Jsa paid to cover weekends?

phill99

OP:If the attitude you have shown on here comes across at interview, you will never work again.

jjblue

Hi, having been on both sides of the desk at the jobcentre, I hope I can provide some useful insight, however I am not claiming to be an expert here. There are three separate ways to look at the 7 days issue:

JSA is usually paid fortnightly, and the rate is given as weekly. But when a daily rate is needed it is the weekly rate divided by 7, so yes it is paid for 7 days.

You can be expected to look for work that includes working weekend work. The hours of work you say you are willing to work has to match the type of job you are looking for, you can't say you are looking for bar work and only want to work Mon-Fri 9-5.


Now the part which I think is your main concern, can you be expected to be jobhunting at weekends? When I last claimed JSA the I was advised the guidance was more that you should be spending full time hours on jobseeking activities rather than set number off applications, This is to take account of the fact that some jobs take a lot of time to go through the application process, and for peoples to not just send off a couple of cvs each day which could be just 5 minutes effort. So yes, they could reasonably expect you to be actively seeking work on weekends, but as a part of a weeks worth of job seeking.

With regards to being next to someone who said he had gone away for a weekend, was then asked to provide further details of his job seeking actively and was then subsequently sanctioned: remember as with this and a lot of stories that are publicised you only ever hear one side of the story. The weekend away may have raised some doubt and as such was asked to provide more info on his jobseeking activity for the whole period. It would be a lot of work to disallow (rather than sanction) people for individual days that they were not actively seeking work although it could be done.

Remember lots of things can count if the signing section do want to get picky, things at a weekend that can count could be check your email and flag something up for Monday, you meet up with a friend and whilst doing so you ask them about jobs they know of. Doing some voluntary work to keep your hands in the labour market. I guess you could even includes taking part in sports if the jobs you are looking for are typically physical roles.


Hope at least one person finds this useful.
J

harrys_dad

Let's be clear here, there has been a considerable tightening of the sanctions regime since October 2012, when the minimum length of a sanction was increased from one week to four weeks. There has also been a concerted attempt by the Government, aided and abetted by their friends at the Daily Mail and The Sun, to stigmatise unemployed people as scroungers. Combine this with gross ignorance about what the "welfare" budget is spent on (over half of it goes on paying pension benefits including my bus pass, and less that 3% on out of work benefits) and you get the attitudes seen on this post.

Some of you may want to read this

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/03/victims-britains-harsh-welfare-sanctions

or this

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/03/cruel-welfare-system-private-firms

and start looking at evidence of what is actually happening.

OP, your problem is that you used the word "fascist" to describe the JCP staff. They are as much victims in this situation as you, having to meet targets for sanctions (although these of course "do not exist"), on low pay, and with virtually no job satisfaction at all. You are blaming the wrong people, and hence allowing some of the people on here to blame you.

Bantex_2

melysion wrote: »

Simple. He is unemployed and therefore a easy target.

No so simple.
He is being rather picky about what he has to do to get free money which is taken from others.

CCFC_80

GwylimT wrote: »

You need to be actively job hunting at the weekend, you also need to be available to attend interview, a bit difficult if you are going away. If you don't like the terms of your JSA you could stop claiming it, as after all you are able to afford a weekend away.

Here we go again, more attacks on jobseekers by what looks like a strong Daily Mail readers brigade on this thread. Job seekers couldn't possibly afford to go on holidays or take weekends away, could they?. They are all supposed to be skint aren't they?

And all this carp about being my money??:mad:. Notice not many comments regarding the tax avoiders, Gary Barlow, Starbucks Etc Etc. That would be your money?

CCFC_80

Bantex wrote: »

No so simple.
He is being rather picky about what he has to do to get free money which is taken from others.

If he has paid full NI contributions for the past 2 years, then he and everyone else is entitled to claim JSA. That's what Paying NI contributions is all about. He is entitled to get out what he has paid in.

Bantex_2

CCFC_80 wrote: »

If he has paid full NI contributions for the past 2 years, then he and everyone else is entitled to claim JSA. That's what Paying NI contributions is all about. He is entitled to get out what he has paid in.

He may be entitled, but the cash is still being taken from others who have no say in the matter.

PasturesNew

Of course, you could make this easier on yourself .... look for jobs Mon-Fri and "save some back", just save the links ..... then, quickly, on a Sat-Sun, go to those links and apply for those jobs that you identified/found on Mon-Fri.

Evidence provided, effort put in. Box ticked. Job done.

PasturesNew

CCFC_80 wrote: »

He is entitled to get out what he has paid in.

No, BECAUSE he paid in, not GET OUT WHAT HE HAS paid in.

harrys_dad

Bantex wrote: »

He may be entitled, but the cash is still being taken from others who have no say in the matter.

Well you "have no say" in paying for my bus pass or winter fuel allowance either, and the OP needs his JSA much more than I need my bus pass or fuel allowance. Oh of course, I forgot, I am a deserving senior citizen (who votes) and not one of those horrible scrounging unemployed people. We all know that anyone who is unemployed is !!!!less and useless because the great god Dacre and Bullingdon boy Osborne tell us so. Sheesh. At least I can do my bit for redistribution by giving my winter fuel allowance to my local Big Issue sellers.