New JSA Claim

[dadneedshelpnow]

Good day to you all,

 

I wonder whether any of you kind people assist me with a few questions concerning my pending JSA claim?

 

A little bit of background, I am 46 and until February of this year, I was working. In February, I was lucky enough to receive a small inheritance and as such I left my zero hours job in a call centre (difficult and soul destroying) and moved to another part of the country to live with my partner.

 

Unfortunately, the employment market was not what I expected, and whilst I have not claimed a single penny in assistance, the time is quickly approaching whereby I will have no further option but to consider making a claim for JSA.

 

Just to complicate matters, my partner who works in tourism will shortly be coming to the end of her seasonal contract.

 

My questions are as follows:

 

1. Will I be successful in a claim for JSA (I have made National Insurance Contributions for 13 out of the last 24 months)

2. I do not posses a P45 (Not received one from previous employer who has now gone out of business)

3. Should the claim be Joint

 

For the sake of clarity, we do not currently care for any children and my savings are below £6000

 

Thank you for your anticipated assistance.

[antone]

Well, there are two main types of JSA: contribution based JSA©, which is based on your NI contributions, and JSA(IB) which is based on your household income and savings, including those of your partner.

 

You can claim JSA© only, or claim both JSA© and JSA(IB) at the same time. A claim for JSA© cannot be a joint claim, whereas a claim for JSA(IB) must be a joint claim if you have a partner.

 

You might be entitled to JSA© if you have paid sufficient NI contributions in the two completed tax years prior to the benefit year in which you make the claim. For a claim made before early January 2016, these would be the tax years from April 2012-April 2013 and April 2013-April 2014. I can explain what "sufficient" means, but it's a little bit complex so before I do, can you say whether you have worked for all or most of those two tax years? Your entitlement to JSA© would be based only on your own NI contributions - your partner's income and your household savings would not be taken into account.

 

If you haven't made sufficient NI contributions, a claim for JSA(IB) can be considered. This would be based on the total income your household has coming in, so in such a case your partner's income (less £10 per week) would be considered and would affect the amount you'd be entitled to. Although savings are also considered, as long as your joint total savings is less than £6000 then that wouldn't actually affect your entitlement either.

 

Not having a P45 is annoying, but there should be ways around that if you are completely unable to get one from your now defunct previous employer. I can't remember specifically what the DWP do in such situations, but they can't demand that you produce a document if there's no way at all for you to obtain it.

[Mr.P]

Not having a P45 is annoying, but there should be ways around that if you are completely unable to get one from your now defunct previous employer.

 

In the situation where there is no P45, one would normally have to complete a P46. With that in hand, the DWP should be able to continue as if they had been handed a P45.

[flumps1976]

A P45 is not required for JSA, as there is a download from HMRC to confirm if the contributions in the relevant income tax years have been met.

A P45 is more for a new employer to ensure your tax codes are correct initially to prevent emergency tax codes.