Is it really cheeky to claim contribution JSA when you're already well off?

clickerty-click

I started signing on recently after being made redundant, I spoke to someone on the phone (a feat in its self) as was unsure if I would be able to make a claim immediately as I was given a paid notice period as part of the package. within that conversation I was asked if I wanted to just claim NICS, I'm not sure what that involves in terms of signing on etc but might be something else to consider.

In terms of being any help in getting a job my experience so far is that they don't offer much by the way of assistance in actual helping get you back to work and only concentrate on if you are using universal job match. I was told on Friday that I should be spending 35 hours a week looking for work as that is what I am being paid to do and supply very detailed support to show this. At the end of the day if the right job isn't there you can't apply for it !!

zagfles

SkyeKnight wrote: »

There are loads of unskilled jobs around here that the JobCentre expects you to go and get - even though it doesn't make sense financially getting a job paying minimum wage when with a couple of months effort you can get three times that amount. Then you pay tax on it (20% or 40%) and possibly lose Tax Credits (another 41%) and we ended up with around £25 a week. It made more sense to us to transfer Child Benefit for a child under 12 to the unemployed person to keep NI contributions and just not waste the time claiming. The only annoyance is that doesn't count on the government's unemployment statistics (as I'm sure they intend) when really it should.

It would be unusual to pay 40% tax and lose tax credits. Possible, but rare. For a lot of people temporarily out of work, the loss in income would come within the income fall disregard so there wouldn't even be any tax credit loss.

But you won't know any of these things, loss in tax credits, tax over the year, until you get a new job. It'll depend on how long you're out of work and how much the new job pays.

SkyeKnight

zagfles wrote: »

It would be unusual to pay 40% tax and lose tax credits. Possible, but rare. For a lot of people temporarily out of work, the loss in income would come within the income fall disregard so there wouldn't even be any tax credit loss.

But you won't know any of these things, loss in tax credits, tax over the year, until you get a new job. It'll depend on how long you're out of work and how much the new job pays.

I didn't mean you would lose 40% tax and Tax Credits, but some combination of those. We lost 20% tax and Tax Credits. Even if you don't lose it that year because it's in the disregard, you lose it the next because they base your award on last years income (or both in our case as things turned out so good thing we didn't claim).

Since we had enough savings to live on we made the decision that £25 a week wasn't worth the hassle - especially when you are going to be sanctioned almost straight away.

I remember reading some statistic comparing Germany (where you are allowed quite a long time to find a job suitable to your qualifications) and England (where you have to take anything). The Germans took significantly longer to find a job, however, the pay was a much higher proportion of their previous pay and they kept the job for much longer - resulting in a big financial gain for both them and the government. Stupid false economy by our government as is often the case.

vic_sf49

Even though you can claim and 'be in receipt of' JSA, if you have 'enough' savings, you might not actually get paid any cash; you'd just get NI contributions.

Turn2us or Entitled2 (check the .gov website for the links as I'm not sure if I got those websites right) will give you the low down on whether you have 'enough' savings etc.

I hope that makes sense!

FBaby

Those on higher salaries are however much more likely to get bigger redundancy money to tie them up until they find another job for their skills, which you would expect to take less time as it is almost always easier to get a job when you've already had a well paid job before.

Do they get redundancy in Germany? I know they don't in France.

Mersey_2

vic_sf49 wrote: »

Even though you can claim and 'be in receipt of' JSA, if you have 'enough' savings, you might not actually get paid any cash; you'd just get NI contributions.

Turn2us or Entitled2 (check the .gov website for the links as I'm not sure if I got those websites right) will give you the low down on whether you have 'enough' savings etc.

I hope that makes sense!

That's untrue.


He's entitled to contribution-based JSA.


The savings/capital threshold only applies to means tested benefits including income-based JSA.

elsien

It may also depend if you have any insurances you need to claim on.
It was a condition of my mortgage protection cover that I had to sign on to jobseekers when I lost my job. I did give myself a months holiday first though, I felt I deserved a break before becoming another statistic and being harassed to apply for jobs I was never going to get.

Nick_C

AFAIK, the only thing that stops you getting contribution based JSA is if you are receiving a private/employers pension. I was made redundant at 55, but with a pension, so couldn't claim anything. All I really want is the NICs, but I will probably pay these myself from next year to increase my new state pension.

vic_sf49

Mersey wrote: »

That's untrue.


He's entitled to contribution-based JSA.


The savings/capital threshold only applies to means tested benefits including income-based JSA.

Ahh, that's not made clear on the calculators...thanks for the info.

vic_sf49

Nick_C wrote: »

AFAIK, the only thing that stops you getting contribution based JSA is if you are receiving a private/employers pension. I was made redundant at 55, but with a pension, so couldn't claim anything. All I really want is the NICs, but I will probably pay these myself from next year to increase my new state pension.

Thanks for that info too. I thought it was mostly savings that took you out of the running, but it looks like I misunderstood, and it's a pension that's the main reason.

Cheers.