In thinking people should have enough help when they go back into work?

[GratefulHead]

I have a friend who has had a long term mental health problem. After twenty years of ill health he is finally stable enough to work once again. He has found himself a zero hours contract job as a carer and started tuba week having been advised to sign off JSA etc.

He started this week to discover he won't get any pay until the end of Octobwr because of the way the pay roll system works. There appears to be little in the way of income he can claim in the meantime. How in the hell is he meant to survive?

JSA has stopped.
Income Support has stopped.
He might be able to claim WTC if the company give him enough hours.

In the meantime he has rent to pay, council tax to pay, gas and electric etc.

I mean, God forbid he should want to keep warm and cook food.

He is already panicking and all I can see is that he will end up going downhill into a mental health crisis despite the support I can give him.

Surely it shouldn't be THIS hard to go back into work.

Being cynical all I can think is that the Jobcentre and Govt are happy that another unemployed person is off their books in a shitty contract...but that he can starve as long as their figures look good.

Trying to find out how he lives financially until his first pay day seems nigh on impossible. I have advised him to go back to the no centre and ask for help as they surely cannot just abandon him.

He was at one point on IB/ESA but has recovered well enough not to meet the criteria any more. However, if they are looking for ways to send him back there then this situation he is currently in seems a pretty good one.

I will feed him if needed, he is my friend and I look after my friends. He has no family ...nobody else to look out for him. How many other people are in these circumstances?

I am wondering if he can reclaim JSA for a while....

[playftseforme]

Can he ask for an advance on his pay?

[happyyonisleepyyoni]

I dont know if there is any help from the Job Centre (emergency loan?) but two things spring to mind:

1. He should ask his employer if they can pay him at least in part sooner than the end of October as this will cause him hardship, that is a ridiculous delay. Even if they have to pay an advance by cheque.
   

1. He should speak to his bank and ask if he can have a temporary overdraft. Again explaining the situation of a new job, benefits stopped. Can happen to people going from weekly to monthly pay as well.

[ICanSeeTheSun]

www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/further-information

Help with rent.

[GratefulHead]

Apparently not, have suggested he ask and the answer so far is no.
He has been given a small amount to buy a travel pass so he can get to work (he doesn't drive) by the Jobcentre but it seems beyond that he is on his own.

[GratefulHead]

Have advised him to ask about housing benefit and extended help with council tax.

It seems that there is nothing else though,

At the end of October they will pay him for September....so a months pay He will get Octobers money at end November.....seems to be a month behind all the time.

[annawake]

I got four weeks' housing/council tax benefit when I returned to work after being on ESA, and also £40 a week for the first year, but that scheme I think has ended now. I also got tax credits and applied for a budgeting loan which helped cover the first month of expenses, but not sure if he could apply for it once he's come off benefits. My DLA also continued after I started work as it's not means-tested. For tax credits, he should only need to work 16 hours to get working tax credits if he's disabled. My CPN helped me sort out my benefits and grants, does he have one who can support him?

[amyhamster]

I seem to recall there is something called a hardship fund for this sort of thing?

or he could go to Credit Union and get an interest free loan until he's paid - ask CAB for details