New Jobseekers

[Wheresmrpenguin]

I'm on the new job seekers and struggling to find work. I have just over £16k in savings due to redundancy payment so not eligible for UC.
Online it says I get 3 months on JSA and then it's reviewed. What happens then? Am I expected to use my savings?
I want to spend some of my money on a training course £2k which might take me under the £16k.
If I did that could I then be eligible for UC after my JSA time runs out?

New style JSA will run for 28 weeks, I'm not sure what the 3 month thing is that you mention.
You can spend savings reasonably. I would check with the DWP first whether it is ok to spend savings on education and to check it would not be seen as deprivation of capital.
You are allowed to have 6k of savings on Uc without any effect on the amount you get. Anything between 6k and 16k would reduce your Uc by £4.35 for every £250 over 6k , so around £17 for every 1k. hope this helps.

Just to add, if your savings are just over 16k then as soon as they drop below 16k you can claim UC. If the savings continue to drop then you just need to keep UC updated via your online journal that savings have dropped and the amount they take off for savings will adjust. To be honest though with a deduction for savings you are realistically going to get more by continuing to claim the New style JSA for as long as you can.

What are your circumstances? do you have rent/ kids etc as obviously that would affect the amount of UC you get.

The three month thing is a review of your claimant commitment. They might ask you to expand your job search, if you've limited it to a particular field or minimum salary currently.

@Babyroobs

New style JSA will run for 28 weeks, I'm not sure what the 3 month thing is that you mention. You can spend savings reasonably. I would check with the DWP first whether it is ok to spend savings on education and to check it would not be seen as deprivation of capital. You are allowed to have 6k of savings on Uc without any effect on the amount you get. Anything between 6k and 16k would reduce your Uc by £4.35 for every £250 over 6k , so around £17 for every 1k. hope this helps.

That's great thanks, I thought it was 3 months and then stopped so I've been panicking a bit, I'm about 2 months in. Yeah I'm at around £19k between me and my Dp and my dp is still managing to put a tiny bit into savings but not much, he's not on a big salary but enough to just keep us going and jsa is a helpful top up . I got made redundant at the end of my maternity so I have a 1.5 year old so my expectations aren't as high as I'm quite limited for hours and location.

@CorrBlimeyGG that's a relief thankyou, I thought I'd read it somewhere when I joined up but couldn't find anything or what happens next.

To be honest you may get more from new style JSA than Uc if you have an earning partner. It just depends whether you have rent to pay etc and what he comes out with net per month.

@Babyroobs

To be honest you may get more from new style JSA than Uc if you have an earning partner. It just depends whether you have rent to pay etc and what he comes out with net per month.

It's possible, especially if it takes off the £4.35 off and I'd always stay on the edge of the £16k, I wouldn't want to stop saving either. I get just short of £300 monthly which isn't bad. Tbf, looking at most of the jobs I applied (I didn't get after interview) and after childcare I was actually better off on JSA than working but i'm going mad not working.