Help- have been made redundant. Can you really only claim JSA if you can work full time?

[itwasbanou]

I was made redundant on the day I should have returned from maternity leave (last week)

Today I went to the jobcentre to see about claiming JSA and was told I could only claim if I was able to work full time hours.

Does anyone know if this is true? I was working 15hours a week (in the evenings) and really wanted something similar. I have two children and was SAHM in the day and then worked evenings whilst my husband worked days and looked after the children at night (to avoid childcare costs)

Have been really thrown off guard by all this. Does anyone know whether I'll be able to caim any benefits or whether we'll just have to try and get by? Thanks everyone.

If you have children to care for you can claim JSA as long as you are able to work 16 hours plus.

Unless this has changed since 2004 when I claimed!

This is rubbish (or was, when I was job hunting ayear ago). It was over 16 hours.

I thought it sounded wrong I have to say. Now the kids are in bed I'll do some more searching on their website- I couldn't find the criteria for claiming when I had a look earlier. Thanks for your replies everyone