Signing on - the irony

[midlife]

I thought JSA wasn't means tested? I signed on for a few months about 4 years ago and got, from memory, about £70 / week. Which was the best hourly rate I've ever had, at 15 minutes once every 2 weeks

It was an interesting experience. One particularly memorable moment was, on the way in, having to step over a drunk who had just been carried outside and laid on the pavement by 2 security guards!

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/overview

According to this it depends on a number of factors how much you get if eligible.

Shaun

 

[keithmac]

It'll be same as most things, if you haven't done a days work in your life you'll get it laid on a plate, if you've grafted all your life and fallen on hard times you'll get nowt .

 

[screenman]

It'll be same as most things, if you haven't done a days work in your life you'll get it laid on a plate, if you've grafted all your life and fallen on hard times you'll get nowt .

If that is correct then I best not stop working, not that I think you get much support after 45 years of work, 40 of those self employed.

 

[MontyVeda]

It'll be same as most things, if you haven't done a days work in your life you'll get it laid on a plate, if you've grafted all your life and fallen on hard times you'll get nowt .

if you pack your job in, you wont get any money for X amount of weeks. If you're made redundant/sacked and your household doesn't have another income to support you, you're eligible, unless you've got more than 3.5K in the bank. Something like that.

 

[Tin Pot]

I would STRONGLY suggest that you get yourself something to go to before going through the whole jobcentre trauma.

+1

I still shudder at the thought of it, twenty years on.

 

[keithmac]

You missed the bit about asylum seekers being given houses.

"Asylum seekers" is a description banded about far to often imho..

 

[Maverick Goose]

Don't hang about for too long. A friend lost her job in August: she went to sign on last week only to discover that she's not eligible to receive any financial support until the end of October. I don't know the exact details of her current circumstances (nor yours, obviously) but if you don't have anything lined up, be careful how long you wait.

Second that-they make you wait weeks now, especially if they're introducing Universal Credit in your area. And they don't pay you any money for the first week of your claim.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I was out of work for 3 months in 2008. I went to the job centre with print outs of every job I had applied for. When I offered them over as proof, the woman said "we don't need war and peace". At the time (judging by other peoples' repsonses) it was possible to "prove" you were looking for work by saying "I've looked at jobs but there was nuffink I liked" and still get your money. I gather it's chnaged a bit now though.

For anyone reading this, I was urged to sign on even if I wasn't desperate for the money, as it makes things easier for tax/pensino stuff later on. Might be worth looking into if anyone is out of work but doesn't want to claim JSA

 

[screenman]

Somehow I have in my mind that signing on for the self employed is not too simple, never having done so I could easily be wrong.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I phoned up to claim Personal Independence Payment on Monday. Every time i answered a yes or no question they started to waffle jargon parrot fashion about how this will affect my rights blah blah etc etc. Every answer was met by a 1 minute load of jargon followed by do you understand yes or no? They said an application form would be in the post ASAP. Four days later it hasn't arrived.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Firm the daughter was working for ceased trading, so she rang up to make an appointment, they said they would send it out & it would have 48 hours notice, it arrived on the same day of the appointment, having 2 young children 1 & 5 (eldest at home due to school holiday's) she wasn't able to attend so rang & advised them of this. They gave her another appointment for the Monday, when she got there, 2 women where rolling around on the floor fighting, pulling each other hair out & screaming at each other. She asked a guy who was stood there with a clipboard where to go & was directed to a windows, she waited in line for 5 minutes only to be told she had to go ask the guy who had sent her to the window, on going back her name was on the 2nd sheet, he hadn't looked, he then sent her to another window, yep another 5 minutes wait, yep another wrong window. This lady however did come out of the office & took her down a corridor to the correct place just as 2 guys were squaring up against each other in the middle of the hall. When she got to where she should have been the first thing that was said was 'You're late, I don't have to see you if you can't get here on time', she explained why she was late, the next statement was 'Oh I see that you have already cancelled an appointment, you know we can stop all payments if you don't attend' She again explained that she only cancelled as the appointment details had arrived on the day of the appointment & she wasn't able to arrange child care at such short notice, the response was 'Well you should have brought them with you' The daughters response was 'Would you bring your children here, with all the fighting & language going on out there'

I understand it's probably a very difficult job & that there is a section of society that have no intention of ever working & that on occasion they are probably in danger of violence, maybe they get work hardened.

 

[steve50]

To be quite frank and honest, it is my opinion that the people who work for the DWP look upon those of us who are unfortunate enough to find ourselves out of work as scroungers and ne'er do wells. That might be the case for some who sign on but not , I'm sure for the majority, I have also been led to believe that the dwp employees have targets to meet and that includes the number of sanctions per week, this may or may not be true but I am fully aware of the fact that they will use any excuse they can to sanction a claimant and it matters not whether you are single or have a family and children to feed. Imo it is draconian and heartless to say the least.
Yes there might well be people who make a career out of claiming benefits but there are far many more who have fallen on hard times and or lost their jobs through no fault of their own, a little respect and dignity toward claimants would go a long way to making the signing on process more acceptable.

 

[screenman]

I suppose if the first 20 people you saw that day were the career unemployed then it must be hard to get yourself up for the genuine people. Not defending them in any real way, after all they chose that job, or did they, maybe they were unemployed and it was the only one they could get.

 

[steve50]

I suppose if the first 20 people you saw that day were the career unemployed then it must be hard to get yourself up for the genuine people. Not defending them in any real way, after all they chose that job, or did they, maybe they were unemployed and it was the only one they could get.

if you ever find yourself on the wrong side of the desk at a jobcentre you can generally pick out those who make a career out of signing on, on the other hand you can also pick out the people who have worked pretty much all their lives. It's the difference between a yobbo in a hoody stinking of weed or booze and the smartly dressed individual looking fed up and somewhat nervous, the difference is (to me) quite obvious.

 

[marinyork]

I suppose if the first 20 people you saw that day were the career unemployed then it must be hard to get yourself up for the genuine people. Not defending them in any real way, after all they chose that job, or did they, maybe they were unemployed and it was the only one they could get.

Whatever this choose malarkey means eh.