Bad JSA / employment situation - help?

Manchee

I have a friend (lol - I know its the age old thing, but its actually not me, he asked me as he knows I've been on JSA a couple of times before - I am currently employed, which I am eternally grateful for!) who has only just started claiming JSA (contribution based). He has been applying for every single job he is able to - quite literally, even stuff I wouldn't want to do myself! Anyway, he had an interview the other day and has been asked to come in for a trial day on Monday - great stuff!! Anyway the problem is he has just found out it is commision based only, no base pay. He is quite introverted and really not a sales guy. He's now really concerned that he will be forking out bus fare there and back each day and not earning any money for it. He has worked in a sales enviroment a while back and was let go from the job as he wasn't able to make any sales, so we are both pretty sure this would be the case again - some people just aren't cut out for that kind of work I guess.

What he wanted to know (the question that I couldn't answer) is if he turns this down, will be be sanction and have his JSA stopped? Basically the situation would end up being if he took the job that he would declare he had work, have to pay 12 quid each day to get there and back, only to come out at the end of the month with no pay. His situation is very tight financially, he cannot afford for this to happen or to have any break of money coming in. He would def be offered the job because as its no basic pay they get anyone and everyone working as the company have nothing to lose.

What advice can I give him? I can't say to take the job and claim working tax credit as his partner earns just enough so that they don't qualify (not sure who much that is, but he went through the benefits checker) but not enough to properly make ends meet, and with the travel costs it would put them in a situation where they would be running up a deficit each week. I told him to call the benefits helpline but apparently they just said to speak to his adviser. He is due to sign on next on Friday but needs to know what to do before Monday as the 60 quid that will be going on bus fare for the week he cannot afford but then he can't afford to lose the JSA coming in either. I have helped him with a budget sheet and they have cut down all expences they can.

Has anyone been in this situation before or known anyone who has? What happened in their case?

HappyMJ

No he will not be sanctioned for refusing to do a commission based job with no guarantee of being paid minimum wages.

Any job offered must pay minimum wages or it can be refused.

He can also refuse work if the cost of getting to/from the work location exceeds the wages that would be earned. You said it would cost £12 per day to get to/from the site. If the hours in the shift were just 2 hours then the job can easily be refused and no sanction applies. You've got to make money not lose it.