at my wits end

Submitted by darwins_mum on Wed, 04/01/2012 - 4:59pm

I think I have just come here to let off steam tbh.
First signed on 12 weeks ago for the first time in 15 years. jsa in payment, I take the advice of jcp staff and do some agency work, claim cancelled today when I went into my work focus interview as I worked over 16 hours in 1 week. This agency work is no longer available to me. I was advised to go away and complete rapid reclaim - after 25 minutes on the phone, answering pre-recorded questions, advised there is no-one available to take my call! Presumably this farce continues until someone answers the phone? How does one pay ones bills with no money? I have rung my utility provider to advise, they simply gave me the number for their energy trust, but it took several attempts to explain to the customer services rep that I am in receipt of no income at all presently, she kept asking me how I pay my bills, eat etc. Perhaps she thought I was lying? Ho hum.

as I suspect that my council ta benefit will be in jeopardy I ring local authority to advise that I am in the process of making rapid reclaim as I have worked over the festive period, advised to simply send my new award letter once received! No request for previous work details/payslips, despite me stating this on several occassions.

On a more serious note, I am concerned that I was told when I first signed on that I would be eligible for mortgage interest payments after 13 weeks in receipt of jsa, as there has now been a break in my claim, will the clock revert back to zero and the 13 weeks have to start all over again?

I am currently veering from laughing to crying at the f**king absurdity of it. I haven't had this much fun since my last stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Have a great day y'all

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Submitted by stephw2w on Wed, 04/01/2012 - 6:18pm.

Bless you! Until you experience "the system" you really don't know how absurd it is - sorry you're having to find out the hard way. You think you're doing the right thing, but if only you had known the consequences!

As long as the break in your claim is less than 13 weeks then it should be treated as continuous for JSA purposes, meaning you won't have to start the 13 week waiting period all over again, but do check with JCP. You may have noticed that 13 is the lucky number as far as benefits is concerned!

JCP staff often aren't the best at giving advice or telling people the full story. Don't let them fob you off when you ask for information and make sure they tell you the implications of any action before you take it. If possible get them to write it down as well! The direct gov website is quite good for information about benefits and how work and volunteering will affect you, so could be worth perusing.

Good luck and whatever you do don't try and make sense of any of this .... there isn't any! :)