Coming off benefits

[**streety**]

I have found a job and start in November as i have to work my notice at my current job.

I have been receiving JSA (reduced amount), help with Council tax and tax credits while working as it wasn't alot of hours.

Now I am going to be working roughly 20hrs a week I thankfully can wave goodbye to JSA and the horrid soul destroying trips to sign on, but I think I will lose my help with council tax ( my friend works 20 hours and has to pay full whack)  and get a reduction with tax credits.

I have worked out that by taking this new job I will be £160 WORSE off a month and if I have to pay full council tax somehow find an extra £119 a month. 

I thought the gov said that people were better off working?

Does anyone know if this sounds right?
There is no way it will change my mind about the job as I will do anything to stop having to go to the job centre plus and made to feel like scum.

[tintinthegingertomcat]

You need to get a "back to work calculation" which I believe the Job Centre will do for you.

When i was working part time I received part housing benefit and a reduction in my council tax but only your council will be able to confirm this as you will need to supply them with proof of your earnings for them to do a calculation.

Hope this helps

[stan3502]

As tin-tin has said depending on your income you may still be able to get reduced rate council tax and housing benefit but will need to provide proof of your earnings to have a calculation done for you.

Contact your local DWP and ask to speak to your personal advisor who should be able to tell you what to do, I do know at one point they would continue to pay these for the first 6 weeks after you started work at current rate but don't know if this still applies.

[stroppy*cow]

I work 22 hours per week, and I pay full council tax, but it does depend on your income, your rent etc. Since you have children you should be allowed to keep more of your income.

Aren't tax credits supposed to be based on your income in the previous tax year - so perhaps they won't change until April.

The job centre should help you work things out, and don't forget to ask about the scheme where your council tax benefit continues for your first 4 weeks in work.

[cookiecookuk]

i think you should still get help with council tax and good luck in your new job streety.

[**streety**]

The 'Back to work' schemes have all stopped now.  They used to pay out when you got a job 16 hrs plus, but the gov stopped it this year.
Now everything is changing to universal credit so no one knows what is going on incl the people at the job centre, infact ironically some think their jobs are at risk lol

[10phizz]

Hi Streety. well done on the job.

Just rediscovered the thread !  (don`t know if I will ever find it again )

I do hope you can get a bit of help. no-one can live on fresh air

[soppysofty]

Your WTC is fixed until April 2014 so that is money you can bank on.

Your housing benefit/council tax benefit is a moveable feast.  Do you know how much more you will be earning (gross - before deductions) in your new job?

The basic rule of thumb is that any council benefits are worked out on the following scale:

Total up the rent you pay to your landlord, if applicable, and the amount of council tax you pay before any benefit deductions.  If you work out how much you are getting in a four week period then the equation is a lot simpler.

So take your rent per week and your council tax per week and add them together, then multiply by 52 and divide by 13. That is total 'A'.

Now add up your WTC payment and your new gross wages.  Again, work out the four week amount.  Your WTC is already a four week amount so you need to take your new weekly gross wage and multiply by 52 and then divide by 13.  This is Total 'B'.

Now deduct total 'A' from total 'B'. and then deduct £80.00 from the result.

If the answer is a negative figure then you will be entitled to help with your rent/council tax.  If the answer is a positive figure then you are earning more than the benefit system says you need to live on so you have escaped the benefits trap.  Well done.

Your local council's website should have a benefit calculator on it so use it for a precise answer.

Do not forget, you need to visit the council's benefit team before you start your new job to explain your change of circumstances otherwise you run the risk of an overpayment which they will claim back from you and could affect your ability to claim benefit in the future.

If you have any other questions please PM me and I will try to help you further.

[**streety**]

Get this.. Just been to Job centre to tell them I will be starting work with more hours and got told because it's not until Nov I will still have to search for jobs and apply for jobs until my start date.

It's not until nov because my current job requires a months notice.  Therefore any job I apply for now is pointless because I wouldn't be able to start it for a month!
Advisor said that I have to look for temporary work.. How can I get it through to them that I work a few hours every day that has now become temporary as I've handed my notice in and if I apply for anything else I won't be able to start that because I cant leave my current job for a month.  My current job is from 11 and I'm not usually home until 2.  I have tried to get the odd cleaning job to fit around but it's not happened.

[bitsnknots]

Aren't they brilliant?  I've heard one story of a job centre arranged for one lady to go for a job interview on the day she was being admitted to a hospice to die from cancer.  How insensitive is that?  They have no common sense or compassion whatsoever.

[**streety**]

There was a guy in his early 60's there yesterday.  Bless him the lady was having a go at him because he hadn't (in her opinion) tried hard enough to search.  She was really huffy with him because his email account had been hacked and he said he was having problems that way.
I bet he'd been working hard and paying his taxes 30 odd years before she was born!   I understand they have to do as their job description requires but there is nothing wrong with manners.

I also heard of a lady who was sanctioned and lost four weeks pay because she couldn't make it in to sign as her Mum had just died. 

Honestly it has also now got tougher.  The reqiurements are tougher now.  Anyone who says it's free money hasn't signed on recently.   They make you work for it and it costs you emotionally and physically.  It is soul destroying.  It is like  being at work with a nasty boss who constantly pulls you into their office to tell you you are not good enough.

[guardpig]

Several years ago some guy tried to burn down our job centre and I could totally understand why and I wasn't claiming when I was there!

Friend of mine is now working irregular hours and keeps getting changes as she put it.  If I earn an extra 50 it would be nice if I kept a tenner but instead they are taking 60 so I am worse off working the overtime.  Now where she works they are cutting staff which is why overtime is available and if you don't work it .........................................

[guardpig]

Best one I heard was a chap turned away because he was too early for his appointment.  He asked to use the toilet and was told no and directed to the public loos - the ones which shut over 20 years ago!!!!

[hansrey64]

streety - how do you get JSA when you have a job ( i know you are starting a new job etc)??

[**streety**]

hansrey.. While on JSA I found my current job but as it was under 16 hours a week and a low wage I still had to carry on signing on for a little bit of a top up.   They deduct your wage from the JSA amount and pay you the difference.

[hansrey64]

Streety - oh right! 

[kaeptm]

I was made redundant earlier in the year. I was advised to claim jobseekers as anything I was entitled to would be deducted from my claim with the redundacy service, whether claimed or not.

I was advised to claim jobseekers as anything I was entitled to would be deducted from my claim with the redundancy service.

I had to attend several appointments. Not once was I seen at the appointed time, being left to wait for anything up to an hour. During  this this waiting time I was able to observe the civil servants "at work"

The majority of them would never be able to hold down a  job in the private sector, they chatted amongst themselves, they made long chatty private phone calls, they appeared to spend huge amounts of time had  just doing nothing.

I never received an apology for being kept waiting. I was spoken to as if I was a simpleton and found their whole attitude to be completely condescending. You have to go along with however they treat you and you have to do whatever they tell you to do, as they have the power to mess up your claim.

Fortunately I found a short term contract job for 4 months within 3 weeks. When I told them I had a job that started in a fortnights time, I too was told I had to continue applying for jobs and keep a record. I told them but I've got a job and have accepted the offer, but they insisted I had to continue to apply for jobs in case the job I had fell through, and unless I could prove I had continued to search I wouldn't be able to re-open my claim.

The 4 month contract has now ended. I'm looking for another job, but will not sign on as it was so much of a bad experience and took a lot of time. Because I have a mortgage and no children, I only received basic jsa, I just don't think it's worth the aggro.........but maybe that's just what they want to happen.

[**streety**]

kaeptm -  That's what I've been told as I wrote up there ^^^ somewhere.   I have to look for temp work even though I cant possibly start that temp work for a month as I have to give a months notice..
II has a different advisor who told me not to worry about applying but just do a search, only then to recieve a call from my usual advisor who said that I must apply for temp work for the month.. Why wont they understand that I have to work my notice so cant start temp work?  Grrrr.. 
I can only get work for an hour or two in the mornings before I leave for my current job.. That's pretty hard to find tbh, god knows I've tried.
I really hope I dont have to sign on again.

[guardpig]

Yep, I demanded daughter be seen now please one day when she was kept waiting for an hour and all the people arriving after her had been seen.  General attitude was that she had nothing else to do - being unemployed.  My rejoinder was that I had plenty of other things to do - not being unemployed.

[ginap.123]

Can any one explain why daughters ex who is on benefits just has the money paid into his bank & doesn't have to sign on or apply for anything. He is a healthy 35 yr old who has not worked since leaving school.