Resigning from job - how will it affect JSA

[mattlamb]

I resigned from my job (as a meter reader) giving a months notice as from 26 March 2012.

 

I resigned as I hhave had three small-speed prangs in my work van since September 2011 whilst carrying out my job. I had a disciplinary hearing in January 2012 when I was given a final written warning. I was told then that I if I had another accident I would almost certainly be sacked.

 

Undfortunately I had another reversing accident on 23 March 2012. I have deceided to resign from my job instead of being sacked (as I am 99% certain this would have happened anyway).

 

I am in the middle of undergoing a diagnosis with a psychologist for Aspergers Syndrome / dyspraxia. I do suffer from clumsiness and have been taking medication for anxiety for several months.

 

In addition, I have had real difficulty in dealing with being spied upon it (as I see it) by management whilst carrying out my day-to-day job. This led to my becoming stressed and unnecessarily feeling under pressure whilst carrying out my job.Employees were required to carry a multitude of PPE without being given suffiient means of storing it whilst carrying out our work. I feel this contributed to my losing several work items (including my van keys). I have mentioned this to management but I do cnot consider they have taken my feelings on board.

 

My actual performancew with regards to reading meters and dealing with customers was good. NO criticisms from the company regarding these areas. I achieved consistently good meter reading access figures.

 

I have been told by my HR manager that my last day of actual work would be 30 March 2012 (last Friday) but I will be given a months notice on full pay. They stated that for benefits purposes, etc I could apply as from 2 April 2012.

 

MY problem is will this affect my entitlement to JSA. After all, I resigned and it could be argued I have made myself unemployed. The JSA are extremely vague (deliberately?) abbout what factors would affect whether you are suspended from JSA payments through making yourself unemployed and seem to offer no real guidance as to what my situation will be.

 

I intend to call the psychologist who carried out my interview to determine whether I have Aspergers Syndrome/ dyspraxia tomorrow to try and find out what the results are. I don;t know whethera positive diagnosis would impact upon any rights I may have as to JSA payments.

 

Can anyone offer any advice please as to the possibility of my having sanctions placed upon my receiving JSA and is there anything I can do to maximise the chances of my avoiding such a sanction? (aside from the obvious one of finding a job, thus alleviating the need to apply for JSA - I intend to get one, of course!)

 

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer me.

[Nystagmite]

I don;t know whethera positive diagnosis would impact upon any rights I may have as to JSA payments.

 

As long as you can work, a diagnosis will not have an impact on JSA. You may want to see a disability employment adviser if you feel you need to. Having a disability does not disqualify you from claiming JSA.

 

As for the main question - no-one can really tell you. It's not a case of "you resigned; so no JSA for 26 weeks". (maximum time they can suspend JSA)

[antone]

The reason that the DWP is somewhat vague about the rules in these sorts of situations isn't intentional malice. There aren't actually precise definitions in the law of what reasons for leaving are or are not considered acceptable - each case is considered on its merits.

 

Once you apply, your case will likely be passed to a Decision Maker (DM), a DWP officer whose job it is to consider these situations and decide if a sanction should be applied. No decision will be made before you are given the opportunity to put forward your side of the story, so to maximise your chances of avoiding sanction you should think of how best to describe the situation as it was from your point of view.

 

I'm afraid I can't say how likely it is that a sanction will apply in your case, as I didn't deal with JSA when I worked there. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will offer an opinion, but bear in mind it will be just that: an opinion. We can't say for sure what any given DM will decide.

[bigissue]

I have dyspraxia and even though I learned with great difficulty to drive (took my test 10 times) I am not a good driver as I have very poor spacial awareness so I tok the decision some time ago to no longer drive.

 

I think that you might have made a mistake in resigning here, if you are awaiting a diagnosis you could have perhaps then advised your employer about your diagnosis and used that as a reason for your accidents and asked perhaps for a transfer to another part of the business which doesn't involve driving as you said they had no other complaints about your work.

 

If they could not reassign you and you were unable to drive then that might have provided you with a legitamite out as it is the DWP may well decide not to pay you any JSA for the first 26 weeks.

[flumps1976]

As the others have posted until your casde is passed to a Decision Maker for a decision nobody can tell you what the outcome will be.

The only thing I would urge you to do is to ensure that you do complete and return the form ES84JP when you have your new claim appointment as that is crucial for te DM to be able to consider your reasons, ther is also a question on that form asking if you believe that your job would have lasted for a further 26 weeks or not so that also gives you the opportunity to state that you would not know due to the gut instinct that you could have been sacked/dismissed.

[flumps1976]

ps if your last day of employment is classed as 30/03/12 you could have applied online from 31/03/12 as Pay In Liew Of Notice dies not effect the JSA claim anymore.

If you apply online today you will be ab;e to state that you would also like your claim to be considered for backdatig from 31/03/12.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_200090.html

this is the link for you to make you claim today

[mattlamb]

Thanks for your replies.

 

My employer was aware that I was awaiting a diagnosis of possible Aspergers / dyspraxia. Unfortunately, it took a year from when I first spoke to my GP and was put forward by her for a diagnosis to actually have the meeting with the psychologist (because of a waiting-list). I am expecting the results within the next couple of weeks. My employers seemed unprepared to wait any longer. They just wanted me to push for a diagnois asap. I tried to do this and contacted Aspergers East Anglia several times in order to get seen quicker. My employers, on their side did not attempt to contact Asperger East Anglia themselves to explain the situation in order to try and get a quicker diagnosis. They just put everything onto me.

 

 

 

I have to say I am not disappointed to have left the job. I actually really enjoyed the reading of meters, dealing with customers and travelling to different places. I hated the constant emphasis on Health & safety (above anything else - and I am not just referring to driving matters here), and their covert methods. This made me feel under unbearable pressure and I feel led to the accidents that occured (together with my losing several items of equipment) during the one year and 8 months I was employed by the organisation.

 

I would not have been able to take on alternative duties. All the roles at the depot (excepting management ones) involved driving on a regular basis. The company would not have hand any alternative suitable positions within 100+ miles of Norwich (my home town) and i do not have my own transport.

 

I feel it may be appropriate to speak to a disability employment adviser (although it has not been confirmed I have a condition yet). I feel it has affected my ability to hold down a job on a long-term basis in the past.

I understand that I am physically able to work and do not dispute that I should be looking for work (and therefore claiming JSA ratheer than ESA).

 

 

Also, does anyone know whether I would get Income based or contribution based JSA? I was in work for 1 year and 8 months up to 30 March 2012 and immediately before then I had been unemployed (and claiming JSA) for 9 months.

Edited April 1, 2012 by mattlamb

[bigissue]

Thanks for your replies.

 

My employer was aware that I was awaiting a diagnosis of possible Aspergers / dyspraxia. Unfortunately, it took a year from when I first spoke to my GP and was put forward by her for a diagnosis to actually have the meeting with the psychologist (because of a waiting-list). I am expecting the results within the next couple of weeks. My employers seemed unprepared to wait any longer. They just wanted me to push for a diagnois asap. I tried to do this and contacted Aspergers East Anglia several times in order to get seen quicker. My employers, on their side did not attempt to contact Asperger East Anglia themselves to explain the situation in order to try and get a quicker diagnosis. They just put everything onto me.

 

 

 

I have to say I am not disappointed to have left the job. I actually really enjoyed the reading of meters, dealing with customers and travelling to different places. I hated the constant emphasis on Health & safety (above anything else - and I am not just referring to driving matters here), and their covert methods. This made me feel under unbearable pressure and I feel led to the accidents that occured (together with my losing several items of equipment) during the one year and 8 months I was employed by the organisation.

 

I would not have been able to take on alternative duties. All the roles at the depot (excepting management ones) involved driving on a regular basis. The company would not have hand any alternative suitable positions within 100+ miles of Norwich (my home town) and i do not have my own transport.

 

I feel it may be appropriate to speak to a disability employment adviser (although it has not been confirmed I have a condition yet). I feel it has affected my ability to hold down a job on a long-term basis in the past.

I understand that I am physically able to work and do not dispute that I should be looking for work (and therefore claiming JSA ratheer than ESA).

 

 

Also, does anyone know whether I would get Income based or contribution based JSA? I was in work for 1 year and 8 months up to 30 March 2012 and immediately before then I had been unemployed (and claiming JSA) for 9 months.

 

While a lot of what you say is perfectly reasonable and most people would be able to see your position and why you took the action you did that doesn't mean that it will square with DWP policy. I am sure their must be some way round this perhaps by getting your previous employer on side but I really don't know.

 

If you do sign on you could ask to speak to a disability employment adviser but in the past when I was on JSA even when I raised my concerns about my health to Job Centre staff as affecting my ability to find and hold down work they tended to minimise the problem or pretend like the hadn't heard. I often felt that they just didn't want to acknowledge there might me a serious problem with me. It has only been since goin on ESA that any resouces have opened up to me at all.

[count orlok]

Excuse my ignorance, but if someone get sanctioned how much are their benefits reduced by, and how are they supposed to live if the money they got before sanction was already the minimum one needs to live on?

[flumps1976]

If someone is sanctioned their entire JSA entitlement is removed, they then have the option of reconsideration and/or appeal.

They can then make an application for hardship which is not payable for the first 2 weeks of any sanction unless they fall into a vunerable group.

If it is a work programme sanction then no hardship is payable at all during the sanction unless they fall into the vunerable group.

If they are sanctioned then there is taken that the person has done something to remove their benefit entitlement so the reasoning of the minimum amount to live on dies not exist unless they qualify for the hardship payment which is reduced amount of money.

[antone]

Excuse my ignorance, but if someone get sanctioned how much are their benefits reduced by, and how are they supposed to live if the money they got before sanction was already the minimum one needs to live on?

 

The idea behind benefits is not that it is a guaranteed minimum income no matter what. There are conditions to receiving benefits, and if a claimant breaches them, well, they are on their own.

 

Now, we can say that some conditions are unreasonable, and capriciously applied in some cases - I'll accept that. But the gist of it is that if you want to keep receiving your benefit, you do need to comply with the benefit rules.

[count orlok]

So people can effectively have no income at all?

 

Never used to be like that back in the day, your money could get reduced but you always had money to survive. Even if you had no entitlement you would not be expected to starve.

[antone]

So people can effectively have no income at all?

 

Never used to be like that back in the day, your money could get reduced but you always had money to survive. Even if you had no entitlement you would not be expected to starve.

 

You can apply for hardship payments these days. I was an ESA processor, so sanctions were not so much of an issue. But I'm not really defending any policy, just explaining the logic. After all, if you could just say "**** you, I ain't gonna apply for no stinkin' jobs", and no effective sanction existed, what's the difference between a benefit and a guaranteed minimum income?

 

Which, incidentally, I support. For all the good it will do me.

[count orlok]

I agree that there must be sanctions, but to leave someone with no income to pay for food an and essentials can't be right either.