New to JSA and utterly confused

SullyVan

Hello, everybody. I'm hoping to get some advice please. Sorry this is so long!

Today I attended an appointment at the JobCentre, following my online claim for income-based JSA. The person I spoke to (and I don't mean to be rude) didn't seem really friendly/chatty compared to the other advisers around us, and I got the impression she was rushing through things as quickly as possible (e.g. when typing my details on the screen, turned so that we could both see, she made many spelling errors on my Job Seeker Profile and Claimant Commitment due to speed typing and didn't go back to fix these - I'm worried how this will look to prospective employers - do they even see this, actually?) She also took down my bank details incorrectly, and tutted when I apologised and told her there were two digits wrong in the account no. I think she only fixed one of them. I hurriedly put my signature next to it anyway as I didn't want to further antagonise her (yes, i know how ridiculous that sounds now) but I will double check with her next time.

I've been told that my sign on date will be a Wednesday every fortnight. And I have to go sign on for the first time this Wednesday, in 2 days' time.

I'm completely confused about a number of things. And was a bit too intimidated by my adviser to phone her (she gave me her direct line) after our appointment to clarify. I hope it's okay that I ask here:

1: Given that my first sign on appt is only two days after my initial interview, will my activity log be expected to be quite full - as in two weeks' worth of job seeking activity - since sign days are usually fortnightly?

2. I was told by my adviser that i must be able to travel 90 mins each way for work. But i took with me a Gingerbread (single parent charity - i am a lone parent to a 6 yr old) factsheet that said single parents only need to travel 60 mins each way for the first few weeks of a claim. The adviser told me this was outdated. And so I agreed on the 90 mins. Is this true?

3. I was given a 'My Work Plan' book which the adviser explained is to help me plan my days of job seeking. Is this something I must take with me at each sign date? Have i to complete this as well as the activity log on Universal Job Match (which I was told was compulsory)?

4. My adviser told me that Universal JobMatch is a way for her to see what jobseeking activity I have been undertaking. Which will make sign on appts much shorter. But I was under the impression it was my decision whether or not I wanted my adviser to have access to my profile. Can anyone advise if it is better to give consent or not?

5. My Claimant Commitment is very vague in terms of actions I should be doing each week.
a)I will use jobsites/employer websites to find and apply for jobs I can do
b)I will log in to my universal job match account to find and apply for jobs I can do
c)I will ensure I have an up to date CV that i can tailor for jobs I can apply for
d)I will continue to attend JC to provide evidence of my work search activities
e)I will respond promptly to contacts and notifications from employers and jobsites

Other actions I will take:
I will check for vacancies and apply for suitable jobs on X and Y websites.

To clarify, I'm not entirely certain how many hours I should be spending each day job searching, how many jobs each week she wants me to apply for etc. I've been looking through various threads on here this evening and there are many posts with people saying they are expected to apply for 4 jobs per week or 8 etc. Mine doesn't give any figure.

6.Currently, my daughter is at school, so I am available to job search 9-3. However, (Scotland) schools break up in two weeks and I won't be able to commit as much time then to job searching as I am now able to. I asked my adviser about this and she said that my child should be in childcare during the hours I said I am available to work (9-5, weekdays). But I told her that I could not afford to pay 40 hrs per week childcare when I was unemployed. And she said during the summer I ought to job search during the evenings instead, when my child is asleep. My child goes to sleep at 8.30pm. To do 6hrs of job searching per evening would take me past 2am every day and then my child typically awakes at 6am, and I of course get up with her. I don't mean to complain or sound ungrateful, but is this really feasible? How do other single parents manage to fulfill their claimant commitment during school holidays with no childcare?

7. My final question (I am so sorry, this is becoming quite the saga!) is: if, hypothetically, I see a suitable job, but then realise they are only offering 8 hours per week, will i still be expected to apply? As a single parent, I need 16hrs minimum employment in order to claim childcare element of WTC. Therefore, any job under 16 hrs will require me to fund childcare by myself/from my part-time wages, which will see me earning £0, and thus crippling me even more financially. But it does not say anything in my Claimant Commitment about not having to apply for any jobs under 16 hrs or zero hrs contracts. Just terrified I'll be sanctioned over being 'picky' about having to have more than 16 hrs employment due to childcare costs.


Thanks so much for reading through. I realise I've gone off on one here, but any shred of advice would be wonderful before my first sign on Wednesday,

billywilly

SullyVan wrote: »

Hello, everybody. I'm hoping to get some advice please. Sorry this is so long!

Today I attended an appointment at the JobCentre, following my online claim for income-based JSA. The person I spoke to (and I don't mean to be rude) didn't seem really friendly/chatty compared to the other advisers around us, and I got the impression she was rushing through things as quickly as possible (e.g. when typing my details on the screen, turned so that we could both see, she made many spelling errors on my Job Seeker Profile and Claimant Commitment due to speed typing and didn't go back to fix these - I'm worried how this will look to prospective employers - do they even see this, actually?) She also took down my bank details incorrectly, and tutted when I apologised and told her there were two digits wrong in the account no. I think she only fixed one of them. I hurriedly put my signature next to it anyway as I didn't want to further antagonise her (yes, i know how ridiculous that sounds now) but I will double check with her next time.

I've been told that my sign on date will be a Wednesday every fortnight. And I have to go sign on for the first time this Wednesday, in 2 days' time.

I'm completely confused about a number of things. And was a bit too intimidated by my adviser to phone her (she gave me her direct line) after our appointment to clarify. I hope it's okay that I ask here:

1: Given that my first sign on appt is only two days after my initial interview, will my activity log be expected to be quite full - as in two weeks' worth of job seeking activity - since sign days are usually fortnightly?

2. I was told by my adviser that i must be able to travel 90 mins each way for work. But i took with me a Gingerbread (single parent charity - i am a lone parent to a 6 yr old) factsheet that said single parents only need to travel 60 mins each way for the first few weeks of a claim. The adviser told me this was outdated. And so I agreed on the 90 mins. Is this true?

3. I was given a 'My Work Plan' book which the adviser explained is to help me plan my days of job seeking. Is this something I must take with me at each sign date? Have i to complete this as well as the activity log on Universal Job Match (which I was told was compulsory)?

4. My adviser told me that Universal JobMatch is a way for her to see what jobseeking activity I have been undertaking. Which will make sign on appts much shorter. But I was under the impression it was my decision whether or not I wanted my adviser to have access to my profile. Can anyone advise if it is better to give consent or not?

5. My Claimant Commitment is very vague in terms of actions I should be doing each week.
a)I will use jobsites/employer websites to find and apply for jobs I can do
b)I will log in to my universal job match account to find and apply for jobs I can do
c)I will ensure I have an up to date CV that i can tailor for jobs I can apply for
d)I will continue to attend JC to provide evidence of my work search activities
e)I will respond promptly to contacts and notifications from employers and jobsites

Other actions I will take:
I will check for vacancies and apply for suitable jobs on X and Y websites.

To clarify, I'm not entirely certain how many hours I should be spending each day job searching, how many jobs each week she wants me to apply for etc. I've been looking through various threads on here this evening and there are many posts with people saying they are expected to apply for 4 jobs per week or 8 etc. Mine doesn't give any figure.

6.Currently, my daughter is at school, so I am available to job search 9-3. However, (Scotland) schools break up in two weeks and I won't be able to commit as much time then to job searching as I am now able to. I asked my adviser about this and she said that my child should be in childcare during the hours I said I am available to work (9-5, weekdays). But I told her that I could not afford to pay 40 hrs per week childcare when I was unemployed. And she said during the summer I ought to job search during the evenings instead, when my child is asleep. My child goes to sleep at 8.30pm. To do 6hrs of job searching per evening would take me past 2am every day and then my child typically awakes at 6am, and I of course get up with her. I don't mean to complain or sound ungrateful, but is this really feasible? How do other single parents manage to fulfill their claimant commitment during school holidays with no childcare?

7. My final question (I am so sorry, this is becoming quite the saga!) is: if, hypothetically, I see a suitable job, but then realise they are only offering 8 hours per week, will i still be expected to apply? As a single parent, I need 16hrs minimum employment in order to claim childcare element of WTC. Therefore, any job under 16 hrs will require me to fund childcare by myself/from my part-time wages, which will see me earning £0, and thus crippling me even more financially. But it does not say anything in my Claimant Commitment about not having to apply for any jobs under 16 hrs or zero hrs contracts. Just terrified I'll be sanctioned over being 'picky' about having to have more than 16 hrs employment due to childcare costs.


Thanks so much for reading through. I realise I've gone off on one here, but any shred of advice would be wonderful before my first sign on Wednesday,

Hi and I don't want to be rude either, and I can't really help you much with JSA. But with the sound of it you seem to have been done up like a kipper!

Others more experienced will come along and help you.

paragon909

The OP could probably claim Income Support if your a loan parent with a child under 7.

But most of the JSA condition you posted are just standard for every claimant unless you specially tell them you can do certain things.

SullyVan

hello, thanks for the replies.

Since my child is in education, I can claim JSA (since I am actively seeking work). I think income support is when there is younger children/children not in education yet. She turns 7 in 2 weeks anyway

I was able to stipulate what days/times I could work - weekdays, 9-5 - which the adviser told me was a flexibility due to me being a single parent, that is not permitted to other (non-single parent) claimants.

The main thing worrying me is just the vagueness of it all. Just now I'm able to apply on average 7 jobs per day online (A Pizza Hut one earlier took me 50 mins!). But when my daughter finishes school in 2 weeks, I'm concerned this average no of applications per day will drop significantly. And I may be sanctioned for it.

I wonder why I have not been given an exact number of jobs I need to apply for, since many other people claiming JSA (from what Ive read on other threads) state they have a specific target to meet each week .e.g. 6 jobs per week.

Can I just confirm - is the Claimant Commitment the same as the Agreement? The only things given to me today were copies of my Profile, Claimant Commitment and My Work Plan

missapril75

You've certainly got your head screwed on right. I hope you get some useful and up to date answers.

Mersey_2

It's vital that they have your account number correct, otherwise your first JSA payment won't credit to your account.


No, they won't expect a fortnight's worth of evidence just for 2 days' of unemployment.


90mins is now the most common travel to work time in agreements, but you don't have to agree to everything that is suggested. It is meant to be agreed by you both as reasonable.

Caz3121

paragon909 wrote: »

The OP could probably claim Income Support if your a loan parent with a child under 7.

IS for loan parents with youngest child under 5 now

Diary

It is compulsory to have a universal job match account but it is not compulsory to allow your advisor access. I revoked access when I realised how unpleasant she was. I then wrote my job search on a scrap of paper.
The 90 minutes travelling is by public transport.
Claimant commitment and agreement are broadly the same.
Advisors have stopped putting a set amount of jobs in the claimant commitment to prevent looking simply for that number of jobs - instead people have to apply for jobs that they can do. My advisor checked up on occasion on the websites I had agreed to.
Your assumption that you have to do 6 hours of job search is incorrect. Never ever assume anything to do with job centre.
The advisors lack of intelligence should never be underestimated for example.
You will not be expected to apply for jobs under 16 hours.
There is an extremely good website with freedom of information requests you could peruse for information directly from the DWP, search for 'what do they know. Com'.

AndyBSG

Couple of points

- Don't agree to let them have access to your job match account. It doesn't help you in any way and they just use it as something to bash you with

To qualify for JSA you just have to show that you've made efforts to find a job. When I was unemployed I took great care to write pages and pages of info on all the jobs i'd applied for... The advisor never did anything more than glance at it!

I ended up just writing down pretty much the same thing each week which was a 'daily search of job websites, applied for 4 jobs online', 'daily search of job sites, applied for 2 jobs online, one job by post', etc, etc.

I then simply kept the E-mail receipts of my applications in my E-mail inbox for if they ever asked for further evidence(they never did)

SullyVan

Hi all.

Just wanted to thank you again for all the replies and information.

I had my first sign on yesterday and my adviser wasn't there, so another saw me. He was really very nice and friendly. He took six signatures from me because it was my first sign. He just asked about any interviews I have had. I told him it had only been a few days since I put in my claim and began my job search so no interviews as of yet. But took along all my email receipt from job applications but he didn't look at these. Nor did he look through my booklet log/universal job match log.

I thought that was a bit strange, but I assume it's because it was my first sign and only a few days had passed since my initial appointment?

AndyBSG

SullyVan wrote: »

I thought that was a bit strange, but I assume it's because it was my first sign and only a few days had passed since my initial appointment?

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the way it is. You have to collect the evidence in case they do question it but the sad fact is that 99% of the advisors just want to rubber stamp you and move onto their next appointment ASAP.