JSA - is this really how it works now?

[SurelyYouCannotBeSerious]

DD is unemployed, as her 2-year contract (her first job) has come to an end. She applied for JSA and has just been rejected.

She won't get means-tested benefits due to savings, mainly from grandparents, but we expected she would get contribution-based JSA as she has two years of NI payments. Ha! Her rejection letter says she does not have enough contributions in the tax years up to April 2021 and April 2022, i.e. 18 months ago! At that point she had only been working for 6 months.

These criteria seem like random nonsense. Is this really the system now?

I think it's because everything seems to have moved across to UC which has the means tested aspect.

Will she be eligible for Universal Credit instead? That's what googling seems to suggest she should apply for

I don't think she would due to having savings.

TBH it's not so much about the money as about the NI payments, and the pressure from the job centre to keep applying for jobs!

It just seems so weird that they are basing her eligibility on her status 18 months ago.

It’s always been that way. The last two complete tax years before the beginning of the benefit year.

Can she use some of her savings to top up her missing NI payments?

Here's the relevant information. Unfortunately , she doesn't qualify. If she has significant savings, then that will be why she can't get universal credit.

It's two tax years rather than calender years.

She shouldn't go to the job centre if she's not receiving any benefits. There's no point in doing that.

It's been two tax years for a long time. She doesn't need to go to the job centre. I'd put effort into finding a temp job and continuing to apply for others.

Guess I'm out of touch. It's a long time since I claimed any benefits.

This has been the case for many many years. However, if she closes her claim now and waits over 13 weeks to reclaim then the tax years used to assess the new claim will change to 21/22 and 22/23 so she may qualify then. She will miss out on national insurance credits for that period though.
If she las less than £16000 in savings then she can claim income-based JSA x

Apologies, UC not income-based JSA x

So the NI contributions are based on tax years but the benefits are based on calendar years?
Jesus.

Yes. Been that way going back to at leat the 80s.

More or less - the benefit year actually starts on the first Sunday in January. So for 2024 it will start on 7 January x