Just started JSA, not too sure about exactly what they expect me to do.. HELP

I second this. I don't see why JSA is being offered to people with the option of going into funded education, whilst the remainder of the population struggles to get enough money to get through the week.

<Sits and awaits a storm of negging from all those taking gap years>

I second this. I don't see why JSA is being offered to people with the option of going into funded education, whilst the remainder of the population struggles to get enough money to get through the week.

<Sits and awaits a storm of negging from all those taking gap years>

What a load of rubbish.

Can't believe I'm getting negged for this so what kind of standards does 'struggles to get enough money to get through the week' refer to? I'm sure 3rd world citizens would laugh in your face for saying that.

Good post. Although OP, I was on a gap year and managed to get 2 jobs, although I will say I was very lucky to get them and I was made redundant in June and have been unemployed ever since.

After being made redundant I signed on to JSA and I actually ended up leaving about a month after because they are so much more inhibiting than helpful. The Jobcentre should be so much more encouraging to people, they should encourage people to look forward to having careers in life which they may actually enjoy. Instead I've seen them treat people ( especially the ones who look a bit scruffy and don't have much going on in their head) awfully, as if they are low life scroungers. They should be encouraging ambition not make them fee like they are nothing.

Poverty doesn't exist in the UK or people don't struggle to get money for basics such as food and rent? Particularly during a double dip recession?

So the remainder of the population struggles to get by each week? So the majority of the UK population struggles to have food and running water and shelter each week? Life isn't a luxury for many, but that's quite different to struggling to get through the week

snip
The OP is claiming JSA because he is re-applying
snip

The majority of the population is certainly finding things tougher than five years ago. Just today I spent £100 on food that would have cost £60 a few years ago. This is half of my current weekly income. There's a difference between struggling to make ends meet and living in absolute or even relative poverty.

tamimi's post was ill-informed and reactionary particularly as people who are, or may, be entering funded education in a year's time can still be struggling themselves. However, I interpreted his post as meaning that a significant number of people in work are struggling, often making hard decisions such as whether they can even afford to eat well. This is true. Young parents are often having to miss out themselves so they can sufficiently feed their children. Despite this, any/further state assisstance is not offered to them and, for those who do receive state help, they are facing widespread cuts and changes to benefits (or even having benefits removed).

Following redundancy I had to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance. I read the rules and regulations to ensure I didn't fall foul of any stipulations and dutifully carried out my job search.

However, at my fourth signing on appointment I was told by the advisor that because I had not applied for two jobs within the last fortnight, my search was not adequate and that my benefit would be stopped. I pointed out that I had completed the required six 'tasks' on the agreement, which included contacting two companies to see if there were any job vacancies available. The regulations did not stipulate that applying for 2 jobs was a condition of receiving benefit. The advisor didn't agree with me and informed me that my job search would be sent to the 'Decision Makers' to see if the doubt was justified. In the meantime, my benefits would be stopped immediately for two weeks.

I was horrified as my disabled husband and I had no other income (his claim is linked to mine). Those two weeks without money were the most humiliating of my life. We had to ask for food hand-outs from friends and family, couldn't pay any bills and had to scrounge tins of food for our dogs and cat. After both of us working for 45 years (I'm 60 and my husband is 63) and paying a lifetime of tax and contributions, we were being punished because I hadn't applied for two jobs.

That was in May and, to date, I have still not been notified of a decision by the Decision Makers. I appealed against the sanction and heard nothing. When I contacted the appeals department, I was told that my case would not be heard until around September.

‘Granny Groundworker’

Then, after signing on for just ten weeks, my advisor said she was referring me to the Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) programme. She handed me a letter without any explanation of what it was about. I asked her for some details and she mumbled something about skills.

A week later I received a text message from a company called Groundwork West Midlands telling me I had been referred to them. I checked them out on the internet and discovered they were an environmental company that trains young people in ‘groundwork’. I then started to worry what this was all about. Am I to be trained as ‘Granny Groundworker’, I wondered.

I then received a letter from this company, thanking me for attending an engagement meeting or telephone interview (I had been offered neither), and informing me that I was to start my MWA programme on the Monday coming. It said I must participate for 30 hours a week for four weeks at ‘Acorns’. The letter stated if I did not have good reason for turning up then, for my first offence, I would lose my benefit for 13 weeks, and for my second offence I would lose it for 26 weeks.

What am I now? A criminal it seems! I was simply told that I must dress smartly in black trousers and white shirt. There were no details about the work or the company so I contacted them to request some information.

Acorns turned out to be a charity shop. Now, I don't wish to sound like I am above charity shop work, as I know charity shop workers do a wonderful job, but what skills am I going to learn that will help me find the sort of job I am seeking? I do not need discipline or time-keeping lessons. I have worked as an Administrator, Secretary and Finance Officer for the past 45 years but now I am just being used for free labour.

Adding ten hours a week travelling time amounts to a 40 hour week but I would still have had to sign on, attend interviews and complete a job search every day. That means I would have had to complete my job searches in the evening. I would have thought it was illegal to expect people to work day and evening.

The Department for Work and Pensions contradicts itself as this programme stops people from doing the very thing they need to be doing: looking for paid and fulfilling work.

I have paid enough tax and contributions in my lifetime to cover the cost of my benefit so I find it insulting that after just a few weeks of claiming, I am expected to work for every penny. The programme is a total waste of taxpayer's money, which would be better spent on skills courses for the young unemployed, not placing the older, experienced generation on these money wasting programmes.

They really won't care less, I didn't apply for a single job for months on JSA and nothing was ever checked.

Why were you claiming JSA then?

At the time I didn't have a job. To falsify "job search activity" and still get paid JSA isn't hard. It's not up until a few months that they start getting you interviews, which most people either don't turn up too or simply say that they don't want the job to the interviewer and they are only attending so they can still get JSA.

You understand that £50 is not much to live off right? Most people are actively seeking work because struggling on JSA is tough. My food costs at uni were around £30-£50 per week. Then if you factor in travelling costs that £50 is spent very quickly.

I have met quite a few long term unemployed individuals by doing volunteer work as they take up volunteering to keep up to date their CV and to keep up their confidence.

The job centre gets you interviews? My job centre experience rarely helped me find any jobs to even apply for in my four months of claiming JSA.

They got you interviews to work placements at places like Tesco which you had to do to receive JSA, all some kind of new bull****, so I got off benefits and got a job. It's mostly not JSA people are after but they want to stay on benefits for housing benefit and the like. If you're on housing benefit and JSA (over 25) it's not that much worse off than working a full time, minimum wage job.

Example:

Min Wage: £890/after Tax. After paying rent, bills, food, you might be left with a couple of hundred quid a month, if you have no other dependencies (kids and so on).

Housing Benefit + £71/week JSA: No rent to pay, no bills to pay (payed by housing benefit), £140 on food, say, leaves you with around the same amount of money as having a job. Obviously you don't need to pay for any transport costs as there's no reason to leave the house.

Who is eligible
You may get Housing Benefit if you pay rent and your income and capital (savings and investments) are below a certain level. You could qualify if you are out of work, or in work and earning a wage.

Housing Benefit + £71/week JSA: No rent to pay, no bills to pay (payed by housing benefit), £140 on food, say, leaves you with around the same amount of money as having a job. Obviously you don't need to pay for any transport costs as there's no reason to leave the house.

Those on low wages are also entitled to housing benefits.


http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

Housing benefit does not cover bills either.

Some rents include bills and the housing benefit often covers this, especially when contracts are more casual between the landlord and the tenant. I've known a few people who literally never paid a bill or rent for a number of years, whilst picking up JSA. One lad I knew even stopped squatting places as being a benefit scrounger was easier.