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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Those in receipt of certain benefits not allowed go abroad

84 replies

manicinsomniac · 15/09/2013 13:59

I'm the first to admit I don't know much about the system and am very poor with news etc so apologies if this is common knowledge but - is this for real?!

One of my friends has replied to a group email to say that she can't come a weekend trip abroad because she is on job seekers allowance and her benefits will be stopped if she leaves the country!?

My friend is a highly qualified, intelligent and hard working individual who just doesn't happen to be able to find a job right now. She's not a criminal, why prevent her from leaving the country. It's degrading and humiliating?!

I don't want to question her about it in case she's making it up rather than say she can't afford it right now. I'd be sad if she felt embarrassed to say that but really hope she isn't actually being prevented by the government from leaving the country for a short break.

If it is true it certainly puts paid to all those 'anecdotes' about 5 foreign holidays a year abroad while on benefits!

AIBU to think that this policy, if true, is completely unacceptable and enfringing on personal freedom to a bizarre and uneccesary degree?

OP posts:
dementedma · 15/09/2013 15:27

We paid for dd1 to come on holiday with us abroad for one week and her JSA was stopped. With the immediacy of email etc it was hardly likely a job would suddenly pop up and be hers immediately but there you are. She is going abroad again in November to visit a friend but is wiser now and will lie about it.

dandydorset · 15/09/2013 15:36

ive been unemployed for 12months now and last week they told me i sign on twice a week now

fair enough if everybody is doing it but the rest still sign evert 2wks,while my office the single parents sign once a week and if unemployed after 11-12mth then its twice,single parents only this effects

discrimination towards single parents springs to my mind

thecook · 15/09/2013 16:11

I would not tell the benefits office if it didn't affect my signing on day.

'Available for work?' And the staff in the job centre are going to find you a job? The majority are lazy bastards

.

NicknameIncomplete · 15/09/2013 16:18

I have been signing on for years and I have had day trips here and there. Even a few days away at the other end of the country. Why should the jobcentre care as long as I am still looking for work and attend my signing on appointment.

sarahtigh · 15/09/2013 17:24

hidden in rules and regs you can have upto 2 weeks in UK holiday where you are available for work but not seeking work, they do not tell you this but it can be found if you read the whole act on gov.uk

you can also arrange to sign on elsewhere if say you were going to your parents provided you are still actively seeking work

unfortunately you need to know the law better than people in JCP as sometimes they are known for giving the impression that certain things are mandatory when they are not and bluffing when they do not know or remember the small print

quoteunquote · 15/09/2013 18:16

Find a job(s) for her to be interviewed for at the holiday destination.

StHelenInPerson · 15/09/2013 18:44

9/10 chance that your friend can't afford to go if she is on jsa with no savings or family to gift/pay it for her.

Other than that its only a weekend and doubt she could be sanctioned for a weekend away considering the job centre isn't even open on a weekend,she is probably saving face and not saying she can't afford it.

Darkesteyes · 15/09/2013 18:50

So the placement stopped him from signing on even though they wernt even paying him any wages.

THIS is where the bloody entitlement is with employers who take advantage.

And yet we get so many right wing MNers calling the claimant entitled Confused Like expat said Haha Hang around here a while! minsmum if it were me i would be naming and shaming that employer.

Darkesteyes · 15/09/2013 18:56

dandy when me and DH were signing on back in the late 90s they made me sign a form saying i would consider part time work.
DH was made to do no such thing.
Because women only have to work for pin money right Confused
And sex discrimination laws against this sort of thing came in in 1975.

minsmum · 15/09/2013 22:21

it wasn't the employers fault they had arranged with the job centre for him to be on a course that was out of the area and as far as they were concerned had sorted it out with the jobcentre. We reckon his advisor is just a horrible person and because he has ld's he was an easy target.

GobbySadcase · 15/09/2013 22:25

Why are people surprised about this?

Oh that's right. Doesn't fit with the 'cushy' prejudice held by many on here about life on benefits.

Carers have to attend work focused interviews too, you know? I had no one to take the kids (summer hols) so had to take them with me...

justmakingdo · 15/09/2013 22:29

Benefit stops if you go abroad
You are not classed as actively seeking work if you are abroad and have no entitlement to benefit.
You make a rapid reclaim when you are back in the country

IneedAsockamnesty · 15/09/2013 22:45

She can be sanctioned if she goes they still expect you to job seek at the weekends.

IAmNotAMindReader · 15/09/2013 23:02

When my dad was signing on in 1979 they had to be informed. He could have not said anything and took the chance and gone abroad but he had a young family and didn't want to take the chance so he stayed in the UK and informed then. However even back then there were some jumped up little jobsworths who didn't think it right and when he got back something had been cocked up and he received no money for 6 weeks.

These days despite what the legislation says a lot depends on your advisor. Some would be ok about it and some would find a day trip or being unable to attend due to work placement or interview reason enough for sanction.

The fact that that insane decision would be reversed at appeal isn't going to make one ounce of difference to the eyeball level shit some people would find themselves in due to having no income and nothing to fall back on during that time. So its no surprise that they won't take the risk and want to keep their heads down.

happygirl87 · 16/09/2013 20:19

I went to sign on for first time last week. You are absolutely prohibited from going abroad. You can have 2 weeks hol in UK, but not leave the country. You have to sign a declaration to say you won't/haven't. They probably wouldn't know if you lied (unless you missed an appt), but that is benefit fraud, and I for one wouldn't commit that.

DownstairsMixUp · 16/09/2013 20:25

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

BettyBotter · 16/09/2013 20:39

I don't think it's harsh and I'm a woolly lentil weaving liberal.

If you're not in the Uk you can't realisitcally be looking for work on those days and it is a 'Job Seekers Allowance' to pay you for your job seeking costs.

But stories of taking weeks to sign back on again and losing months of benefit are exaggerated because you can do what's called a 'Rapid Reclaim' the day you get back from your holiday and your claim gets started again much more immediately.

If you holiday in the Uk you are in theory still responding to emails, phoning employers and sending off applications every day. You might also be checking out your prospects in the area you are visiting so still 'job seeking'.

revealall · 16/09/2013 20:51

I am confused...
If you holiday in the Uk you are in theory still responding to emails, phoning employers and sending off applications every day. You might also be checking out your prospects in the area you are visiting so still 'job seeking'
Why can't you do that in Europe? Checkout the usual sites,press the attach CV and send button on the computer.

expatinscotland · 16/09/2013 20:53

'But stories of taking weeks to sign back on again and losing months of benefit are exaggerated because you can do what's called a 'Rapid Reclaim' the day you get back from your holiday and your claim gets started again much more immediately.'

It still takes a week or two and, in the meantime, your housing benefit is stopped.

IneedAyoniNickname · 16/09/2013 20:57

I have a friend who's dh is a long term Jsa claimant, they definitely have more than 2 weeks away per year as they go to visit his parents a lot (in the UK). Afaik he tells the jc he's away, and rearranges to come in another day. Confused

IneedAsockamnesty · 16/09/2013 21:04

Betty.

I would expect a rapid reclaim to take at least 14 days often 28

sophiaverloren · 16/09/2013 21:05

I was on jsa earlier this year. we had a holiday booked and paid for abroad during that time. As others have experienced, I had to sign off and was advised to make a rapid reclaim when I returned. During that week I applied for 2 jobs, had a phone interview and spoke to agencies about callbacks following 2 other interviews. There was absolutely no difference from me being on the south coast of England or30 odd miles away in northern France! Technology makes mockery of such rules...

SPsTotallyMullerFuckingLicious · 16/09/2013 21:07

I did a rapid reclaim last year in September when they fucked up my claim. I started getting paid a week before Christmas.

I wouldn't rely on that. A holiday isn't worth been skint for nearly 4 month

Loa · 16/09/2013 21:07

And even then, well, my mate had an interview at the exact time as her sign on time. The JobCentre told her to ring them up and change the interview time! .

DH, only signed on a few weeks, was told this as well when he phoned to ask what he should do.

His actual advisor just change the date - she seemed to like him have a PHd and looking way further than 90 minutes. It was getting through to her rather than the generic advice that meant interview didn't cock up things.

I was thinking same revealall these days you can job hunt aboard as efectively as at home.

As for Rapid Reclaim I expect you have to know about it.

I spent weeks being told Maternity Allowance ( a benefit if you don't get Statutory Maternity Pay but have worked for 26 weeks of pg) didn't exist by the advisors despite having all the information and forms needed. Went round and round for weeks and weeks- phone calls, trips in and I had everything from the word go.

BettyBotter · 16/09/2013 21:10

Yeah, not pretending it's not crap. It is.

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