JSA Granted but has more than halved

Darenth87

Got a letter from the DWP today confirming that I have been granted income based JSA and that this will be fully backdated to Nov 2018 but at a rate of £35.10 a week. they have deducted £38 from me for every week and this is the amount I will get in future.

the letter on page 1 states this is due to my Class 1 NI contributions have run out. They used the 2016/2017 year as the basis for this.
I was in full time employment from Jan 2015 onwards until redundancy March 2018 so over 3 years straight having probably paid about £15000 in tax and NI and now I get this.

Are they trying their luck? I am expecting a callback from the DWP to "explain" their decision however I really thought I was going to receive the full £73 a week JSA.

I told them my savings are down from £15k to less than £2k yet a lady I spoke to this morning said their records show it still at £15k.
Are they being deliberately obtuse or are they just incompetent?

I need to check on my NI contributions to ensure that there are no gaps. There shouldnt be and I fail to see how it could "run out".

any pointers from people here ? have you been in a similar position and had the decision amended? I just feel like I am banging myhead against a brick wall once the query goes back into the deepest darkest bowels of the DWP ether! No doubt itll take weeks to sort this out again......

KatrinaWaves

Contributions is for 6 months, regardless of how much youve paid in NI. So that has ran out.

Your JSA is being reduced because they think you have 15k. You need to provide evidence that you don;t have 15k anymore. They may ask for proof of where it has been spent if they think that you have spent £13k 'too quickly', they may not.

Once they are happy you have under 6k then you should get full JSA as long as you have no other income.

Caz3121

Darenth87 wrote: »

I told them my savings are down from £15k to less than £2k yet a lady I spoke to this morning said their records show it still at £15k.
Are they being deliberately obtuse or are they just incompetent?

I need to check on my NI contributions to ensure that there are no gaps. There shouldnt be and I fail to see how it could "run out".

get your statements prepared for the decision maker. They will accept usual spending...eg I assume you have paid 10 months mortgage, council tax etc from this so they will deduct that from the £15k. depending on mortgage size etc it may be completely acceptable that £1.3k a month has reduced savings
NI covers contribution related benefits for 6 months only after which time it is income based if qualify

Darenth87

picked up a booklet today entitled "The Redundancy Handbook" dated April 2016 (I hope most of the info is still valid) anyway it states that income based JSA is not based on past NI contributions which flies in the face of what this letter from the DWP seems to suggest it has been based on. Quite why they muddied the waters in the letter by saying my Class 1 Conts have run out is beyond me as that only played a part when I was on Contribution based JSA - I am now on Income Based so what gives?

Spending 13k in 10 months paying for/running a car and a home and all the other bills I dont see them questioning that. Besides they had a shedload of my bank statements off me already so I am fine with the sums.

they rang me 20 mins before I was due to visit the job centre. the decision maker has my savings still noted at 15k when the JC+ had uploaded statements to say I was down to £2k. with no other income if they think my savings have been somehow "frozen in time" for 10 months I am surprised they have'nt asked me how I have been surviving and paying my bills and the mortgage for all this time and from what other monies......not very joined up thinking or logic being applied IMHO. Of course that money is going to dry up in time. I havent yet bought myself a money tree LOL.

hopefully sense will eventually prevail but the pain is you just cant tell them on the phone and they wont simply press a button (in this modern IT world of ours) to correct anything.....youve got to ride the weeks or months DWP merry go round again to wait for a decision. The frustration is killer and wearing.

How others cope I dont know and for £35 a week I really have to question why I even put myself through it going to the JC every 2 weeks cap in hand. nobody can live off £140 a month.

KatrinaWaves

Darenth87 wrote: »

picked up a booklet today entitled "The Redundancy Handbook" dated April 2016 (I hope most of the info is still valid) anyway it states that income based JSA is not based on past NI contributions which flies in the face of what this letter from the DWP seems to suggest it has been based on. no it doesn't. You WERE on contribution based, that has ran out, you are now being assessed for income based Quite why they muddied the waters in the letter by saying my Class 1 Conts have run out is beyond me as that only played a part when I was on Contribution based JSA - I am now on Income Based so what gives? Your entitlement which was based on your contributions has ran out. It is not a piggy bank.

Spending 13k in 10 months paying for/running a car and a home and all the other bills I dont see them questioning that. Besides they had a shedload of my bank statements off me already so I am fine with the sums. good

they rang me 20 mins before I was due to visit the job centre. the decision maker has my savings still noted at 15k when the JC+ had uploaded statements to say I was down to £2k. with no other income if they think my savings have been somehow "frozen in time" for 10 months I am surprised they have'nt asked me how I have been surviving and paying my bills and the mortgage for all this time and from what other monies......not very joined up thinking or logic being applied IMHO. Of course that money is going to dry up in time. I havent yet bought myself a money tree LOL. When did you provide the statements saying you only had 2k?

hopefully sense will eventually prevail but the pain is you just cant tell them on the phone and they wont simply press a button (in this modern IT world of ours) to correct anything.....youve got to ride the weeks or months DWP merry go round again to wait for a decision. The frustration is killer and wearing. its because, unfortunately, people lie, so hoops have to be jumped through to make sure everything is correct.

How others cope I dont know and for £35 a week I really have to question why I even put myself through it going to the JC every 2 weeks cap in hand. nobody can live off £140 a month. People don't live off £140, as there are many other benefits people can claim, help with rent, help with council tax etc If you can afford not to need to go to the jobcentre 'cap in hand' then close your claim.

There is nothing contradictory.

JSA Conts is valid for 6 months. You have been unemployed longer than 6 months. Now its time for income based.[STRIKE] I assume you have more than 3 children so you have not been asked to claim UC.[/STRIKE]edited as this change apparently happened 2 months ago looking at previous posts.