Unemployment Benefit

zarazara

Hi, I have just returned to work after many years at home looking after children. it is seasonal work lasting 8 months and i will be earning approx £4600. It is a 3 day a week job.
When the work finishes I know I can sign on for JSA to cover my stamp but I cant find out if I will be entitled to any money. Someone has said I need to be a tax payer . Is this correct? and if so is JSA a flat rate eg if I only pay a small amount of tax and NI will I still get the same rate of JSA as others paying more tax?
I have rung JobCenrePlus but they say they cannot tell me.

healy

You will not have paid National Insurance contributions long enough after 8 months to receive contribution based JSA. You may be entitled to Income based JSA depending on your circumstances, but if you have a working partner it will rule this out. If you were entitled to JSA it is paid at the same rates whether you have paid alot of NI or a little as long as you have paid sufficient NI to qualify.

dmg24

Hi zarazara,

There are two types of JSA - income based and contributions based.

Your entitlement to JSA will depend on your household income. If you have a partner who works full time you are unlikely to qualify, as the threshold is very low.

Your entitlement to contributions based JSA depends on your NI (not tax) contributions over the past two years. I doubt that you will qualify you this, but only the Jobcentre can tell you for sure once your employment has ended.

dmg24

Cross posted healy! x

zarazara

Thankyou for the replies. Its a great site this!
my husband earns £18,000 a year. I suppose this will be too much for me to claim even if I
d paid enough NI.
Can anyone give me more info re NI?
sorry to ask so much I'm new to all this.
Thanks in advance.

healy

dmg24 wrote: »

Cross posted healy! x

synchronised posting!

dmg24

If you had paid sufficient NI, your husband's income would not be taken into account.

The NI contributions are that you must have earned (actually or notionally) 50 x the LEL (approx £85) in each of the last two tax years.

That is a very simplified explanation (and only one of two conditions to be fulfilled), if you want full details all the information is the Decision Makers Guide on the DWP website.

healy

zarazara wrote: »

Thankyou for the replies. Its a great site this!
my husband earns £18,000 a year. I suppose this will be too much for me to claim even if I
d paid enough NI.
Can anyone give me more info re NI?
sorry to ask so much I'm new to all this.
Thanks in advance.

If you had paid enough NI you could claim contributions based JSA for up to six months and it would not matter how much you're husband earned.

zarazara

Thankyou. Much appreciated.

zarazara

I've had a look on the DWP site and its a nightmare. too much info which I dont understand and i cant open the spreadsheets anyway.
Can anyone tell me how much NI i need to pay in order to qualify for Job Seekers payments in the future? please?
I think dmg2 has explained it but i dont understand.do i need to work for 50 weeks for 2 years minimum and earn at least £85 per week ?