JSA until new job in October

cashpoortimerich

My funding as a postgrad student has just finished as has my student registration, i.e I am now no longer in education or employment. I have a job lined up to start in October and was just going to get by on savings and a bit of tutoring until then. Any ideas if I can claim JSA until October and at what point I should declare I have a job lined up?

Benefits_Blagger

cashpoortimerich wrote: »

My funding as a postgrad student has just finished as has my student registration, i.e I am now no longer in education or employment. I have a job lined up to start in October and was just going to get by on savings and a bit of tutoring until then. Any ideas if I can claim JSA until October and at what point I should declare I have a job lined up?

yes you can, absolutley. but remember you have to declare you are seeking work until the new job starts.

wether you declare about the job or not, i dont think makes a differnce.

years ago i use to be work as supply teacher and would claim benefits during the school holidays, even if it was for a week or two. the staff in the benefit office use to tut-tut at me saying i wasnt entitled for various reasons, eg. that my job was well paid, i was going back to it, blah blah all kinds of crap they came out with.

i told them that during holdays i was not paid holiday money and someone had to pay and that if i fulfill the jobseekers agreement stating i would look for work they were duty bound to pay me, they conceded that they did have to. although they were quite rude to me, accusing me of taking advatange of the system.

dmg24

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

yes you can, absolutley. but remember you have to declare you are seeking work until the new job starts.

wether you declare about the job or not, i dont think makes a differnce.

years ago i use to be work as supply teacher and would claim benefits during the school holidays, even if it was for a week or two. the staff in the benefit office use to tut-tut at me saying i wasnt entitled for various reasons, eg. that my job was well paid, i was going back to it, blah blah all kinds of crap they came out with.

i told them that during holdays i was not paid holiday money and someone had to pay and that if i fulfill the jobseekers agreement stating i would look for work they were duty bound to pay me, they conceded that they did have to. although they were quite rude to me, accusing me of taking advatange of the system.

Yes, you can sign on until your new position starts, as long as you are still actively seeking (and available for) work.

The rules for supply teachers have changed now. There is more information on the DWP website.

Benefits_Blagger

dmg24 wrote: »

Yes, you can sign on until your new position starts, as long as you are still actively seeking (and available for) work.

The rules for supply teachers have changed now. There is more information on the DWP website.

Hi dmg, do you have a link for the relevant part of the website ?

dmg24

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

Hi dmg, do you have a link for the relevant part of the website ?

It is in the Decision Makers Guide.

cashpoortimerich

Thanks folks, I'll get signed up as soon as I can, I suppose I could always be seeking a better job than the one I have been offered!

dmg24

cashpoortimerich wrote: »

Thanks folks, I'll get signed up as soon as I can, I suppose I could always be seeking a better job than the one I have been offered!

Remember that you must be willing to take up temporary employment in the meantime x

cashpoortimerich

I did sign on once before in between finishing my first degree and starting my second, but when I told them I was looking for work as a fluid mechanicist or quantitative analyst they pretty much left me to it!

That was a couple of years ago though, would I be expected to take a temporary admin or call centre type job even though it's not the kind of work I plan to do longterm? Have they got more strict about taking ANY reasonable employment?

I do have some wobbles about the ethics/morality of claiming benefits when I could easily find some sort of work, but I am justifying it to myself by saying that I will be paying back more in NI and tax than I will ever claim in benefits. Still, it doesn't quite sit right with me...

sammyjammy

Its up to you if you claim or not obviously but you're perfectly entitled to, its all about reasonableness, is it reasonably possible for you to find temporary employment in your chosen field? If it is then they would probably give you a permitted period to look for only that work, this can be for up to 13 weeks but might be less, after that time you'll have to look for anything you are reasonably capable of doing, if you are genuinely willing to take a temporary job then go for it, although giving the pressure on the staff and the "target" based atmosphere you might soon consider it wasn't worth the hassle!

Sam

krisskross

cashpoortimerich wrote: »

It?

I do have some wobbles about the ethics/morality of claiming benefits when I could easily find some sort of work, but I am justifying it to myself by saying that I will be paying back more in NI and tax than I will ever claim in benefits. Still, it doesn't quite sit right with me...

If you can easily find work then I think you should, you will feel better about yourself. TBH I have been in a DWP place once when someone asked me to go with them. Wild horses couldn't drag me back there, it was dreadful.

I think it is a bit difficult to justify claiming when you don't actually need to by saying you will be paying a lot in NI and tax eventually. This is not how it works. Like any insurance it relies on most of us NEVER claiming. You don't know how your life will pan out so cannot say with certainty that you will pay in more than you will take out.

cashpoortimerich

Just an update, I am not entiteld to a single penny of any kind of benefits.

Apparently my partner makes enough (£16000) for us both but, interestingly, although we are classed as one entity with regards our 'joint' income, I do not benefit from his NI record and he does not benefit from my (unsed) tax allowance. As a governement funded student on a grant (rather than an actual salary) I have not been able to pay Class 1 NI contributions for the last 3 1/2 years.

The Jobcentre lady gave me a very waggly eyebrows look when telling me I could reapply if my circumstances change, but I am not prepared to lie about living with my partner so I will be doing without and cutting back for a few months. There are not really any temporary jobs in my field and I would rather not go back to any of the type of work I used to do and am now overqualified for.