JSA / Car ownership??

Dooood

I wonder if anyone out there can enlighten me / us on a frustrating issue we are currently facing.

My stepdaughter is an unemployed single parent with a five year old and is currently living with her child in a rented house with the aid of housing benefit. Her financial situation is dire and her mum and I help out as much as possible despite the fact that we are literary not much better off. My partner and I are struggling with very demanding full-time jobs on low pay, with a high mortgage and often do without to assist the adult children.
My stepdaughter has worked but has now been unemployed for over a year and does seem to be actively seeking work and embracing all the mandatory work experience placements etc.

The 'issue' !!
Stepdaughter has a car which (I believe) she simply cannot afford and is clearly reluctant to let go. We have set aside an unused credit card to assist keeping her car on the road but we cannot afford this to be a gift - the agreement is, that's her debt, only hers, and she needs to pay it back. As a young driver, no surprises that her insurance and road tax alone have instantly put a four figure sum on her mum's credit card. We are now under pressure 'and tears' to add the MOT and necessary work to that debt - with the added threat that if we don't, we're hampering her efforts to find work!!!
It will come as no surprise that her mum and I don't agree on this 'arrangement'. Her mum firmly believes the assurances that her daughter will pay back the necessary monthly contributions to her debt but I cannot see how this would be possible on her 'hand to mouth' breadline existence living off benefits.

The main reason for this post!!!

We are now being told by my stepdaughter that if she scraps / sells the car (which is worth one or two of her monthly insurance premiums) she will face sanctions / lose her benefit as she will be seen to be deliberately making it difficult for her to find work.
??... Mmmmm....Now is this just another threat?
Her mum suggested taking the failed MOT along with a quote for necessary work, plus a pitiful bank statement to the Jobcentre to verify her lack of funds and support the decision to lose the car - and let's see if they stop her benefit when she has a five year old to feed.
This is clearly not the answer my stepdaughter wanted to hear - she wanted / expected that we'll just keep paying by adding to our debts.

I suspect what many opinions might be but I'm hoping for advice relating to the JSA / losing the car aspect.

Sorry about the detail.
Thanks for reading.
Dooood

sammyjammy

Its nonsense. Your step daughter will not be sanctioned or accused of hampering her job search. Depending on what she agreed when she made her claim she may need to get her jobseekers agreement amended so that it is still attainable (it could be that as she will no longer have transport she may not be able to seek work for the same distance she did when she had the car), this won't be a problem and is the sensible thing to do.

I know its probably not what you want to hear but you need to stop bailing her out, you need to look after the finances of yourself and your wife and let her and other children stand on their own two feet, you are by your own admission not in a position to help. Is she likely to repay the debt on the credit card? You do realise that you cannot compel her to do so as the debt is in your name?

Lastly as a single parent on benefits she is likely to be better off than yourselves.

rowanemar

i was in a similiar position last year. my parents have always helped me out but are no longer able to do so. I signed on to JSA and as at the time i had my car i told them i could go further to look for work/attend interviews. After the car failed its MOT i had to scrap it. i told the job centre in my next interview and they said it was fine they would limit my radius to half an hour out of the city on public transport. I did not lose any JSA money or housing benefit.

Morlock

Dooood wrote: »

We are now being told by my stepdaughter that if she scraps / sells the car (which is worth one or two of her monthly insurance premiums) she will face sanctions / lose her benefit as she will be seen to be deliberately making it difficult for her to find work.
??... Mmmmm....Now is this just another threat?

It sounds very manipulative and is not true, a JSA claimant cannot be mandated under threat of sanction to keep a car which they own.

I hope you have a written agreement with her to pay off your credit card bill, otherwise legally it may be difficult to prove that she owes you the money.

fruitedeli

She sounds like a spoilt child. Either wanting to keep the car because she's lazy to use public transport/cycle/walk, or she's wanting the car to impress friends. Time to learn you can't have luxuries like cars when you're on JSA. If you want to be a good parent, don't help her.

Horace

I had a car before circumstances changed and I had to claim JSA, I still have that car and put petrol in when I can afford to do so. It is fully taxed and insured too. To say that you cannot have a car and be on JSA is nonsense.

I don't go out, smoke or drink and therefore I can run a car. It is necessary for me to have a car because my elderly parents live in an area where public transport is severely limited but where possible I use public transport especially when attending interviews etc because I know there may come a time when I won't have the car for medical reasons and therefore need to have access to public transport.

I think that you should make your daughter stand on her own two feet and if she cannot afford the car that she has, then she should sell it until such time as she can afford a much cheaper car - one that does not cost so much to insure or run.

ArtoDeeto

Well choosing to keep her 'in car' is down to you - there is absolutely no sanction in the Jobcentre for not having a car, in fact if you are running one after a long time it indicates the opposite as JSA doesn't include car costs.

I'll be honest it does sound like you are asking for a benefits answer to resolve your financial problems with your other half/her daughter.

sensibleadvice

Stepdaughter has been unemployed for over a year.

Stepdaughter 'seems' to be actively seeking work and embracing all the mandatory work experience placements etc.

Stepdaughter claims they will be sanctioned if she sells car when fact is she wouldn't be sanctioned for that.

Stepdaughter has you taking responsibility for the card payments in your name to keep the car on the road.

Stepdaughter turns on water works when car needs more work doing. Work they can't afford. Work you can't afford either.

Sorry, from what you've posted, stepdaughter is taking you for a mug.

Suggest she sells the car she can't afford and use the money towards clearing 'her' loan, then regular payments as agreed until the loan is clear.....although I wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly couldn't afford the payments when she had no car.

Retrogamer

The more you try and help her, the worse it'll become and the less her drive will be to find a job.

When i turned 16 i got no help from my parents at all for anything. If i wanted something i had to buy it and if i got in debt i had no one to help me out.
It made me try harder with jobs / interviews ect and i do ok for myself now due to it.

I'd be the same way with my own children.

iammumtoone

No she certainly wont be sanctioned for not having a car!

I can understand why she wants to keep it I am a single mum myself on JSA and trying everything I can to hold onto my car (which was brought and paid for when I was in work). I am in a different situation I am older and have full no claims so my insurance isn't that high, I don't use the car much can't afford the petrol but it is there when I need it and means my search for work can be spread wider and more importantly when I find work I can get there and back quicker meaning more time to spend with my son.

Does she have anywhere safe it can be left sorn? Then she will have to save up for the money required that needs spending on it whilst at the same time keeping up her monthly payments to you. This way you are not making her give up the car (as she will see it) just making her take more responsibly for it after a few months she will probably come to the decision to sell it herself, if she finds a job in the mean time this will mean she will have the money sooner to pay for it.

stix62

Horace wrote: »

I had a car before circumstances changed and I had to claim JSA, I still have that car and put petrol in when I can afford to do so. It is fully taxed and insured too. To say that you cannot have a car and be on JSA is nonsense.

......

Too right. I had a car when signing on but used to walk to the job centre and back if it wasn't pee'ing down (5 miles) and spent more on tax, m.o.t and insurance than petrol.