Urgent advice needed re new JSA claim and existing CB ESA claim

yellowlabellady

Hi there, would really appreciate some help as DH is off to the Jobcentre tomorrow to sign on to JSA. He went yesterday and they told him he would be able to claim the (approx) £111 a week.

However, someone on here has said that as I currently claim CB ESA, this will be deducted from his ESA entitlement? Is this correct? I currently get £111.35 a week, so that would basically cancel out all of the JSA if they deduct one from the other.

If so, would it be better for him to claim CB JSA rather than IR? Does the deduction still apply or not? As far as Im aware, the CB JSA is not means tested, so that should be safe from any deductions due to my income?

Also, I read somewhere that there is a child premium of around £60 p/w on IR JSA - is this correct?

As another aside, my CB ESA entitlement is due to expire at the beginning of April. How would this affect our entitlements if DH is still on the dole then? Would I be able to claim IR ESA as well as his JSA? or do they still deduct one from the other?

At present we cannot claim any tax credits at all as even with a very severe drop in wages, DH had earned too much in this tax year and it just took us over the threshold. Makes me mad as that is an historical figure - we dont have that money now!!!

Im really confused and just need to know what to tell DH to apply for tomorrow as I wont be able to go with him, I cant sit long enough for a start and also need to be able to collect my DD from school.

Are the jobcentre staff good at telling you what you can and cant get together and would they be honest enough to advise which benefit would be the better one to claim?

Obviously the IR JSA entitles you to other stuff such as free prescriptions etc even if they have deducted my money, but are there really any other benefits to having the IR JSA status to make it worth our while to claim it if the CB would be more in our pockets?

Im not really sure if any of this is making sense so will stop now and see if someone could PLEASE help me out here.

Thanks in advance

jacques_chirac

Has your husband paid sufficient NI Conts to qualify for CB JSA? If so, that will give him the greatest amount at present. If not, you should add him to your ESA claim.

There is no child premium on new JSA claims.

yellowlabellady

Thank you very much for your reply. I assume that he will have paid enough contributions as up until the end of August, apart from a break of about a week between jobs, he had worked full time for over 20 years. He then became self employed for the past 4 months but having made literally nothing out of it, has been forced to sign on as we just couldn't afford to carry on with him almost paying to work.

So therefore he has paid class 4 for the past 4 months, but I am assuming that this shouldnt count against the contributions he has already made.

What is the period that they look at? Is it the past 2 tax years? And if so, is there any way of finding out what contributions from a P60 etc and whether this amount would be adequate?

Im assuming that in April when my CB ESA ceases, if DH is still in receipt of the CB JSA, I will then be able to claim IR ESA due to low income?

princessdon

At the moment he will get cont based and your ESA isn't counted.

But ...

Income based gives HB and full tax credits.

You need to work out if IR gives the better option of housing and tax credits. NB unless you have conts moving to IR could mean of he earns above you lose your cont based rights to reapply.

Hard to say without more info.

yellowlabellady

Thanks for that, think I get what you were saying. Its all such a minefield!!

I think the CB is the way to go forwards here, I can see what you are saying about losing your right to reapply and also IR is not going to benefit us in any way really. We cant claim HB as we own our own home and assume we still wont be eligible for any tax credits in the current tax year as we still will have earned too much in the earlier period to qualify - unless there is an unknown clause or something that kicks in with the receipt of IR JSA to enable you to claim regardless of previous earnings or something? I think that is highly unlikely though considering my previous dealings with them and not being entitled to stuff all.