Help and advice please

dmg24

I don't see why you are scared of claiming benefits again. If you ask someone at the JCP, or at CAB as LittleVoice suggests, they will ensure that you include all the relevant information.

I agree that you will have trouble finding work with children (or any vulnerable group). You need to look at entry level jobs and then work your way up to something better, enabling your employer to gain trust in you along the way.

ceridwen

MissHobit wrote: »

Thanks Ceridwen yes it was capital that I had no other source of income. A solicitor that I spoke with said that 'I should have just blown the lot'. This isn't in my nature though. I do remember when I got a letter from the court dishonesty was mentioned maybe deception? so those two words don't look good when I'm looking for employment.

I pleaded guilty on the advice of my Solicitor as what else could I do they had my bank statements in front of them.

I would have paid back double what I owed them and double the community order instead of a conviction as although it's spent in a couple of years it will always be shown on a CRB therefore unlikely to work with children again and I really don't want to be claiming benefits for the rest of my life.

Unfortunately that solicitor was quite correct - you should have "blown the lot". It is really quite illogical that if someone spends every penny they have then they can get all the benefit they are due for if they become unemployed. But - on the other hand - if they keep that money as savings then they get penalised by dipping out on benefit due. The limit to how much savings one is allowed to have is pretty darn low too - as it has not been uprated appropriately in line with inflation.

I have always abided by the law. To protect myself - with this totally illogical rule being there - I have always made sure I spent my money the second I got it, rather than saving it.

I now feel free to have some savings at last - but I will make sure its not a penny more than £3,000 ever before I get to retirement. I try not to "blow money" myself - as I dont believe in doing that - I work on the basis of using the money I would put into savings if it wasnt for that rule into spending on my house or something else useful.

It is stupid to have to plan ones finances on that basis - but it really doesnt make sense to have anything much at all in the way of savings if there is a risk of unemployment.

Oldernotwiser

But you can't plan your life and finances as if you expect to be on benefits every 5 minutes! Most people never have to ,make a claim, it just seems usual on boards like this. I can't see why you think that this rule is illogical; benefits are there for those that need them, it's not a question of anything being "due". If you have savings then these will tide you over a period of unemployment without your having to claim. I'm sure that most people would prefer to have savings rather than having to rely on benefits.

Scousebird_2

Oh dear-you have made a mistake in what can only be interpreted as a confusing system but you have paid for your mistakes. You can only be honest with a perspective employer and explain that you weren't aware that you were committing an offence (i'm assuming you didn't know) and that you were just trying to do what you thought was right. You made a mistake and it's obvious you are very sorry. I really hope things turn out okay for you and you get a decent job!

seven-day-weekend

Ask an advisor at the CAB to help you with your claim for JSA so that you know the form is filled in correctly and then check with the jobcentre if you can do some voluntary work to get yourself some recent work experience and references while you look for work.

Good luck!

ceridwen

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But you can't plan your life and finances as if you expect to be on benefits every 5 minutes! Most people never have to ,make a claim, it just seems usual on boards like this. I can't see why you think that this rule is illogical; benefits are there for those that need them, it's not a question of anything being "due". If you have savings then these will tide you over a period of unemployment without your having to claim. I'm sure that most people would prefer to have savings rather than having to rely on benefits.

I guess that depends on what has happened in the life of the person concerned. In my own life I have been made unemployed several times and am now at the stage where a job would be very difficult for me to replace if my current one went - so I've gone from believing unemployment didnt happen "to people like me" (got that one wrong!) to knowing it could do so and last for quite some time.

Again - in my own case - unemployment money when I was unemployed is all I have ever claimed in benefits. I have always had a full-time job (apart from the unemployment) and never claimed any help whatsoever with any disability benefits of any description (which - obviously - I feel those concerned are perfectly entitled to if they qualify) or any money for children (as I've not had any) and have never had Married Persons Tax Allowance. Come retirement age - I have provided for my own pension, so will only get Basic State Pension from the State.

On balance therefore I would think I will have claimed a lot less than most people over the course of my lifetime and the taxes I have put in should well cover me for what little I have had and my share of the "communal" expenses like NHS, etc. Hence I have spent all the money I had as soon as it came in - but it has been as usefully as I could manage ("spend to save" type stuff - you dont want to know how much I have had to spend on my old dump of a house :eek: ). I would have liked the security of a bit of savings by me - but, with all the scrimping and working extra hours I have had to do, I didnt want to find that any of it had been for nothing because the State just took the money (by making me pay my own benefit if I got to be unemployed). I have never chosen to be unemployed - the unemployment happened because I got made redundant and then had to wait for another suitable job to come up before I could get back into work again.

I was brought up to be a responsible person and pay my own way in life - and that is what I am. I emphasise again that I have abided by the law - even though I know its illogical. I think the above should make it plain that I am not part of the "claimant subculture" (ie those who make a career of it). It was one heck of shock to the system to find myself having to claim benefit and I was very upset and angry at having been put in that position of having to do so.

Those people who have remained in the position of thinking "unemployment doesnt happen to people like me" are very fortunate - as it has happened to quite a few other "people like me" that I have noticed and we dont live in a poor area. When one has been unemployed then the feeling of financial vulnerability never ever leaves you again in my experience - after that you always plan your finances on the basis that it could happen again. To say that I will heave one huge sigh of relief at retirement at the certain knowledge that it couldnt happen to me ever again will be understatement of the century.

Back to O.P. - I am still shocked to find that one can get a criminal record just because one has saved some of ones money, rather than spent it - and then found oneself unemployed. To get lumped in with criminals - just because of one illogical little rule. No wonder the British have so little in the way of savings according to surveys undertaken - its because we arent allowed to in effect.

Edit: Just noticed bit in O.P.s post about "unable to get insurance" - crikey! I am shocked at that as well - so just having saved rather than spent ones money can result in not being able to claim if there is a fire or burglary in ones house?!!!! Crikey!

Oldernotwiser

I do wonder why you think that benefit fraud is such an unimportant thing; a "naughtiness" if you like. It's stealing, pure and simple.You have to lie on official forms to commit benefit fraud and take money that isn't yours by right. I think it's quite a big deal and although I can see that you wouldn't do this yourself, I'm really surprised that you #make so light of it.

MissHobit

Oldernotwiser you don't know the full facts of what happened, I'm glad that not everyone thinks the same as you on this forum, have had a lot of positive feed back. As I said earlier I have suffered deeply and everyday I am made to pay for my actions. I will end up on benefits for the rest of my life if I can't get a job claiming £1000's in tax payers hard earned money now that doesn't seem fair does it? Especially not for hard working people.

I have been made to pay back the money which I know is only right, given a community order again I accept this. The criminal conviction is the thing that bothers me as yes I do deserve a punishment but if I was a lazy person then fine but I'm not I want to work but unable to therefore I may well end up having to claim 10 times what I did in the first place, not working claiming benefits for the rest of my life to some that would be luxury but for others not. Well that's my punishment you may think not been able to work? Why should tax payers then also pay for my punishment?

LittleVoice

MissHobit wrote: »

Oldernotwiser you don't know the full facts of what happened, I'm glad that not everyone thinks the same as you on this forum, have had a lot of positive feed back.

Hi, MH

I don't think Onw has been negative about your attitude now but was more concerned at the "lightness" with which your offence was being viewed by some others. You yourself, it seems to me, have acknowledged that you did wrong and are not treating it lightly.

I think we all want you to be able to put this behind you and be able to move on in your career.

Best wishes

LV

Oldernotwiser

Absolutely, LV, it was other people's irresponsible comments that I was referring to.

MissHobbit,other people have criminal convictions for far more major crimes than yours and manage to find work. I asked you before how you've spent your time over the last 5 years. Have you been improving your qualifications, doing voluntary work or making any efforts to counteract the negative effects of your conviction? If you've done nothing constructive in all those years then this is likely to be why you're having difficulties in finding work, not your conviction. If your qualifications are in childcare then you may well need to plan for another career, at least for the immediate future. However, there are many jobs where your record won't matter that much and these are the areas you should be exploring. You also need to find ways to present your situation in a constructive manner and I didn't feel that minimising it and not considering it as a "real" crime (as has been suggested by other posters) would help you in any way.

I've meant my comments to be constuctive and positive; please don't fall into the trap of self pity.