Benefits/JSA help

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Emjayf
Emjayf Posts: 6 Forumite
in Benefits & tax credits
Hi all. The other day I was made redundant from my job of 20 years. The company folded so I have already applied for the redundancy fund from the Insolvency Service. That, however may take several weeks and I have no income for bills etc.

Me and my wife (who is too ill, with long term illnesses, to work) went to Citizen's Advice, who were wonderful, and they said to us that we need to apply for the new style Contribution based Job Seekers Allowance and NOT Universal Credit. We should stay away from that.

However this is so difficult to organise, I rang up a phone number about it. The phone number told us we need to apply online. But online told us to phone up the service! Argggh! Round and round and we are more confused, depressed, snappy than when we started!

We rent from the council, and rang them to inform them to get help I need to first have unemployment benefit!

Tomorrow we are going to the job centre to try and get some help. But I really don't expect much help, just more fobbing off.

Obviously the best ideal would be a new job. But until then do we ignore advice and go with Universal Credit? (We have no savings, so that won't affect it) Or do we try and find how to get contribution based JSA. If so, how?!

Thank you all
Emjay

Comments

  • bigbill
    bigbill Posts: 928 Forumite
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    Put your postcode in here and see if your a full service UC area first?

    https://universalcreditinfo.net/

    Does your wife claim anything now such as DLA / PIP or in the past ESA even if the ESA is just a credit only claim?
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
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    edited 13 September 2018 at 11:03PM
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    Check your post code as per bigbill post.

    If you are in a UC area (which your opening post suggests you are) then you cannot claim Housing Benefit anyway (unless you or wife are over pension age), to get help with rent you will have to claim UC. Any JSA will be deducted from your UC so I would focus more on the UC. Default application process for UC is online followed by JobCentre appointments. However it may make sense to also claim JSA because you will get paid this regardless of any other income whereas your redundancy payment will probably be taken off your UC (sorry - haven’t had time to check rules on this) for the Assessment period in which the redundancy pay arrives.

    Regardless of housing costs you will have a greater entitlement to benefit on UC because it will be a joint claim whereas new style JSA will be a single claim paying you £73.10 for a maximum of 6 months. Your wife should ask GP for a Fit Note saying is too ill to work. Present this to DWP when making UC claim and she can then be assessed for work. If found not fit for work by DWP entitlement to UC will increase in 4th month and she will not be expected to look for work.

    Wife should also look at Personal independence Payment.

    You should also try for Council Tax Reduction from your local authority.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • Emjayf
    Emjayf Posts: 6 Forumite
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    Yes the wife is on PIP. Low rate, I believe which we feel is a mistake as there are days when she can hardly move. But she was too ill to fight them about it. Yes we are in a UC area. We are confused because he Citizens Advice Guy told us NOT to go for UC. Said it would be not good for us.

    I think that making a joint claim would be too much for her. They would expect her to prove her illness but the silly thing is that she has not the energy to do anything of the sort. It's a bit Catch 22 with her. She has a strong work ethic and a sense of what's right but it seems that doesn't help her.

    Thanks for advice, still conflicted.

    M
  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,960 Forumite
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    Emjayf wrote: »
    I think that making a joint claim would be too much for her. They would expect her to prove her illness but the silly thing is that she has not the energy to do anything of the sort. It's a bit Catch 22 with her. She has a strong work ethic and a sense of what's right but it seems that doesn't help her.

    Thanks for advice, still conflicted.

    M
    As you are a couple then it will have to be a joint claim for UC.
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,049 Forumite
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    I am wondering whether CAB suggested you apply for new style JSA (the old contribution based JSA) because it will only be a few weeks before you get your redundancy pay?

    How much is your redundancy pay?

    If your redundancy pay is a substantial amount then you may not have to claim Universal Credit. In fact if it is over £16000 then you will not be eligible.

    Universal Credit also takes 5/6 weeks before you receive any money so, again, this may be why CAB told you to apply for new style JSA and 'manage' until you get your redundancy pay.

    How soon are you likely to get a job?

    If what I have said makes sense and you are confident that you will get a job soon and/or your redundancy pay will be sufficient for you to manage for a while then you could just claim the new style JSA.

    Otherwise you are going to have to claim new style JSA AND make a joint claim for UC to get housing costs.
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