Jobseekers allowance

[lillylemon]

I know that if you resign from your job you are not able to claim jobseekers allowance for so long but can't find exactly how long it is until you can start claiming. Does anyone know how long it is? thanks

[ttfn]

Well you would do best to make your claim asap. The jobcentre will then decide if you had just cause to voluntarily leave your last employment. If not, they will decide for how long your claim will be disallowed - anything from 1 - 26 weeks. But if you don't claim now you will never find out.

[dothawkes31]

But can't you claim ESA i you have no other income?

[supersuezy24]

Lilly, I resigned from my job after a particularly long time of been treated extremely badly..I went to the welfare centre around 3 weeks later as I wasn't sure if I was eligible to claim jobseekers allowance however I got a date for a meeting 2 weeks later and I got an allowance 4 days after I went in for my meeting with the welfare officer..

[ttfn]

Another thought lilly - if you are otherwise entitled to the allowance they will pay you until and if they disallow your claim and it does not have to be repaid. So if you claim in week 1 and they disallow your claim in say week 3 (it might take them that length of time to make their decision) you can keep the 2 weeks or so payment. A disallowance would then run from week 3 for as many weeks as they have decided.

[ttfn]

Dot - the ESA is the new name for sickness benefit - so unless lilly is unwell - no.

[windycity8]

just bear in mind that if you resigned then it was at your will but it also could be that the employer was not using their 'duty of care' towards you and it made you ill. for the first 26 wks after resigning from what happened to my sister you are not supposed to get anything but if its not your fault for leaving and it also makes you ill you could get job seekers allowance or even invalidity benefit. you have paid into your contributions so are entitled to something for 6 months out of the pot from my reckoning. thereafter it is income related so if you have a spouse working and your own property then you will no doubt get nothing if you show that you can support yourself with income and savings.

[ttfn]

The jobcentre can disallow a claim for less than 26 weeks - depending on just cause. Run it up the flagpole lilly and see - you have nothing to lose - unless, possibly, you don't claim

[windycity8]

it seems you have to call a certain number to give your details over the phone then they set up the claims interview for you. you may need to ring your job centre first to get that number. just worried that you will have a wasted journey to only get a number from them. the interview is more than not within a few days so dont delay! good luck to you!

[slinkycat]

Hi lilly, think it depends as well on how old you are and what your situation is. My lad "left" a job because the conditions were unbearable. He didn't sign on straight away because he thought that if you left, you didn't get jobseekers for 6 weeks anyway, so was hoping to be sacked. However, it turned out that if he was sacked or left the job, he wasn't entitled to anything for 6 months, or at their discretion.

[TCL-MUMPING]

If you leave employment voluntarily without just cause a sanction (a disallowance) can be imposed on Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for a period from one to twenty-six weeks. The Labour Market Decision Maker will look at the circumstances that led to the resignation and steps taken to find alternative employment prior to claiming JSA. Any period between the date employment ended and the start of the claim will be taken off the sanction period.

That means for example if the Decision Maker thinks a sanction of thirteen weeks should be imposed but there is a ten week gap between the job ending and the claim being made, the sanction will be only for three weeks. The sanction period always starts in the future so no benefit need be repaid and the JSA is paid until the DM gives the decision.

It used to be that if you signed off before a sanction decision could be given for leaving Employer A it would be looked at again if you claimed again within twenty-six weeks. However, now if the JSA claim ended because you found employment with Employer B and you claimed within twenty-six weeks, no sanction can be imposed for leaving Employer A no matter why it ended.