Jobseeker's allowance denied!?

[upsidedownwalrus]

That's well dodgy AS, I signed on in the summer after 5 years in China and zero NI payments.

While they said that they couldn't pay me the full JSA, they still gave me about 60 quid a week.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I can't get income based because of my wife and my redundancy payment.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

sell the wife.

spend the redundancy on drugs.

sorted. simple

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I was thinking more along the lines of getting another job.

 

[lau1981]

Bit late but.......


I had this, had been earning for 6 years earning on average £23k a year. Turned out I had to apply for income support and got this instead which is much better, you don't need to sign on fortnightly.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Well I am not desperate for money, I just really needed to notify of the reason for the break in NI payments and get more child support (if it's on offer).

As mentioned before if I get means tested my redundancy payment pushes me well into the 'too much money in the bank' for JSA bracket.

It just isn't right though. I'm not sure how they could have fucked it up though.

Are you totally sure about that? Have you double checked with the job centre/dwp? Have you triple checked with an independent benefits agency?

When I claimed a few years ago, I was underpaid by about 5k over a year, because in the second year, when I went to reclaim housing benefit I couldn't fill in the form due to dodgy wristness, and went to the council advice agency for help writing out the forms. They asked about my income, which was incapacity benefit and DLA they said that I should also have been receiving income support. And of course, what they said was true, and of course the job centre/dwp refused to back date it.

Apparently, the rules were changed in the 1980s and now it is the claimant's responsibility to claim for what they are entitled to. The job centre/dwp is under no obligation whatsoever to helpfully tell you what to claim. You have to ask for the right claim forms (even though you might not know what to claim for) and submit the claims.

Even the job centre staff don't know all their rules and regulations, so it's best to seek independent advice from a CAB or law centre or something like that. As for the redundancy payment, again, perhaps a union would know more about how they are negotiated and whether they are taken into account or not... NUJ? BECTU?

It is only a vague recollection, but I was fairly sure that I heard something on R4 You and Yours that said redundancy payments weren't taken into account (although like I said, I might have misheard/misunderstood, taken it out of context).

Do not believe the dwp when they deny claims/refuse you're entitled, always get independent verification that they are telling you the truth.

In my own personal experience, I've lost out on thousands because I told them all my circumstances and relied on them to tell me what I was entitled to. Again, they are under no obligation to do so.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

That's well dodgy AS, I signed on in the summer after 5 years in China and zero NI payments.

While they said that they couldn't pay me the full JSA, they still gave me about 60 quid a week.

You're extremely lucky you didn't get caught out by the habitually resident rule.

I think they can say something like if you have been living abroad for more than two or three years then you're not habitually resident and you're not entitled.

It happened to someone I knew, who had a British passport, who'd worked as a nurse for a couple of decades in the NHS paying taxes and NI and stuff, but married a Jamaican guy, lived over there for about 15 years, went back to the UK went it went pear shaped and was told she wasn't entitled to a penny, not even income support or housing benefit, because she wasn't habitually resident.

When I came back from China, they asked me if I was habitually resident in the UK, but I'd only been in China for about 18 months or so. Being a British passport holder and a British citizen and having been born and spending most of your life in the country doesn't necessarily count if you go and live abroad for a while. Or at least that's the impression I was given, and the experience of the woman I knew.