Reasons For Leaving For Jsa Purpose

bien.wal

I left my job after more then 3 years because of abuse,not nice atmosphere ,to much job loads,strees, not understanding with managers,no promotion, no pay rise, working only late shift and all weekends.
Now Job centre asking me for reasons for leaving because i will lose Jobseekers Benefit if I left voluntarily.Are my reasons good enough to get JSA benefit

sandy2_2

They will probably write to your former employer to ask why you left and you will receive a copy of what they said. How about mutual consent, unsociable hours which employer was unwilling unable to change. You might not get sanctioned if you can show you tried to find another job before leaving. You might lose contributions based JSA for a period but you could claim benefits at a lower rate thro´what used to be social security, they won´t let you or your family go penniless

dmg24

The reasons suggested by Sandy are not valid reasons to leave your job voluntarily.

Those on JSA should be willing to work any given hours, and therefore unsociable hours are not a reason to leave a job.

Furthermore, trying to get a job before leaving your previous one is not a good enough reason, the Jobcentre will say that you should not have left until you had found a new job.

I would be honest with the Jobcentre, sadly your reasons for leaving are all too commonplace nowadays and they will not be surprised. If it is possible to get a letter from your GP regarding the stress caused by the situation, this will go a long way towards removing any potential sanction.

Best of luck x

Bella198421

I'm in the same position http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=503072 and i'm on Contributions based, so i hope if they do stop it for a period of time or whatever i could apply for Income Based.

sandy2_2

dmg24 wrote: »

The reasons suggested by Sandy are not valid reasons to leave your job voluntarily.

Those on JSA should be willing to work any given hours, and therefore unsociable hours are not a reason to leave a job.

Furthermore, trying to get a job before leaving your previous one is not a good enough reason, the Jobcentre will say that you should not have left until you had found a new job.

I would be honest with the Jobcentre, sadly your reasons for leaving are all too commonplace nowadays and they will not be surprised. If it is possible to get a letter from your GP regarding the stress caused by the situation, this will go a long way towards removing any potential sanction.

The reasons given above are a sufficient 'grey' area which after discussion with the claims taker, might result in the New Claims Adviser ticking the box showing that no further action is taken especially if evidence is produced to show efforts were made to find alternative employment before leaving. The reasons given by Bien.wal may be commonplace but could lead to protracted correspondence with previous employer. A lot would also depend on what reasons were given to the employer for leaving and what actions were taken by either party to remedy the situation

Angelica_2

If you get a form to fill in about why you left work I would be as specific as possible.

They are looking to see if you had a good reason so give examples of the abuse and put down exactly happened. If you were suffering from stress did you see a doctor and could you get a letter from them to back up what you say. For the unsociable hours I would put down examples of how many hours you were working and how this was affecting you e.g. stress, family problems. If your employer was unreasonable with the amount of work they expected you to do go in to detail why you felt it wasn't fair.

Hope this helps

diddlydum

Bella198421 wrote: »

i'm on Contributions based, so i hope if they do stop it for a period of time or whatever i could apply for Income Based.

The sanctions would apply to both forms of JSA, not just contributions based, so if you are sanctioned you will get nothing for up to 26 weeks.

To the OP, the Decision Maker does not have to sanction if there is a good reason for leaving work, and whilst unsociable hours probably wouldn't be good enough, abuse and bullying in the workplace probably would be. You would need to give evidence of the abuse and bullying to the DWP, though, and expect for your evidence to be questioned. If you have dependent children then the unsocial hours would become an issue, but if you are a lone parent you'd be wanting to claim income support and not JSA anyway.

If the Decision Maker does sanction you, you can appeal the decision. It'd be a GL24 form that you'd need, and you have one calendar month from the date of the decision to do it. If you're on a low income CLS Direct (0845 345 4345) will be more than happy to advise you.

sandy2_2

When did they change the rules re sanctions and income based JSA so that you would get nothing instead of a reduced rate. There are more rules that are aplied if you are living with a partner who is working, married with children, single parent etc etc
Have a look at http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/money/benefitsandtax/jsacomplications

Hardship provision
You may be able to get a reduced amount of JSA under the hardship provision. You can do this if your JSA cannot be paid under the normal rules for any of the following reasons:

<LI class=bullet>You are not available for work. <LI class=bullet>You are not actively seeking work. <LI class=bullet>You do not have a Jobseeker's Agreement. <LI class=bullet>You leave your job voluntarily without good reason; you lose a job because of misconduct; or you turn down a job offer. <LI class=bullet>There is a doubt about whether any of these apply to you.
• You must be able to show that you or someone in your household would suffer hardship if you do not receive any JSA.

diddlydum

The Decision Maker has quite a lot of discretion about sanctions, really, but if you voluntarily leave work then you can usually expect to be sanctioned for 26 weeks, and receive no payment.

Hardship payments can be made if you can show you would show hardship, and AFAIK its 20% down on normal.