Unemployed but has a few hours work

qweasd123

Bit of background, after 14 years of work I was made redundant.
I've been signing on at the job centre and I had been receiving contributions-based JSA, now as this only last 182 days I was put onto income-based JSA.
Just this week I've managed to get some p/t work, working at home 4 hours for £50 and it looks like this will be regular although there is no chance of the hours being increased.
Do I declare this and how it affect my JSA?

TIA

busy_mom_2

Yes you need to declare it, the declaration you sign every two weeks states you have notified JCP of any work.
You will have a £5 disregard the rest will be deducted from your JSA.

busy_mom_2

busy_mom wrote: »

Yes you need to declare it, the declaration you sign every two weeks states you have notified JCP of any work.
You will have a £5 disregard the rest will be deducted from your JSA.

To clarify its £5 for single people, different for lone parents or couples.

qweasd123

busy_mom wrote: »

Yes you need to declare it, the declaration you sign every two weeks states you have notified JCP of any work.
You will have a £5 disregard the rest will be deducted from your JSA.

ok so each week I get £70 for signing on, so does that mean that from that £50 I will then receive £20 for signing on?

And who I tell, do I inform the job centre before I go in this week as I started the p/t hours last week.

busy_mom_2

qweasd123 wrote: »

ok so each week I get £70 for signing on, so does that mean that from that £50 I will then receive £20 for signing on?

And who I tell, do I inform the job centre before I go in this week as I started the p/t hours last week.

They will take £45 away from your £70. they ignore the first £5 you earn, you still have to be available and actively seeking full time work.
Yea when you go in next week you will complete an A15c declaring the income and a B7 evey two weeks declaring the hours. They will also need to see your pay slips.

qweasd123

busy_mom wrote: »

They will take £45 away from your £70. they ignore the first £5 you earn, you still have to be available and actively seeking full time work.
Yea when you go in next week you will complete an A15c declaring the income and a B7 evey two weeks declaring the hours. They will also need to see your pay slips.

ok thanks.
Re payslips, I don't know if there will be one given, I'd expect it'll be a cheque, will that be ok?

I_Can_Haz_Job?

Congratulations on getting some hours! I was in a similar position last year and all I did was print out the screen shot from my bank account showing the money going into my account. I gave them a copy of my contract and all the invoices I submitted to the employer. Mine was a slightly more complicated affair as I was a freelance night-school teacher - I was self employed so that's why I was invoicing the school. I'd check your contract just to see if you're PAYE or zero hours/self employed as if it's the latter you'll need to register with HMRC. You'll get a load of letters through from the Jobcentre regarding changes to your benefit as they recalculate it each fortnight. Keep a hold of these and just check each time that they're calculating it properly.

qweasd123

I_Can_Haz_Job? wrote: »

Congratulations on getting some hours! I was in a similar position last year and all I did was print out the screen shot from my bank account showing the money going into my account. I gave them a copy of my contract and all the invoices I submitted to the employer. Mine was a slightly more complicated affair as I was a freelance night-school teacher - I was self employed so that's why I was invoicing the school. I'd check your contract just to see if you're PAYE or zero hours/self employed as if it's the latter you'll need to register with HMRC. You'll get a load of letters through from the Jobcentre regarding changes to your benefit as they recalculate it each fortnight. Keep a hold of these and just check each time that they're calculating it properly.

Thanks, it's sounding like a lot of hassle though.
I'm not sure there will be a contract, as it's fairly adhoc basis. I'm guessing it will take 4 hours, but without going into too much detail I have to write a report each week for £50, it may take more of less time but the payment will stay the same.
Ideally I'd be able to come off JSA altogether but not sure if I could get enough work to go self employed and have no ideal how to pay my NI. I asked at the local business gateway how I would go about it and they were useless

I_Can_Haz_Job?

qweasd123 wrote: »

Thanks, it's sounding like a lot of hassle though.
I'm not sure there will be a contract, as it's fairly adhoc basis. I'm guessing it will take 4 hours, but without going into too much detail I have to write a report each week for £50, it may take more of less time but the payment will stay the same.
Ideally I'd be able to come off JSA altogether but not sure if I could get enough work to go self employed and have no ideal how to pay my NI. I asked at the local business gateway how I would go about it and they were useless

You never know - if you do a good job and impress them they may well pass more work your way. I asked the Jobcentre about going on New Enterprise (help to become self employed) but they were no help at all. I'm not sure if this is still a thing but it might be worth mentioning next time you sign on? Someone on here will probably be able to give you more info on this scheme. I had to give up the paid teaching work as the hours were all over the place and the cuts to my JSA meant it wasn't worth it. I focused on volunteering work (teaching in two community groups and data analysis for a third) and managed to get a full time job that way. How about report writing but on a voluntary basis? That way you get to keep your JSA as it stands and you can build up a reputation in the industry and potentially get spotted? There's quite a few skilled volunteer roles out there (try googling 'reach skilled volunteers') and, while it isn't guaranteed, they could lead to paid work. It all depends on the kind of reporting you do really but something like Citizen's Advice or a pro bono law charity would be good places to try.

Snakey

I don't think I would want to work on an unpaid basis if someone was prepared to pay me for it. You risk devaluing your own worth, and how can you explain that it's so that your benefits are unaffected without sounding (to someone who knows nothing about how the system works and has probably never had to sign on in his life) like you're up to something a bit shady?

I would take the work, keep signing on for the stamp even though it's only getting you £25 a week, and pat yourself on the back that you're still marketable even though this particular employer isn't looking for anything full time. Presumably what you are doing will help keep your hand in as well as being capable of being talked up for the CV (and a current reference has to beat somewhere you left ages ago).

If you could get another 2-3 of these gigs you'd be earning as much as some people earn in full-time employment somewhere horrible, for work that you can do part time, setting your own hours, and while wearing your pyjamas. Who did you get this work from? Do a couple of top-quality reports and then ask him if he will refer you to someone else who might need something similar. Word of mouth is the best for these things.