JSA advice non payment for 2 months

bettz

Hi I'll try and make it as short as possible.

I took redundancy in June.

Whilst i was looking for work i tried to sign up for Jobseekers only to be told i needed to sign up to universal credit,having never claimed anything before i was unsure and rang again to make sure it was correct,after booking an appointment in a center me & my partner had to take are details in and were issued a card each,we were then told to keep checking the journal daily etc...

July comes around and no payment so i ring customer services up and they looked into it and told me i wouldn't be getting any payment this month as i got part of my redundancy pay,so i left it at that and thought nothing of it.

Until August when i kept checking the journal and noticed my payment had gone to 0 again!! I rang them straight away only to be told your partners earnings are over the allocated amount so you won't receive anything:mad:and that my claim should have been closed in July.

I've since rang and complained which hasn't really got me anywhere,when i mentioned id like the money backdated they just laughed and said it'd be very unlikely which had my fuming as we've done everything they've told us to do.

I've since got another appointment and have been signed up to JSA hopefully!! only trouble is i'm starting a new job next week,the lady said she'd sign me on and then off again?

I filled in a complaint form online about what had happened and that i wanted the JSA backdated to June My first appointment.

Today i received a letter saying that they've looked into my claim and that i had not satisfied labour market conditions for JSA from June - Aug & that i hadn't shown good cause for the delay in making my claim and they are not backdating the pay!! :mad:

It also says there not paying JSA from the 15th Aug because i'm working 16 hours or more???? (I don't start until Aug 28th)

I'd like to complain further could anyone offer any advice on what i could say or if its worth it? I'm fuming, really not happy

Labsuper

Who was made redundant you or your mrs/partner?

bettz

Mrs,sorry i re read the post and i seem to be putting it from my view I've changed it now

pmlindyloo

Am a bit confused by all this as you keep changing from I to she.

Will have a try so please correct me if I'm wrong!

Situation.

Someone is made redundant and tries to claim JSA. Told to claim UC and as there is a partner needs to make a joint claim. No UC received because of redundancy money/partner is working full time and earns too much?

Then makes a new claim for JSA and asks for back pay but refused because no good reason for late claim and did not meet labour conditions.

Is that it?

Based on the above scenario it seems that the person who was made redundant should have made a claim for new style JSA (the old contribution based JSA - eligible because of NI contributions). New style JSA is paid regardless of partner's earnings and joint savings.

However, they were wrongly directed to claim Universal Credit.

If this is the case then the decision letter should tell you how to do an appeal.

In the appeal letter you should write the following:
*date you tried to apply for JSA and, if possible, when and by whom you were told to apply for UC and not JSA
*date you applied for Universal Credit
* date you were directed correctly (and by whom) to apply for new style JSA

It would also help if the claimant can give evidence that during the UC claim period they were job seeking - is this documented in the UC journal? This is what they mean about satisfying the labour market conditions.

Your appeal is really based on the fact that someone (Job Centre Plus employee?) gave you incorrect information and you applied for Universal Credit instead of new style JSA.

You might want to go to CAB for some help with this appeal.

bettz

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Am a bit confused by all this as you keep changing from I to she.

Will have a try so please correct me if I'm wrong!

Situation.

Someone is made redundant and tries to claim JSA. Told to claim UC and as there is a partner needs to make a joint claim. No UC received because of redundancy money/partner is working full time and earns too much?

Then makes a new claim for JSA and asks for back pay but refused because no good reason for late claim and did not meet labour conditions.

Is that it?

Based on the above scenario it seems that the person who was made redundant should have made a claim for new style JSA (the old contribution based JSA - eligible because of NI contributions). New style JSA is paid regardless of partner's earnings and joint savings.

However, they were wrongly directed to claim Universal Credit.

If this is the case then the decision letter should tell you how to do an appeal.

In the appeal letter you should write the following:
*date you tried to apply for JSA and, if possible, when and by whom you were told to apply for UC and not JSA
*date you applied for Universal Credit
* date you were directed correctly (and by whom) to apply for new style JSA

It would also help if the claimant can give evidence that during the UC claim period they were job seeking - is this documented in the UC journal? This is what they mean about satisfying the labour market conditions.

Your appeal is really based on the fact that someone (Job Centre Plus employee?) gave you incorrect information and you applied for Universal Credit instead of new style JSA.

You might want to go to CAB for some help with this appeal.

Sorry i've changed it now i was writing it as my partner was next to me.

Yes i was advised to sign up for UC over the phone by 2 different people & then i queried it at the interview again and was told we needed to do a joint claim even though my partner kept saying he wasn't the one claiming.

In the original complaint i put that we were ill advised etc and that we were told to keep checking the journal making sure we'd both done everything (which we did) but we didn't hear from anyone.

I had the interview for my new job in the middle of July but there was a 6 week wait & informed the job centre on our last visit that i was starting on the 28th.

[Deleted User]

Did you record daily job search in the journal?

bettz

MarkN88 wrote: »

Did you record daily job search in the journal?

I wasn't told to do that,just to keep an eye on my journal and make sure i followed everything which is what i did.

They can see all the details on my journal and that i followed everything and that i had no contact with them apart from when i got in touch with them

[Deleted User]

Even if you were giving the wrong information. To receive JSA/UC you need to be actively seeking employment and evidencing this.

The fact you haven’t been evidencing this is why they are saying you are not satisfying the labour market conditions.

Regardless if you want to claim the right benefit or ask for a back dated amount for the period you were supposed to be claiming something, you still didn’t record so I’m not surprised they won’t back date.

bettz

MarkN88 wrote: »

Even if you were giving the wrong information. To receive JSA/UC you need to be actively seeking employment and evidencing this.

The fact you haven’t been evidencing this is why they are saying you are not satisfying the labour market conditions.

Regardless if you want to claim the right benefit or ask for a back dated amount for the period you were supposed to be claiming something, you still didn’t record so I’m not surprised they won’t back date.

The fact i wasn't told anything and this is the first time i've ever claimed for anything i was unsure.

No point did they mentioned looking for jobs etc but why would they if they signed me up to UC ? not that i would have known.I was actively looking for jobs and had an interview and got the job but had a 6 week wait to start.At no point was i told i must document this etc all i was told was just follow your journal etc we accept everything sanctions etc.

To be honest i don't see how they can't backdate it! it was there fault and its all documented on my journal that i followed everything i was told.

Thinking about it I did list when I had the interview and listed all the jobs I applied for but I can't see it as it was listed under other commitments and I can't access it now they've closed my claim

pmlindyloo

I have found this form about backdating JSA. I do not know if this is still in use so would not suggest that you use it.

However, it may be useful as regards the information you need to give about actively seeking jobs during the time you were on UC.

Hopefully you can use it to add to your appeal for backdating as previously mentioned.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/184115/response/454532/attach/7/JSA5%200413.pdf

[Deleted User]

Even on UC you have to look for work if you are claiming for the reason you are unemployed.

Anyway, I agree with the fact the incorrect information was not your fault, however proving this might be harder.

Good luck though and do try challenging this.