JSA- sanctioned before I've even started?!

BonnieP

Thanks people. Keep thinkin about it and I will fight it all the way. How can they penaliae me for givin up my job when at the time I had no need to be in work or aeek work as I was under IS rules.
Maybe they should make it clear that they will do this.

BillJones

confuseddaughter wrote: »

None of this surprises me at all. The DWP seem to be wanting to find any excuse not to pay or award any benefit if they can avoid it.

Well yes, of course they are, they have a legal obligation to do so. They cannot just give out money to people who don't qualify for it.

It's no more outrageous than my company not paying me for overtime when I didn't do any...

Morglin

BonnieP wrote: »

Thanks people. Keep thinkin about it and I will fight it all the way. How can they penaliae me for givin up my job when at the time I had no need to be in work or aeek work as I was under IS rules.
Maybe they should make it clear that they will do this.

I would appeal, as you followed the rules applying to the benefit you were on, at the time, which is all you are expected to do. A qualified JC adviser should know that!

No one can look to the future and avoid breaking the rules of something that may be claimed later.

Many of these sanctions are overturned, on appeal, so you'd be advised to follow it through.

Lin

MissMoneypenny

BonnieP wrote: »

Thanks people. Keep thinkin about it and I will fight it all the way. How can they penaliae me for givin up my job when at the time I had no need to be in work or aeek work as I was under IS rules.
Maybe they should make it clear that they will do this.

Perhaps look on it as a bit of good fortune? If they didn't sanction you, then you wouldn't have come on this site and been told what other single mothers do when their youngest child turns 5 and they have to come off IS. JSA benefit rules are quite strict compared to the WTC benefit rules, hence why people prefer to claim WTC.

On WTC, you might still be able to go on courses at colleges for free, check to see what the local colleges say on this.

Try looking in the local papers too for free courses. I use to help at a womens refuge by teaching various computing courses and any spare places on a course, were advertised in the local paper. Those spare places weren't based on what benefits they claimed or low income; it was first come first served.

If you are WTC, you won't have to ask permission to do courses, but if you are JSA, you will.

You may even find out that you are better off financially by claiming WTC instead of JSA. Did you check?

FBaby

To get WTC you have to work. Are you suggesting OP pretends to be self-employed? Because being self-employed requires some skills that most people don't have. Or are you actually suggesting she picks any pretend activity and make it sounds like self-employment for the sole purpose of claiming tax credits, because again, although it's been the easy way for many single parent to avoid doing proper work, it's been so abused that the system had no choice but to tighten up and expect reasonable remuneration to qualify.


Best advice for OP is to go on JSA, fight the sanction and do all she can to get a proper job that could open up to future advancement.

MissMoneypenny

BillJones wrote: »

Well yes, of course they are, they have a legal obligation to do so. They cannot just give out money to people who don't qualify for it.

It's no more outrageous than my company not paying me for overtime when I didn't do any...

I think what confuseddaugther was trying to say was that there are those who make a career out claiming benefits and they know all the benefit tricks to "maximise me benefits", whereas the genuine claimants (who the UK's welfare state was invented for) often fall foul of the benefit rules.

MissMoneypenny

FBaby wrote: »

To get WTC you have to work. Are you suggesting OP pretends to be self-employed? Because being self-employed requires some skills that most people don't have. Or are you actually suggesting she picks any pretend activity and make it sounds like self-employment for the sole purpose of claiming tax credits, because again, although it's been the easy way for many single parent to avoid doing proper work, it's been so abused that the system had no choice but to tighten up and expect reasonable remuneration to qualify.

I'm suggesting that she look as going self employed and work her 16 hours a week as a single mother. That way she can then get some money coming in; look at retraining and then working PAYE and still get her childcare paid for.

Do I really need to remind you that as an EU citizen, you were happy enough to use the EU free movement laws to live in the UK and claim benefits from the UK, as a single mother?

BonnieP

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Perhaps look on it as a bit of good fortune? If they didn't sanction you, then you wouldn't have come on this site and been told what other single mothers do when their youngest child turns 5 and they have to come off IS. JSA benefit rules are quite strict compared to the WTC benefit rules, hence why people prefer to claim WTC.

On WTC, you might still be able to go on courses at colleges for free, check to see what the local colleges say on this.

Try looking in the local papers too for free courses. I use to help at a womens refuge by teaching various computing courses and any spare places on a course, were advertised in the local paper. Those spare places weren't based on what benefits they claimed or low income; it was first come first served.

If you are WTC, you won't have to ask permission to do courses, but if you are JSA, you will.

You may even find out that you are better off financially by claiming WTC instead of JSA. Did you check?

I'm confused, good fortune? I did not need this site to tell me what happens when my child turned 5, I did have work focused interviews, but not once was I ever told that if I leave my job whilst on IS, I could be possibly sanctioned when i apply for JSA.

BonnieP

Firstly, my JSA claim has been set up as of yesterday and payment comes next week, BUT they are still investigating and could still sanction me :eek:
Secondly, I don't want to go self employed doing nothing, I want a job, set hours, set pay.

sammyjammy

I believe that under the circumstances they will not sanction you but if they do you should make sure to appeal and tell them that you were previously claiming IS where no such Leaving voluntarily rule applies. It could be that they make the decision without the knowledge that you were actually claiming IS.