Jobseekers Allowance Queries

[CheshireDing]

I (and others) were made redundant mid January without warning. As I was still on 6 months probation all I was entitled to was payment up to the date of redundancy and roughly a weeks unused holidays.

I left it a few days because I was obviously hoping to get a replacement job but so far that has not happened as I do not really work in the best industry to be in in a recession (property law).

I filled in the paperwork for the Job Centre and asked for the claim to be backdated to the day after I was made redundant.

I have received a letter today which states:-

1. "We have decided that you have not shown good cause for the delay in making your claim" - so it will not be backdated.

1. We cannot pay you Jobseekers Allowance after 28th July "because your entitlement based on Class 1 National Insurance Contributions has run out"

1. We will pay you Jobseekers Allowance of £71 per week from 24th Jan (however the next pay says Contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance of £71 living expenses from 30th Jan-9th April) - Are these 2 separate amounts then?

I have checked what Class 1 means and I do not seem to be in that criteria. I have worked full time since I was 16 (am now 36) excluding a year abroad and a year of ML (2011/2012). Surely I have paid enough NI?

Any thoughts would be appreciated regarding any of my points and whether I can also ask them to re-look at why I delayed claiming (I thought I was being a good citizen holding off claiming!) :(

You can only claim 6 months of JSA based on Contributions and those need to have been made in last 2 years iirc . So after July you'd need to reclaim based on income.

Doesn't entitlement to jobseekers allowance depend on NI insurance contributions for the prevous year? I might be wrong.

So is it because I was on ML? (although I thought the NI got paid for you while you were on ML?)

Sorry just to clarify the year abroad and the ML were not consecutive, the year abroad was YEARS ago :)

No iirc you can only claim up to 6 months' worth initially regardless

It's dreadfully badly worded: it means "you have paid enough NI to qualify for contributions based JSA. This entitlement runs until 28 July"

Okay thanks Lizs so is it potentially a bit of a red herring the "your NI contributions have ran out" (they are not actually saying I haven't paid enough)? So are you said I then need to re-claim at the end of July - although hopefully will have a job by then!

Do you have any thoughts on my point 1 as to whether I can query the backdated days?

Thank you

Ah yes sort Med crossed posts, this is what I was hoping.

I don't think I am stupid but yes I did not think it was a very clearly written letter.

They're saying the entitlement runs out (ie after the normal 6 months), not that your contibutions are inadequate (for it would not be paid at all if they thought that).

It is very rare to have jsa claim backdated simply because it is so easy to make a claim now (phone,online). Not doing so because you thought you would get a job quickly is not regarded as a reason to backdate a claim. You can of course appeal against this decision as you can the majority of DWP decisions if you think you hve a good enough case for reconsideration.

You will need to make an income based claim at the end of your present claim. Bear in mind that income from a partners wages etc will be taken into account though .

And yes the letters are dire but apparently cannot be rewritten as this would apparently cost £millions -and no Im not joking.

Can you get JSA for more than a year? I thought it only ran for 6months?

Thank you everyone, your help was appreciated :)