Does £73 a Week in JSA Sound Right?

missapril75

nannytone wrote: »

i can't remember them being paid at different rates, but they may have been.

Basic Unemployment Benefit (and Sickness Benefit) used to be a little higher than the basic Supplementary Benefit rate and there used to be an Earnings Related Supplement to it which varied according to earnings/tax levels. Certainly 1970s and part of the 80s.

Topcat1982

pennypincher3562 wrote: »

Hi All

Thanks for the replies. I have no savings over 16k, and no household income at present.

Do I actually have to specifically ask for SMI, and council tax relief, or will I be enrolled by default (as they know every detail of my background.)

I typed all my details into the calculator at entitledto.co.uk, and it suggested I should be getting about £100 a week in total.

Cheers
PennyPincher3562

Nothing is automatic. Apply for everything separately. When it gets to Feb apply for income based JSA, you won't automatically roll onto it.

You don't say if you have a partner or kids living with you?

Dan27

About a month before contribution based runs out fill out a form from the job centre and send off. You will then be reassessed for income based. If meet the conditions you will then receive income based JSA providing you adibe by what you put on the claimant commitment and consider courses. After a certain amount of time if youve still not found a Job you will have to usually accept a Community Work Program to avoid any sanctions.

SkyeKnight

nannytone wrote: »

contributions based JSA ignores any other household income, so you can get it if you have a pension or a working partner or even if you're a millionaire .... you are entitled to it because you have paid for it.
to get income related, you can have savings of less than 5k and any household income over £73 a week would cancel it out completely.

There are however many advantages to the income based JSA as well. For example, IB JSA is not taxed or counted as taxable income. If you are in the position where you end up paying tax and losing Child Tax Credits you lose 61% of the CB JSA (so it's only worth £28 a week). That can easily happen if you manage to earn over the tax threshold in the rest of the tax year.

You also automatically get full tax credits and are automatically able to claim SMI, and free school meals (plus other random stuff like free bus travel for the whole family and discounted entry to leisure centres around here).

ohreally

pennypincher3562 wrote: »

Do I actually have to specifically ask for SMI, and council tax relief, or will I be enrolled by default (as they know every detail of my background.

The onus is on the individual to apply for benefits.


Get a benefit assessment carried out by CAB, local authority welfare team or organisation like shelter etc.

http://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou

PasturesNew

The trouble with the system is: you're supposed to know the system. So you have to know about things that you have no idea exist.....

As a single person, the rule of thumb to start from is:

- been working solidly for years, lost job, you get contributions-based JSA for 6 months
- after 6 months you might get income-based JSA, which means that if you've got no money coming in then you'll get this (not got a wife/pension etc providing a household income)
- renting, you apply for LHA, which is a fixed amount and not related to the rent you pay (it's how much they will pay in your area for the space they say you need).
- own a house, after 13 weeks you might be able to get X% interest paid on your mortgage. There are rules/limits, e.g. limit is £200k mortgage; rules include your mortgage history/reason for mortgage
- council tax is applied for directly from the Council.

It's a right faff isn't it. You'd have thought one form'd cover the lot, or that there'd be somebody somewhere that told you this on day one and gave you a simple list.

pennypincher3562

Very useful thanks, and yes I was naive enough to think my first interview at the job centre would have covered all of the above.

Cheers
PennyPincher3562

SkyeKnight

blondebubbles wrote: »

JSA is taxable regardless of whether it's income or contributions based.

Perhaps you are thinking of ESA?

Oops! Thank-you. I think it was more I thought it was non-taxable as it doesn't seem to count towards Child Tax Credits...

SkyeKnight

Topcat1982 wrote: »

Nothing is automatic. Apply for everything separately. When it gets to Feb apply for income based JSA, you won't automatically roll onto it.

You don't say if you have a partner or kids living with you?

What if you already qualify for Income Based JSA at the full rate - can you just claim that in the first place?

If not, but you would qualify for it, do you get SMI after 13 weeks? What about free school meals - they appear to only be available if you get IB JSA?

(Sorry if this is a bit of a side-track, but I need to know this and I thought it might also be useful to the OP).

Nada666

PasturesNew wrote: »

- renting, you apply for LHA, which is a fixed amount and not related to the rent you pay (it's how much they will pay in your area for the space they say you need).

It is more a capped amount - it is related and limited to the rent you pay if that is less than the appropriate LHA.