Declined Job Seekers

LOLROB

My partner has recently lost her job due to the workplace not being able to afford to keep her on.

Only recently she has visited the job centre for an interview to sign on for job seekers allowance. She had a reply today saying that she isn't entitled to job seekers because her partner (myself) works. Also they said because we are getting married in 8 months time that also was something to do with the claim

We currently live with my parent's of which my father is retired and my mother is disabled. (Don't know if they take this into consideration when considering)

I'm currently paying the council tax for both of us that we share and the obvious living expenses. I'm currently on National Min Wage and work 40 hours.

Was their decision correct or has something gone wrong? Any advice is welcomed and because I've never been on job seekers before I'm not sure how everything works there.

rogerblack

The decision is likely correct.
You are 'living together as husband and wife' - to within the definitions of the law.
You have an enduring relationship, consider yourself partners (I am assuming you're not meaning buisness partners). You're living together.
You have a wage that exceeds the IR-JSA allowance for a couple, plus a 5 pound disregard - so she is not entitled to anything.
Has she been working significantly employed from April 2012 to April 2014?

In principle, if the disabled person in the household is in reciept of certain benefits, and your partner were to care for them 35 hours a week, there may be an entitlement to carers allowance.
Assuming their partner is not already claiming.

Caz3121

LOLROB wrote: »

She had a reply today saying that she isn't entitled to job seekers because her partner (myself) works.

The first check would be for contribution based JSA which does not consider partners/savings etc and is based purely on the claimants NI contributions for the last 2 full tax years (currently 2012/13 and 2013/14 being used) If she did not pay enough NI during this time period then she would not qualify so they would then look at income based JSA. As you have discovered, having a working partner who works more than 24 hours/earns more than a certain amount, means no payment would be due but she could still sign on for her NI stamp towards her pension
Being unmarried/married makes no difference, you live together as partners so, if she does not qualify for benefits based on her contributions, your income (not your parents) come into the equation