JSA dependent going for operation

Bethelbunch

My husband has been on income-based JSA since last October. I'm a stay-at-home mum, home educating a 9-year-old with autism, and I get Carer's Allowance for her as she gets middle rate DLA.

I'm off into hospital next week for an operation for which I'll probably have to stay in 4-6 days. Afterwards, I've been told the recovery time is 6-8 weeks til I'm not too bad, and 12 weeks til I'm back to "normal". That's apparently how long I'd get a sick note for if I was in work.

My question is, can my husband be signed off by the doctor to look after me and our daughter? The job centre adviser said not, as I'm being paid to look after our daughter, but I feel that's exactly the point - if this was an actual paid job I'd get 12 weeks off while someone else got paid to do the work. I'm not asking for any more money, but just that my husband be freed up from his jobhunting requirements so that he can take on our care. I'm sure that's been suggested to me when he was unemployed and I had surgery in the past, but now I can't find any advice about it.

Cheeky_Monkey

I think you'll find that your husband has to actually be 'ill' to be signed off by the doctor and he obviously isn't.

Presumably, you and your daughter will not require 24/7 care so he should be able to still fit in his job seeking requirements as well.

pmlindyloo

I have found this:

http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/labour-market-conditions-and-jobseeker%E2%80%99s-allowance

which covers your question about flexibility for job seeking.

The reference seems to come from CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax credits - a book which most CABs have.

Since the link is dated and the CPAG book will have been updated since then I suggest you telephone CAB and ask them to look it up in CPAG (Unless any members here have a copy!)

At least then you would have a reference for your OH's job coach if needed.

The part you need is:

Treated as available for and actively seeking work

In many circumstances, claimants can be treated as available and/or actively seeking work (ie, not actually having to be available or taking any steps, but be treated as if they did), and so qualify for JSA.9 In most situations where a person is treated as available, s/he will also be treated as actively seeking work if the circumstances which allow her/him to be treated as available continue for at least three days in a particular week.10

Claimants with caring responsibilities can be treated as available in a variety of circumstances, including when they are:

looking after a child for whom they have caring responsibilities during the child’s school holidays and it would be unreasonable for them to make other arrangements for the care of that child. This deals in particular with gaps in provision of childcare which may make it impossible for the adult to seek work;
temporarily looking after a child full time because the person who normally looks after the child is ill, temporarily away from home, or themselves looking after a member of his/her family who is ill. This applies for a maximum of eight weeks;

Diary

Although you may have left it a bit late if your op is next week you could swap the carers allowance to your husband, he would then sign off JSA and claim income support in his name as a couple as he is a carer. Although he will no longer be required to visit the job centre other than initailly once he can still look for a job.

I'm not sure if this would go against you if you're in a universal credit area since he claimed jsa initially. Your CAB would be able to tell you if you are.

Be very cautious about changing to universal credit.

Bethelbunch

Thanks. Yes, I'm extremely wary of UC, but I'm not sure if we're in an area where it's rolled out. I did think of exactly that. The other problem is, we're not actually getting Carer's Allowance at the moment, due to a computer error, so I'm waiting for that to be sorted out and for the back-payment we're owed. I don't want to cause any more mess-ups with that!

Bethelbunch

pmlindyloo, thanks, that's exactly the sort of thing I had in mind.

TELLIT01

In answer to the original question - No your husband can't be signed off by the doctor simply because you are ill. He is not ill and the GP would be providing a fraudulent sick note.

pipkin71

I don't know the answer to this, but, will you still be able to claim carer's allowance while you are not in position to be able to care for your daughter? (I was thinking of the time you would be in hospital). Would the claim have to stop for that period?

Bethelbunch

Ooh, I sincerely hope not, given that they contacted me about 6 weeks ago and said that they had a computer error and never got around to paying me since I was awarded it in November so please could I re-apply, backdating it to then! The care is still happening while I'm in hospital - it'll just be my husband doing it, rather than me, although once I'm home I'm guessing he'll be doing the more physical stuff (e.g. cooking, taking her out to groups), while I do the managing. The actual hospital stay should only be short, but it's more that having to take her out to her regular groups etc. will make it awkward for him to have to job hunt full-time.

I certainly don't want the doctor to sign my husband off as sick when he's not, but it was just that I thought there was some sort of family responsibility / temporary carer allowance.

pipkin71

Bethelbunch wrote: »

Ooh, I sincerely hope not, given that they contacted me about 6 weeks ago and said that they had a computer error and never got around to paying me since I was awarded it in November so please could I re-apply, backdating it to then! The care is still happening while I'm in hospital - it'll just be my husband doing it, rather than me, although once I'm home I'm guessing he'll be doing the more physical stuff (e.g. cooking, taking her out to groups), while I do the managing. The actual hospital stay should only be short, but it's more that having to take her out to her regular groups etc. will make it awkward for him to have to job hunt full-time.

I certainly don't want the doctor to sign my husband off as sick when he's not, but it was just that I thought there was some sort of family responsibility / temporary carer allowance.

I would check, if I was you, Bethelbunch.

There's no question that your daughter will still receive the care she needs but since the Government pay you to care for her for the 35+ hours a week, and you will be unable to do so for a while, they could argue that you were not entitled to receive carer's allowance for that period.

As an aside, I really hope your operation is a success and you are soon back on your feet