I went to CAB this morning and they said that even though I had left my job voluntarily (through personal/health problems) I should put a claim in for JSA.
If i can get hold of the Doctors Note that would back my claim up. The thing is im not really keen on doing this and have worked for the last 6 years without any breaks in employment...
Anyhoo i hope and expect not to be out of work for too long, as I've gone back to an Agency i was with a while back. But you might aswell claim it if your entitled to it at the end of the day.
Put your claim in, see what the outcome is. You can always appeal.
If you've worked your ar*e off for years and then leave work (voluntarily or redundancy etc, whatever) you should always go and sign-on straight away as you need to make sure your NI contributions are upto-date otherwise you'll get stung on your next years pay cheques... It'll also reduce your Government Pension (if we're lucky enough to get one in 40 years!) if you don't make sure these payments are always met.
Sod people who "don't like signing on" if you don't do it you're worse off in the long run. Even if they only establish you're entitled to £10 a week, they'll still pay your NI contributions in full.
Also if you've payed tax then you're entitled to claim JSA. That's what it's there for!
I have worked since I was 15 and I am now 57,I was out of work for a short while 2 years ago and after looking high and low I was getting very down ,I asked at the jobcentre about what would I be able to claim for if I took a part time job on a low income,I was told that I could get working tax credit which made the job worthwhile otherwise it would cost me money.
Anyway I took the job and was really happy for 14 months when totally out of the blue my working tax credit was stopped this march,the reason was government changes and cutbacks,all of a sudden I was in a job which everymonth I was having to supplement my wages with £160 out of my savings just to get by.
This was an impossible position and I had no alternative than to leave the job I love.
Anyway I signed on and and was told I could be suspended while they checked into my reason for leaving,I spoke to my local MP who sent letters for me to HM Taxes and the employment minister,I received replys saying that there was nothing they could do and were very sympathic to my situation.
I then heard back from the jobcentre saying that everything was ok and that my money would be paid into my bank account.
I was ok for about 2 weeks when I received a letter from JSA telling me that the local office I claim from have looked at my claim again and decided that I cannot claim after all because I left my job voluntarily,this was after I was told I would get it.My letter said that I cannot claim from now till the end of the year from the 1st january onwards I still cannot claim.
This was not my fault, had I known that the government was going to take away mine and so many other people working tax credit away then no way would I have taken the job in the first place,although I had the employment minister and HM taxes sympathising with me I have still had my money stopped,I have put in an appeal but I feel that I am not going to get anywhere,I have written again explaining the situation to my local MP .I feel that the government has totally let me down and dont give a dam even though I though I would never have taken the job if I had know I was going to lose my working tax credit,please tell me what to do ,I will soon be used up all my savings, it makes me so mad to think that there are so many people who get the jsa no questions asked even if they have never worked yet I have worked all my life.......thankyou:(
This is on the back of a very old thread - might have been better to start a new one (you still could) because people might not get to the end and see your post. But what you're describing is a (presumably) unintended outcome of the recent changes to working tax credit. The idea seemed to be that if people in your situation no longer had WTC as a top up to their wages, they would get a job where they could work longer hours and therefore be able to manage without the WTC. This of course ignores the fact that these jobs are not that easy to come by at the moment. And then you get the double whammy of having your JSA sanctioned because you left your last job voluntarily.
You say you've put in an appeal - it might be worth going to your local CAB to find out if there's anything you can do if you lose the appeal. It might also be worth going to see your MP rather than just writing - they all have constituency surgeries. The thing about sanctioning JSA if you've left your job voluntarily is that it's a discretionary sanction not a mandatory one, and if they accept that you had good reason to leave your job you aren't sanctioned. Sadly the decision has gone against you - but they might change their minds, and your MP might be able to help.
Comments
If i can get hold of the Doctors Note that would back my claim up. The thing is im not really keen on doing this and have worked for the last 6 years without any breaks in employment...
Anyhoo i hope and expect not to be out of work for too long, as I've gone back to an Agency i was with a while back. But you might aswell claim it if your entitled to it at the end of the day.
Put your claim in, see what the outcome is. You can always appeal.
Sod people who "don't like signing on" if you don't do it you're worse off in the long run. Even if they only establish you're entitled to £10 a week, they'll still pay your NI contributions in full.
Also if you've payed tax then you're entitled to claim JSA. That's what it's there for!
leaving work coz youre sick though is different they usually let you sign on straight away
Anyway I took the job and was really happy for 14 months when totally out of the blue my working tax credit was stopped this march,the reason was government changes and cutbacks,all of a sudden I was in a job which everymonth I was having to supplement my wages with £160 out of my savings just to get by.
This was an impossible position and I had no alternative than to leave the job I love.
Anyway I signed on and and was told I could be suspended while they checked into my reason for leaving,I spoke to my local MP who sent letters for me to HM Taxes and the employment minister,I received replys saying that there was nothing they could do and were very sympathic to my situation.
I then heard back from the jobcentre saying that everything was ok and that my money would be paid into my bank account.
I was ok for about 2 weeks when I received a letter from JSA telling me that the local office I claim from have looked at my claim again and decided that I cannot claim after all because I left my job voluntarily,this was after I was told I would get it.My letter said that I cannot claim from now till the end of the year from the 1st january onwards I still cannot claim.
This was not my fault, had I known that the government was going to take away mine and so many other people working tax credit away then no way would I have taken the job in the first place,although I had the employment minister and HM taxes sympathising with me I have still had my money stopped,I have put in an appeal but I feel that I am not going to get anywhere,I have written again explaining the situation to my local MP .I feel that the government has totally let me down and dont give a dam even though I though I would never have taken the job if I had know I was going to lose my working tax credit,please tell me what to do ,I will soon be used up all my savings, it makes me so mad to think that there are so many people who get the jsa no questions asked even if they have never worked yet I have worked all my life.......thankyou:(
You say you've put in an appeal - it might be worth going to your local CAB to find out if there's anything you can do if you lose the appeal. It might also be worth going to see your MP rather than just writing - they all have constituency surgeries. The thing about sanctioning JSA if you've left your job voluntarily is that it's a discretionary sanction not a mandatory one, and if they accept that you had good reason to leave your job you aren't sanctioned. Sadly the decision has gone against you - but they might change their minds, and your MP might be able to help.