Job Seekers Stopped without notice!

Clarky45

My 19 year old daughter is currently doing an unpaid tattoo apprenticeship 3 days a week for a period of 2 years. We have to pay £3,000 for this apprenticeship! She gets no payment for this like other apprenticeships or help with travel or lunches. She applied for job seekers allowance and was granted this but all of a sudden this has now stopped (without warning the day the money was supposed to be paid into her bank, the letter came over a week later!!). She put in an appeal including a covering letter from her boss pointing out that she gets no financial payments but that has been thrown out as well. I don't understand this - how is she supposed to live with no income whatsoever, I can only help her out financially so much. She is available to work on Mondays' Wednesdays, Friday's and Sundays but has had no luck finding work either, this is so unfair and we are at a loss as to what to do!

Dunroamin

She isn't eligible for JSA if she's doing a course, whether funded or not, on 3 days a week.

Moto2

She's not seeking work, therefore Job Seeker's Allowance is not relevant.

she needs to take advice to see if there are other benefits or grants

Bennifred

Has your daughter signed up with all of the employment agencies locally? This is a busy time of year for employers, she might be lucky enough to get some work this way. Has she considered bar work? How did she think she was going to fund herself through the apprenticeship?

kizzie_nikita

Yes what the other's have said. I wanted to do a full time college course, but due to the fact it's full time i wouldn't be able to sign on, and thus would have nil income a week.

If she wants to keep her placement she will have to be training for less than 16 hours a week, that way she will be able to keep her benefits. Otherwise she will have nothing.

auldblerk

Sorry to but in this thread but do you still get JSA if you're doing a course that's 16 hours or less a week ?

sniggings

First I think she needs to look for a better trainer, 3 years for £0 pay and she paid him £3,000 :eek: fair enough if she just sits and watches for 3 years, but is she doing any work at all, cleaning, filling the guns etc etc and she must do her own work within those 3 years, does she get to keep the fee for those jobs?

Sorry to sound harsh but she can't limit herself so much by saying she can only work 4 days out of 7, which employer is going to take on someone for just those days?

As said i think she may get benefits if under 16 hours but not 3 8 hour days, no reason why she can't do 16 hours in the 3 days and still claim, I'm sure the shop is not full all the time, so when the shop is empty she can say she is available for work and not training, so instead of an 8 hour day it could be 3x5.3 hour days.

But as said I think she should be paid something, I'm sure the tattoo shop could afford to pay her at least £50 a week, the same as JSA for under 25 year olds.

Pont

If claiming jsa whilst a part time student, your daughter would have to give up her course if offered a job (or work placement) which is part of the agreement - she must be available for work - no exceptions!

I've got to add this 'apprenticeship' sounds bizarre! Why didn't she go down a more 'recognised' route where she would have received approximately £100 a week and no £3000 in 'fees' to pay?

bluenoseam

I'm kinda perplexed at the reaction to paying to be a tattoo apprentice - sorry, but it's not exactly just watching how it's done & doing some cleaning we're talking about. It's learning various styles of art, learning about various ways of dealing with problems likely to be faced as well as the actual mechanics of tattooing. I can certainly see why some artists would charge for this, but that's a whole different discussion - I know the several artists I know have all commented on the fact that getting into the business is hard in order to cut out the chancers.

As for the question, as many have pointed out, as she's doing something structured for so many hours technically she's not entitled to JSA as her "training" is impeding her ability to find work. Sniggins did have a point, she may wish to speak to her "boss" to see if there's anything she can do in order to earn some money. At worst it will incur a negative answer, but after that it's ultimately up to your daughter to find something around the hours she's at her training.

Jobseeeker

Is this apprenticeship legit? Is it run by just a small tattoo shop or through the college? I would look into it very carefully before parting with the £3k, maybe you could speak to the owner yourself.

And no she can't get JSA while doing it but that's because they would normally be paying the apprenticeship MW.

Pont

[QUOTE

And no she can't get JSA while doing it but that's because they would normally be paying the apprenticeship MW.[/QUOTE]

Good point - this is what has probably raised a compliance doubt. Every apprenticeship I'm aware of pays a wage.