AIBU to be annoyed about repaying JSA after starting work?

[JSAd]

AIBU to be really annoyed that the one time I’ve ever been eligible for a tiny bit of benefits (outside of CB) that I’ve now been asked to pay it back!

I was made redundant last year, I applied for contribution based JSA and was awarded it. I was sent an appointment for the Job Centre to certify my claim, this was about 6 weeks after I made the claim. During the time I wa lucky enough to receive a job offer and start work.

I received two weeks of JSA in this time and then called them to say I had started a new job and please close my claim. At this point no one said you still need to attend the job centre.

Almost a year later I’ve received a letter saying it was incorrectly paid and I need to repay it. All the dates of unemployment etc are correct so I called them to ask why. Apparently nothing should have been paid before my job centre visit and if I have said I hadn’t been they could have tried to fit me in before I started work (but how was I supposed to know this?!).

I’ve appealed and apparently even their errors are recoverable.

In the grand scheme of money, it’s not the end of the world but it’s so frustrating that people can literally live on it for years having never paid a penny in. Yet I’ve paid more tax in a week sometimes then they paid me and I’ve got to repay it! Yes, I know I’m lucky to have got a job so quickly, I also worked very hard for that, attending multiple interviews a day etc.

YANBU. It's policies like this that make people resentful.

Could you appeal it to a higher body?

There wouldn't be any point, they have the power to recover money overpaid when it's their error.

Yanbu to be annoyed, yabu to think you shouldn’t repay it. It’s only two weeks worth it’s not exactly thousands.

Why should I have to repay when I would have been eligible had I have gone to the appointment at the job centre. I was unemployed for the period I was paid, I was eligible and I was seeking work?

Its amazing how people who claim benefits are easy to get suddenly change their mind when they try for themselves.

Did OP claim benefits were easy to get?

I’m not sure I said they were easy to get, but definitely people seem to manage to get them for a whole for a whole lot longer then I needed them. It also feels like I am easy target to repay as they can simply deduct it from my salary.

That's the point, they're not easy for people who work and need help for a brief period of time.

Yeah it makes no difference if it's their error. You'll still have to pay it back. They overpaid me twice in the last two years, making the amount I get for the rest of the year reduced while I pay it back. It's really annoying.

I'm glad you've got a job. I still don't see really what error occurred. If you were unemployed for the two weeks you were paid for then how is that not valid?

It's probably not the hill to die on though at this point. The last thing you want is to deal with the DWP when you no longer require their support.

but you weren’t eligible as you hadn’t gone to the job centre. It’s that simple.

They have said they shouldn’t have paid anything until the job centre had ‘approved’ the claim and the initial appointment. I never attended the appointment because it was booked for several weeks after I started my new role. If I had told them I hadn’t been when I closed my claim then they could have sorted me an emergency appointment apparently, but as I had no way of knowing any of this I just closed the claim and assumed I would be paid for the eligible weeks.

YANBU but it’s all the benefit bashing that’s led to the DWP tightening up like this.

Right, but how do I know that if the person closing my claim doesn’t tell me? And given my payments had already started. Not to mention the waste of resources using an appointment when I’ve already secured a role.

Or pick on the easy targets.

Wwll arnt you lucky
My 19 yer old son is currently looking for work and its brutal out there.

Gawd. Sounds pretty daft really. I guess just be fortunate you don't need to deal with them anymore. Presumably you can afford to pay it back? They should offer installments though.

It wasn't their error though but yours. You took it upon yourself to think you didn't need to attend the appointment but the appointment was clearly to check your eligibility, even for those two weeks.

It's an easy mistake to make when you are starting a new job, I can imagine myself making the same, but it's not their fault but yours.

Agreed. They go after the soft targets. There are so many debts they cannot collect because the 'experts' work the system so well, I have found they pursue the other kind of client. Those who are genuine and earning. Sorry, OP.

Its actually easier for them to go after people in receipt of benefits as they can claw back the money directly from source.

Right because everyone who has never claimed before knows the appointment is to check the claims and not to help you look for a job?!
I just don’t believe a single person would ask that question when cancelling it.

Because the rules say so! You failed to attend the verification appointment so your claim was never officially open.

Not open yet they started paying me …

This is what the government website says about what the interview is for.

I had a job so IMO reasonable to think I no longer needed to go.

Everyone who's got half a clue knows what the the JCP can be like and that if you don't jump through all their hoops it'll inevitably come and bite you on the arse. Haven't you seen "I, Daniel Blake" or watched any of the many tv programmes where this sort of thing has gone on?

They are shit hot about verification appointments because they get massively slagged off when people make fraudulent claims. I'm surprised they made a payment before the appointment at all, tbh.

Just accept you fucked up and pay back the money, 2 weeks JSA is hardly a fortune and if you can't afford £150 in one hit, they'll let pay it off at a tenner a week or something.

For some reason, a lot of MNetters have endless sympathy and justification for people claiming UC, who may have never paid into the system in their lives, yet don't show the same largesse to pensioners and those claiming JSA, both groups who have been taxpayers prior to claiming. It's bizarre.