To think the Job Seekers Allowance staff are the biggest bunch of know-nothing sloping shoulder wastes of space ever?s

[BuntyPenfold]

Or have other people different experiences?
I have worked nearly all my life, except for one year I took off, when my GS was born and my daughter was ill.
Now I am redundant, that is the only year of contributions they will look at.
My bastard ex-employer has not paid my wages, and I can't get JSA either. They just hung up on me.
I hope all their teeth fall out.
Someone cheer me up please.

some info here

from www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/downloads/dl-money-tax-and-benefits/qc_jsa.pdf

National Insurance contributions for
contribution-based Jobseeker?s Allowance
Whether you are entitled to contribution-based JSA depends
on the National Insurance contributions you have paid over
the last two complete tax years before the benefit year you
make your claim in.
A benefit year starts in January (on the first Sunday of that
month) and ends the following January (on the Saturday
immediately before the first Sunday of that month). Here is
an example.
If you made a claim on 15 February 2005, this would fall in
benefit year 2005. This means that we would use the
contributions you paid during the tax years 2002-2003 and
2003-2004 to work out your benefit.
If you have received other benefits before you claim
Jobseeker?s Allowance, this may affect the date your claim
will begin. If you are in any doubt about the contributions
you have paid and how this will affect your contributionbased
Jobseeker?s Allowance, please speak to you local Social
Security or Jobs & Benefits office. This is especially important
towards the end of the tax year. The contribution year your
benefit is based on will change in January

If you're not entitled to something then that isn't the fault of the staff at the job centre. I think its unfair to call them a waste of space because they haven't told them what you wanted to hear.

I worked for 10+ years, did a 3 year midwifery degree and then couldn't find a job. I wasn't entitlesd to anything as I had no NI contributions in the last 2 years. Didn't seem fair to me but I don't blame the Job Centre staff.

Betsyboop thank you, yes, I first claimed in November and was refused - fair enough- (was made redundant in October) and I looked up that the new benefit year starts in January so I tried to claim in January.
But they say the claim is linked, and so I am not entitled now either.

If I had waited 3 months from then, I would get JSA now, but I did not know.

As I tried to claim inside 3 months, it just adds another 3 months of no JSA.

Viva the Job centre staff are all contradicting each other. That is why I called them a waste of space. They have told me to appeal, there is no appeal, there is no appeals procedure, the wording to use in my appeal, that I cannot appeal. Fgs, that is pathetic.

OP - yep any claim within 12 weeks will automatically be linked to the previous claim.

Yes of course you can appeal, but the appeal will only succeed if the rules were wrongly applied, which from what you said they weren't :(

some info re linked periods: from NI, but I think it's the same rules in England

{{http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/jsa_background_information.pdf}}

There are several other key rules that can also affect a claimant?s entitlement to benefit:

Waiting days
The first three days of a job seeking period are called waiting days and no JSA is
payable for these days. Certain people are excluded from serving waiting days:
those who claim JSA within 12 weeks of a previous entitlement to JSA,
Income Support, Incapacity Benefit or Carer?s Allowance ending, or
those who are 16 or 17 years old and getting Jobseeker?s Allowance
under severe hardship rules.

Linking rules

People whose claim to JSA is broken by a period of less than 12 weeks will be
treated as having one continuous claim to JSA. In addition, people who leave
JSA and then claim Incapacity Benefit, Maternity Allowance, Carer?s Allowance
or a Training Allowance or who undertake jury service also have their claims
linked. The linking rules are normally beneficial and ensure, for example, that
claimants do not have to serve a further set of waiting days, and that they retain
their previous entitlement to mortgage interest payments when they reclaim JSA.