Husband been dismissed... what benefits shall we claim

[pippa2000]

My husband told me last week that he had been made redundant from his job of 6 years. I completed an online application for JSA yesterday and today he confessed that he had actually been dismissed for gross misconduct for continual poor performance and bring the company into disrepute. He is frantically looking for employment... anything he can get.

 

 

Most advice websites I visit state that he will probably get his benefits sanctioned for potentially up to 26 weeks. We have no income other than my carers allowance (we have a severely disabled child, who needs constant care) and tax credits. We have a mortgage and insurance but will not be able to claim since he got dismissed. We are in a very difficult situation and I'm worried sick. I appreciate he deserves to be sanctioned but it's me and our two children that will suffer too.

 

 

The CAB websites suggest that as a carer I may be able to claim Income Support rather than my husband claiming JSA. Does anyone know if this is correct.

 

 

Thanks in advance...

[estellyn]

Yes, you can claim income support as a carer.

[pippa2000]

Thank you... Will they question why my husband isn't claiming JSA ?

[antone]

Since you receive CA for your child, you may well be entitled to Income Support as a carer.

[antone]

Thank you... Will they question why my husband isn't claiming JSA ?

 

No.

[pippa2000]

Thank you... that's reassuring, still very worried though. I will ring them tomorrow to start a claim. Hopefully my husband will get another job before it's processed.

[antone]

Yeah, sorry my last post was a bit...brief - I was just passing by on my way out.

 

What I meant was that where you have a choice of benefits that you may be able to claim, you are not obliged to explain why you choose to claim one over the other. If, as seems likely, you are entitled to claim IS as a carer, the only thing the Jobcentre should do in such a case is determine your entitlement. Even if there were no unfortunate circumstances around your husband leaving his last job, you'd still probably be in a better situation if you claimed IS rather than him claiming JSA.

[pippa2000]

No worries... I really do appreciate you taking time to give a reply. I will get onto it straight away today.

[Nystagmite]

If your husband has worked for the last 2 years, (sorry, how this is worked out confuses me. I'm sure someone will elaborate) he may be entitled to contributions based JSA. This is a single claim. You then should be able to claim income support. But his JSA would be counted as income. Although, I'm not sure whether JSA plus carers allowance would wipe out income support.

 

If he did go down the JSA route - if he is sanctioned, any sanction would start from day 1 - even if he waits 26 weeks to claim.

 

Or just do what Antone said and claim IS as a carer.

[pippa2000]

I submitted a claim for Income Support today over the phone. One of the questions was how we had supported ourselves and when I told her my husbands job, she asked when it ended and why, so I told her.

 

 

Can they still sanction the claim if I'm the primary claimant but my husband is on the claim too. I suppose if they do there is nothing we can do about it but would like to know if this is a possibility.

 

 

Thanks...

[estellyn]

No they can't sanction your income support claim because of this.