JSA and Critical Illness Payments

HayleyRL

Hello everyone!
I have been claiming JSA since May 2017 and have been actively seeking employment.  I have been volunteering in the meantime to keep my skills updated / relevant.  I have Primary Progressive MS, unable to walk and use a wheelchair.  I also get PIP.
I was really poorly with an MS Flare Up between October 2019 - February 2020 and as a result, I received Critical Illness Payments from three policies that I took out at the start of my mortgage in August 1996 (I was due to finish paying my mortgage in 2021). 
With the money I received, I paid off the remainder of my mortgage and settled an outstanding credit card balance.  I put the remainder of the money (£25,000) into an ISA and started a Savings Account.  My plan was to use this money for long-term care/residential care/hospice/funeral arrangements.  I know that my health will deteriorate even more over the next few months / years, so I would like to get everything in place while I can and ensure that I have the appropriate care when I need it.  It is a very scary situation .  Am I still able to claim JSA?
All advice welcome please!  I've never been in this situation before and I don't know what to do.   I have tried calling Citizen's Advice DWP - JSA lots of times but I cannot seem to get through.  Thank you for your help! xx 

calcotti

Contribution based JSA is only paid for 6 months. You must therefore be receiving income based JSA. As soon as you had capital over £16,000 you were no longer eligible for income based JSA and any payments you have received are overpayments.

poppy12345

HayleyRL said:

Hello everyone!
I have been claiming JSA since May 2017

With the money I received, I paid off the remainder of my mortgage and settled an outstanding credit card balance.  I put the remainder of the money (£25,000) into an ISA and started a Savings Account.

When you received that money you should have reported it to DWP and your local council if you receive council tax reduction. Paying off debt and your mortgage if they're not immediately payable because you're receiving letters it classed as deprivation of capital and you'll still be classed as having that money.

Best thing to do is ring DWP to report that money because they will eventually find out.

Old_Lifer

All ISA providers make  an  annual return  after the end of each tax year,  so data matching  would presumably identify all those on means-tested benefits who have ISAs,   though I imagine it would take a year or more to go through the system.

Nannytone

Are you sure you are claiming JSA and not ESA?
As has been said jsi is only payable for 6-months before it becomes income-related.
Given the dates of your claim I'm I would have thought that after the 6-months you would have been transferred to Universal Credit.
That and the fact that you have MS makes me think you may be claiming ESA.

If that is the case and you were in the support group then any capital would not affect your claim

poppy12345

Nannytone said:

If that is the case and you were in the support group then any capital would not affect your claim

That's not exactly correct. If the OP is claiming ESA and in the Support Group if it's Income Related or even part Income related then yes the savings of more than £16,000 will affect their benefits and they would stop.

If it's all Contributions based or part Contributions based then it's not affected.

calcotti

Nannytone said: As has been said jsi is only payable for 6-months before it becomes income-related.

Given the dates of your claim I'm I would have thought that after the 6-months you would have been transferred to Universal Credit.

That’s misleading. Contribution based JSA is limited to 6 months. Income based JSA has no time limit. Based on their post OP appears to be on income based JSA but hasn’t reported coming into capital and consequently will have been overpaid.

I do agree that given health conditions ESA may have been appropriate, and if in Support Group and entitled to contribution based ESA would not have been affected by capital.

Nannytone

I am aware that I'm a little girl you thinking out loud rather than bass in my comment on what the information that the Op provided unless I come back with more specific information then all anybody can do is guess.

calcotti

Nannytone said:

I am aware that I'm a little girl you thinking out loud rather than bass in my comment on what the information that the Op provided unless I come back with more specific information then all anybody can do is guess.

I’m not clear what you are saying.

poppy12345

Nannytone said:

I am aware that I'm a little girl you thinking out loud rather than bass in my comment on what the information that the Op provided unless I come back with more specific information then all anybody can do is guess.

Sorry but i'm not understanding that. What you stated in your previous comment wasn't quite correct, which was why i corrected it.

Nannytone

You need to excuse some of the wording of my posts because I am blind and you speech to text and it doesn't always understand my accent.
My thinking was that after this amount of time the claim would no longer be JSA and would possibly have transferred over to Universal Credit, unless of course the severe disability premium is in payment, delete that unless the IP gives us this additional information it is just a guess.
Because I said they are still on JSA it led me to believe that it is quite possibly an ESA claim instead, with the possibility of it being contributions-based with the support group element given the severe health condition.

As I said more a case of thinking out loud