JSA cut over college course.

[Renzokuken]

Hi guys,

I've been signing on to JSA now for about four months.

 

From the moment I signed on I informed them that I would be starting a part time "Access to HE" college course in September, lasting a year, for 10 hours per week.

 

They accepted this,

signed me up as requiring full time work until september,

 

when I started college I had this changed to part time.

 

A month ago they started requesting paperwork from my college, and asking me questions about how I was paying for it.

 

I told them I had a student loan, and brought them all the paperwork I had including the accepted student loan forms.

 

Two weeks later they asked for more paperwork as my learning agreement didn't state my hours,

I got a signed letter from the college stating my name, hours and course along with contact details should they have any questions,

and gave that to them along with my learning agreement.

 

I was told that everything was fine, I signed on as usual and was told my payment had gone through and would be paid on the usual day.

 

on monday I received an ES48 letter, saying "A doubt has arisen on your claim for jobseekers allowance,

as it appears that from 09.09.2013 you may not be regarded as available for work because you are a full-time student".

The letter then directs me to read a leaflet that was supposed to be included in the pack, that is conveniently missing.

 

I immediately rang them up, and was told not to worry about it, as the letter was probably sent out before they received my evidence,

and that my payment would go through as normal.

 

This hasn't happened, I've not received my payment, and it looks like they're investigating me for something they have concrete evidence isn't true.

 

So does anyone know how long they can stop my payments for, and if there's anything I can do about this, as it seems someone has lied about my status.

[antone]

It's not likely to be malicious, nor is it likely that anyone has "lied" about you. In the end, benefit processors like an easy life (I know, I was one for several years) and so it's most likely a cock-up. They don't sit at their desks trying to find ways to wrongly deny your benefits: that could get them sacked. And they're not likely to be "investigating" you. Someone has entered some information on the system that has withheld your payment.

 

First thing to do is contact the Benefit Centre that pays your JSA and ask why your payment wasn't sent. Bear in mind that the contact centre staff are not well trained - you may need to get a callback from the processing team. Ten hours per week as a part time student should not affect your JSA.

 

Find out what they have to say - record the call or take notes - and then let us know what reason they give for not paying you. We can take it from there.

[Renzokuken]

Just a quick update on this.

 

To date I still haven't received a decision, so far I've given them my learning agreement, a signed letter from the college, my student loan information, and the exact hours I'm in college, and they also asked for a copy of my cv. Once again they told me they had everything they needed. As soon as I got home I received another call from them, asking for printouts proving I was applying for jobs that fit around my college hours.

 

Most applications don't discuss hours until the interview stage, but I've managed to find two applications that I have filled out my availability on to give them.

 

I'm due to hand those over tomorrow when I sign on. So far I've done everything they've asked, when they've asked, and done it with a smile. But this really isn't fair, I'm taking the quickest route in to university I can, in order to better myself. I'm so far getting straight distinctions in all my courses, while looking for a job at the same time. Being out of work is stressful enough, without having to worry about whether the benefits I'm entitled to are actually going to continue.

 

Is there any route I can take to complain about this now? I mean if I don't get paid this week that'll be 2 months without any money at all which is absolutely disgraceful considering I've done everything by the book.

[flumps1976]

What does the college/education establishment's prospectus deem the course to be? full or part time?

 

Usually a student loan is awarded for a student on a full time course

[Renzokuken]

What does the college/education establishment's prospectus deem the course to be? full or part time?

 

Usually a student loan is awarded for a student on a full time course

 

Here's a link to the course:

http://www.qeliz.ac.uk/courses-overview/access-to-he

 

It doesn't actually say if it's full-time or part time, the student loan I've taken out is specifically designed for this access course and isn't available to typical students, as it gets written off should I continue on to university and get a degree.

 

I only attend 10 hours per week one of those hours is for tutor time, which we only attend if required for ucas applications and the like. The only assignments I get are an assignment from each subject roughly once every other month (1000-2000 words) which amounts to nowhere near the six hours a week of home study required to push this in to a full time course. I've told them that the gaps between my lessons are more than sufficient to complete any work I need to do.

 

I'm only unavailable to work on Mondays (due to sporadic lesson placement), and half of Tuesdays and Wednesdays until 1pm. Leaving half of Tuesday and Wednesday, all of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to work, which considering that totals five days, is more than enough for the 40 hours they require me to be available for work.

[flumps1976]

The link doesn't work sorry.

As long as you can prove that the work you are seeking is available for the days you are available to work then that could be fine, but you may find you struggle depending on the type of work you are seeking, also, did you state on your education form if you would be willing and able to rearrange the days of your course or if you would be willing to give up the course if offered a full time job.

A course doesn't have to be 16 hours a week to be classed as full time.

[Mr.P]

The link doesn't work sorry.

 

http://www.qeliz.ac.uk/courses-overview/access-to-he

 

To be honest, not much information is given about the hours, however, in the Q&A, we find:

Benefit entitlement ?

 

If you are in receipt of benefits they will not be affected as long as you fulfil the conditions for receiving them. We can offer advice on this.

 

I'd suggest having a chat with Mary Smith (the Adult Guidance Tutor) and see if she can offer any advice..

[flumps1976]

Thanks for getting the link to work Mr P

 

Yes by the looks of it as long as you meet all the conditions of entitlement for receiving JSA then the course would not have any effect on your claim, but it's easy to say that it wouldn't it's proving it that is the problem.

You need to be able to show that the type of work you are looking for is available in the pattern that you are looking for.

If you can find the type of vacancies BUT they all state they clash with the course you will be seen as limiting your availability and the decision made would be correct.