Claiming UC every other 6 months?

NedS

Yes, jobcentres know their claimants and soon recognise seasonal workers who claim benefits each year during to the off season, and who are not genuinely actively seeking employment. They have appropriate ways to deal with such claimants.

Conrad3000

I think the DWP will find it difficult to prove the claimant is just 'messing about' as long as the latter can prove they've been actively looking for work.

I mean, how difficult is it to apply for all manner of jobs, regardless of whether you're qualified or not?

If the vacancy says training will be given, then the claimant is within his/her right not to be sanctioned or refused altogether.

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099541#Comment_82099541

Most work coaches have been doing the job long enough to know when people are actively seeking work and when they are not, and they have plenty of tools at their disposal to test just how actively they are seeking employment. You may think you can fool them, but it's not as easy as you think. Don't forget jobseekers need to account for 35h of activity every week, and if they are struggling to fill their time, their work coach will be more than happy to help by mandating them to participate in various activities.

If you are looking for advice on how to game the system, you may be better off holding such discussions on somewhere like Facebook groups or Reddit. MSE Forums will not help you bend the rules to claim benefits you may not be entitled to.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098368#Comment_82098368

I suspect that many of those that earn enough in 6 months so as to choose not to work the other 6 months each year would be ineligible for UC through capital threshold, for at least part of the non working period.

EnPointe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679292/claiming-uc-every-other-6-months

you wouldn;t actually 'sign off' with the current UC regime assuming you were actually claiming UC and not just NSJSA

EnPointe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82097574#Comment_82097574

Tourist area with little or no other work in the off season ?

EnPointe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099639#Comment_82099639

ever wondered by the historic coastal holiday areas are the areas that vote for Reform Uk Ltd ?

the work will be little more than Minimum wage unless you are SIA badged or a Qualified lifeguard - where even then it;s not going ot be massively over NMW

Conrad3000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099624#Comment_82099624

I don't quite understand exactly what the DWP staff can do if someone made a fresh claim after being in either work for 6 months or doing nothing (i.e not claiming).

It'd be regarded as a fresh application from scratch, so why would there be potential for refusal or sanction?

I'm sorry but I don't buy what you're saying.

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82101905#Comment_82101905

I'm saying work coaches will quickly see if there is a pattern of 6 months working and 6 months claiming benefit, for example due to seasonal work, and the first thought will probably be are they actively seeking work during that 6 months, or are they just biding time until the seasonal work starts again. If they've just come out of seasonal work, no reason not to be back in work straight away.

Having lived in an area with high levels of seasonal work, it is something DWP staff are very used to seeing.

DWP cannot refuse a claim for UC, but to be entitled to claim UC you must be available for work and actively seeking work, assuming you are fit for work. DWP can test availability and whether someone is actively seeking employment, and if they are not then they will be sanctioned. Rightly or wrongly, the inclination to test if someone's available and actively seeking employment will probably be higher for seasonal workers because experience teaches us they often end up just working seasonally, as you describe.

You still haven't said why you think you may be working 6 months and then claiming 6 months. Why would you not be working all the time? Why the assumption that you will be unemployed for 6 months every year? That's not how someone who is actively seeking employment thinks - that's how a seasonal worker who's just waiting for next season to start thinks.

elsien

Going completely off-topic now but that 35 hours a week job seeking was never realistic. Even for the people who are genuinely looking for work there are not that many suitable jobs out there.

I know when I was made redundant, after a couple of weeks I had to stretch the truth on my work search diary although I was very keen to get back into a job as soon as possible. I could’ve applied for all the care assistant jobs under the sun, but as a care home manager no one was ever going to give me one.