JSA stopped, no money, no food.. nothing

kyusho

Hello,

wonder if anyone can help. I have been claiming JSA for a few weeks. I previously had a job in a supermarket. I was being treated very poorly, the management had changed and people couldn't stand the way we were being treated, most left, but i stayed. I was there for nearly two years.

Things started to get ontop of me and i swore at the manager and told him what i thought of him. He was speaking to me in a demeaning manner and taking the P**s really, asking me to do more than should be expected as we didnt have any staff (no one wanted to work for him). He fired me for swearing at him.

I got a letter from JSA to day saying they have stopped my benefit and will not pay me for 26 weeks as i was dismissed for misconduct. They will not pay me from August 3rd+

I do not have any money atall apart from £17, and in one week i will not have any food left or money to pay for rent or any bills. All my credit cards will default in my bank, i do not have any money to pay them. I will not have any food to eat when my £17 run out unless i can find a job asap. I will lose my room i rent aswell. So i will be left with no home, no food and increasing debt.

How can the goverment do this to me, after all the contributions i have paid, wasting it on such things as giving 18yr olds 3k when they reach 18? I think this is a disgrace and just came here for advice as a last resort as i do not have alot of time left with this £17

umami

So sorry to hear about your predicament.
Bumped up to help you get some advice.

kyusho

Thanks chun, i do not know what to do so i signed up her to see if anyone has any advice. I didnt know this could happen to people, how can they allow people who have made NI contributions to have no money atall?

iceicebaby

Dont panic!

You need to get looking for another job immediately. McDonalds, agancies, anything

healy

You may be able to claim Hardship payments if you have no money at all, the following link gives details :http://www.advicekit.info/SitePages/Default.aspx?CmsPageID=323Also you can appeal the decision and the CAB can help you with this.

macki62000

Alternatively you could go to your GP, get a medical certificate and submit a claim for incapacity benefit which is also based on your n i conts. Disallowances do not come off incap! Desperate times call for desperate measures. You can still look for work whilst receiving incapacity benefit then sign off when you find work. Mind you, depends on how understanding your GP is.

kyusho

I am trying to get a job as soon as possible but no one seems interested when you havn't got a reference and you were fired.

A few questions i have;

1. Does swearing at the manager because you are being treated unfairly amount to misconduct, i.e do i have grounds for appeal?

2. I have suffered from depression in the past, do you get incapicty benefit for this? Obviously i would rather not claim any benefits atall, but as you said i would enquire about this after exhausting all other alternatives.

cifpower

Are you single and do you have any kids?

On Monday morning I would go to your local office and make a claim for JSA Hardship payments. If successful you will get 60% of your normal benefit rate but the first 2 weeks will be unpaid unless you have children, disabled, pregnant or a carer.

Also, lodge an appeal to your inital JSA sanction decision stating the reasons why you were sacked and how you believe it was not your fault.

kyusho

No kids and i am single. what shall i say on the appeal? also the letter is extremely confusing it says;

We have looked at your claim again following a recent change.

We cannot pay you jobseekers allowance from 3 August 2007.

This is because we recently told you that a decision would be made about a doubt;

*on the circumstances in which your job with SOMERFIELD STORES ended. We have now decided that you lost this job because of your misconduct. The decision applies from 3 August 2007 to 5th January 2008.

It then goes on to say;

We cannot award you national insurance contributions credits for this perios.

We cannot pay you jobseekers allowance from 5 January 2008.

We cannot pay you because your entitlement based on class 1 national insurance contribtuions has run out.

So basically what they are saying is they will never pay me JSA again? Is swearing at a manager misconduct? and to put a different slant on it, is swearing at a managger still misconduct if you were driven to swearing at him through his attitude towards staff? By the way some of the things this guy asked me to do were things like;

change out of date stickers on bread that was out of date. there was loads of it and i was throwing it out and i refused to change the out of date labels on them. He did and tricked customers into buying bread that was out of date.

He also never let me or any other member of staff take breaks, when it is company policy you get a break every 4 hours minimum.

He also put my friend who is under 18 on dangerous machinery, for months. Which is against company policy. these are just a few things that spring to mind at the moment. Not to mention his attitude in general. The manger before him was great and we got on A1

cifpower

Its not that they will never pay you JSA again. There are two types of JSA:

• Contribution based - dependant on your National Insurance contributions. It is guaranteed for up to 180 days and is for you alone. This is why the letter says "We cannot pay you because your entitlement based on class 1 national insurance contribtuions has run out". You would have been awarded this type of JSA
  
• Income Based - if you have not paid enough NI contributions you will be paid this if your household does not have enough money coming in

Swearing at a manager can be misconduct but it sounds like you have mitigating circumstances which you should detail in your appeal.

poppyscorner

Just wanted to add have you thought of seeing someone about maybe a tribunal for the way you have been treat by this manager wont help in the short term but longer term it may be worth it. Especially so if there are other people who can vouch for your side of the argument.

I have no clue about JSA benefit but you have been given some great advice here.

Good luck whatever happens and keep us all updated

Poppy x