if she resigned from the job.

You could try making a claim for Income Support and keeping the job but I suspect she would again fall foul of the 'you have a contract for 16 hours' and not be eligible.

Really and truly this is an employment problem. Her employer should be giving her a written contract, either with 0 hours (in which case she could claim JSA) or 16 hours (in which case she should be paid for 16 hours and then she could claim working tax credits.) Has she put in a claim for working tax credits, by the way? She only needs to work 16 hours a week for this.

Everything depends on the employment contract. She should pursue this.

Dunroamin

I think it's a question of whether she's considered to be a single claimant or not that could be the problem.

boobyd

Thanks.
Doesn't seem to be a contract for work ( written ) just verbal.
She has told them that she is only working 6 hours, I have said to her not to resign as consensus seemed to be sanctions would apply.
She seems to be stuck in a "hard" place, can't seem to get anything as "she has a job"
Was better off on JSA !
She is going to Job centre Monday to ask about Income support,I will get to ask about WT .
My advice to her is to get her boss to "dismiss" due to no work( employer is one man business ) but not sure that would open more issues.
Awkward for us as we live 90 miles away so only can advise over phone etc.

boobyd

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think it's a question of whether she's considered to be a single claimant or not that could be the problem.

As far as aware seeing as she has a partner it is classed as "joint" ?

pmlindyloo

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think it's a question of whether she's considered to be a single claimant or not that could be the problem.

Since the OP's daughter was previously on JSA I presumed that she was being treated as a single claimant. Unusual situation though. Perhaps the fact that the daughter's partner is living away from home has allowed her to make a single claim. I wonder if tax credits are treating this as a single claim too? Might depend, I suppose, on what grants/loans the partner is claiming - perhaps he is claiming as a single claimant - i.e. no dependants grants etc.??????????

Interesting...................:cool:

princessdon

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Since the OP's daughter was previously on JSA I presumed that she was being treated as a single claimant. Unusual situation though. Perhaps the fact that the daughter's partner is living away from home has allowed her to make a single claim. I wonder if tax credits are treating this as a single claim too? Might depend, I suppose, on what grants/loans the partner is claiming - perhaps he is claiming as a single claimant - i.e. no dependants grants etc.??????????

Interesting...................:cool:

She can't be a single claim (though she could have told them she was single) unless he's studying out of the country.

Tax credits don't take into any loans other than the dependants grant.

So they are either claiming single or joint but I see nothing that indicates it should be a single claim.

Jobseeeker

When you say he's away from home is his main residence his parents home or your daughter's home? Where does he go in the holidays and where do his bank statements etc go to?

The 6 hour job is not the issue because she would still be entitled to some JSA based on that.

Dunroamin

boobyd wrote: »

As far as aware seeing as she has a partner it is classed as "joint" ?

Which will explain why she's ineligible for means tested JSA as it'll be based on her partner's loan/grant/bursary package.

Dunroamin

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Since the OP's daughter was previously on JSA I presumed that she was being treated as a single claimant. Unusual situation though. Perhaps the fact that the daughter's partner is living away from home has allowed her to make a single claim. I wonder if tax credits are treating this as a single claim too? Might depend, I suppose, on what grants/loans the partner is claiming - perhaps he is claiming as a single claimant - i.e. no dependants grants etc.??????????

Interesting...................:cool:

She might have been claiming contributions based JSA based on NICs from before she had the baby.

boobyd

To answer some points.
A joint claim.
He is shown as living at home address.

Would the grants / bursary affect any claim?
What is the best route ?
Get a zero hour contract and claim on that for JSA ?
Claim Income support ? Is she going to eligible ?
Get a contract for 16 hours( she hasn't had for last 6 weeks)and try WTC ( don't think eligible though)