ADVISE on benefit entitlement please

jenifa

hi,
my friend has held out applying for jobseekers allowance or any other benefit for quite sometime now but has to now face it that she is going to have to make a claim. She owns her home although has quite a big mortgage and today when she eventually bit the bullet and tried to make a claim she was told she is not entitled to anything and they would send her a letter to explain why?!?!?!
wish i had of been with her as i would not have took this for an answer! surely this can not be right, she is 40 as i mentioned owns her home but has a mortgage and hasnt worked in a steady job for sometime she did some delivery for takeaways etc and owned her own pub a few years ago.
i know that the benefit system is and has changed and i just dont understand but surely she must be entitled to some thing hardship jsa i dont know but they cant realistically say she is getting nothing?
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance

jacques_chirac

Does she have an interest in a property other than the one she lives in, or capital over £16,000? If not she should qualify for income based JSA (and possibly mortgage assistance after thirteen weeks). She will need to wait for the letter to explain why she has not been allowed to claim, they may have been referring to the fact she is not entitled to conts based JSA, and her entitlement to income based has not yet been decided.

(The above assumes she is single - if not her partner's income will be taken into account.)

marliepanda

Well they can say she isn't getting anything. There could be a variety of reasons. There is no such thing as 'hardship' jsa, you either qualify or don't.

1. Does she have a partner? Or any other source of income which would rule her out of being entitled to income based benefits?

2. How did her last job come to an end? If she left voluntarily or through some other reasons they can sanction her for up to 6 months.

3. Does she have savings?

4. Does she have sufficient NI contributions to allow her 6 months of JSA contribution based if her income is too high?

Her mortgage is irrelevant to JSA. She could claim mortgage interest further down the line but that won't pay her capital.

dookar

She tried to make a claim today and was told today she is not entitled?

jacques_chirac

dookar wrote: »

She tried to make a claim today and was told today she is entitled?

Wouldn't be the first time an advisor has given misleading information, or a claimant has misunderstood what has been said

dookar

That's what I'm thinking - the former

jenifa

yes she tried to make a claim today and was told no and they would send her a letter explaining why?
she has no partner no other properties and no savings. her last job was classed as self employed as working for delivery companies is paid cash and you are classes as self employed.
she literally has no other form of income and tbh her mum has helped her out alot as the work she has been doing is unreliable some nights she might make hardly anything and some nights are ok.

marliepanda

Does she average over £71 a week with this work? If she earns over that she won't be entitled to JSA.

dookar

At the very least, she's entitled to make a claim and receive a formal, appealable decision on that claim.

Being told she isn't entitled when she first notifies an intention to claim is neither of those things

dookar

marliepanda wrote: »

Does she average over £71 a week with this work? If she earns over that she won't be entitled to JSA.

1. You're disregarding (lol) disregards

2. That would not affect her entitlement, just reduce her applicable amount to zero