Do I have to sign on for JSA immediately

voddyman

Hi, I am being made redundant at the age of 60 and my questions are as follows.

I do not have a clue about anything to do with JSA or anything else for that matter as I have never been unemployed in my life.

Do I have to sign on immediately when I finish my work on 21/11/2014 as I know I have 42 years accrued for my national insurance/pension payments, so don't think I need to worry about that??

I would rather not go to the Jobcentre for 2-3 months and see if I can find work as I will have a redundancy payment to keep me going for a while and also because I hear of so many horror stories of the grieve and hassle that is encountered with the Jobcentre staff continually pressurising people to look for work and I hasten to add that I will most definitely be trying to find work. So that brings me to my next question which is explained below.

I know that I would be entitled to 26 weeks of contribution based JSA and then after that I would get nothing due to my savings etc, but if I leave "signing on" for 2-3 months will I still be entitled to the 26 weeks JSA from then or do I have to sign on right away to be entitled to this.

If this is in the wrong forum I apoligise in advance.

All help and advice is greatly appreciated :beer:

rogerblack

You do not have to sign on immediatly.
Your 43 years of contributions do not directly matter.
Only the last two years before the beginning of the year in which you make a benefit claim.

So, 2011/12 and 12/13 if you were to make a claim now.
Come the beginning of 2016, this would be years 2013/14 and 14/15 - and you might not have the required contributions (assuming you have not found work) to qualify for contributory benefits. 2017, you certainly wouldn't.

The 6 months runs from when you start the claim.

doodle-bug_2

I left work (voluntary severance) at the end of December 2011, didn't sign on for about 10 months as I was not looking for a job at that time. I didn't know if it was too late, but it wasn't - the six months (contribution based) started from the date I signed on. I think it has to be within a year of you leaving......

voddyman

Excellent, thank you for your quick replies. I just have a total fear of having to go through all the hassle and grieve of the Jobcentre so I'm hoping to find work as soon as I can, even if it's through an agency, which would probably be my best bet given my age.

epitome

Your 43 years will be enough for your pension, so you don't have to sign on at all. But if you do want to claim, you don't have to sign on straight away.

IT IS NOT TRUE when you say you will get 26 weeks JSA and then nothing. You can claim again and get another 26 weeks JSA.

If you claim now, you may get 26 weeks JSA from now
This means you will finish in April 2015, you can then sign off for 12 weeks and then make a new claim from end of July 2015 and get another 26 weeks.


So the sooner you claim..... potentially the more JSA you will get overall.

voddyman

epitome wrote: »

Your 43 years will be enough for your pension, so you don't have to sign on at all. But if you do want to claim, you don't have to sign on straight away.

IT IS NOT TRUE when you say you will get 26 weeks JSA and then nothing. You can claim again and get another 26 weeks JSA.

If you claim now, you may get 26 weeks JSA from now
This means you will finish in April 2015, you can then sign off for 12 weeks and then make a new claim from end of July 2015 and get another 26 weeks.


So the sooner you claim..... potentially the more JSA you will get overall.

Ah I see, I never knew that, Eeeee I've a lot to learn,lol. I'm hoping that I don't have to sign on at all.
Thank you so much for your help epitome, much appreciated:T

epitome

I just noticed that you will be finishing Friday 21/11/2014

So if you claim by telephone 08000 556688 lines close at 6pm,
on Friday ask to start the claim from Sat 22/11/2014
JSA CONTS ONLY
If that doesn't work then claim online on Friday jsa conts only, from 22/11/2014 and make sure your claim is completed and submitted on Friday or Saturday before midnight.

26 weeks will be the end of May 2015, wait 3 months(12 weeks) and claim again from end of August.2015 then 26 weeks will be end of February 2016.... you can then wait another 3 months (12 weeks) and claim for a 3rd time from June 2016.

Sounds to me like you would qualify for 3 claims in a row, but in order to do this your first claim will have to be started within 2014, if you leave it till 2015 you will only qualify for two claims. So you might aswell just claim from 22/11/2014.

voddyman

epitome wrote: »

I just noticed that you will be finishing Friday 21/11/2014

So if you claim by telephone 08000 556688 lines close at 6pm,
on Friday ask to start the claim from Sat 22/11/2014
JSA CONTS ONLY
If that doesn't work then claim online on Friday jsa conts only, from 22/11/2014 and make sure your claim is completed and submitted on Friday or Saturday before midnight.

26 weeks will be the end of May 2015, wait 3 months(12 weeks) and claim again from end of August.2015 then 26 weeks will be end of February 2016.... you can then wait another 3 months (12 weeks) and claim for a 3rd time from June 2016.

Sounds to me like you would qualify for 3 claims in a row, but in order to do this your first claim will have to be started within 2014, if you leave it till 2015 you will only qualify for two claims. So you might aswell just claim from 22/11/2014.

So do I have to give a reason why I'm signing off for 12weeks?

epitome

No you don't.

But if you tell them "I am signing off and intend to sign on again after 12 weeks have passed in order to get a new 6 months entitlement, assuming I am still unemployed at that time."

They should understand what you mean, however if they tell you that you can't get another 6 months... they simply don't know what they are talking about and you should not bother arguing with them, just politely sign off and take your leave for 12 weeks.......
"I'm not getting any benefit by remaining signed on, so let's just see what happens if I stop and then claim again after 12 weeks, I'll let you know if I am successful, see you in 13 weeks "

SailorSam

Op i'm a year older than you and have to go to sign-on for the first time later this week. One of the things i've been reading up on here is. 'the new enterprise scheme'. I was going to ask when i go, could i go self-employed. How would that work and if it never worked out could i claim JS again.
Is that something for you do you think ?