Can't unemployed folk have a holiday??

[Flower3554]

DH has worked most of his life since the age of 15, some years back he began doing contract steel work and the result of this is that he is sometimes out of work and signing on. He is not usually unemployed for long, weeks rather than months IYSWIM

His last contract ended in February and he has been unemployed since then. While this is longer than normal it's not something he's responsible for, he's applying for every contract going.

Our 2 DD's had booked a holiday last year along with DD2's boyfriend for this July. DD2 then split with boyfriend so her dad said he would take his place so they didn't lose out on the holiday.

While signing on today he was told that he must sign off before his holiday then sign back on when he returns.

He claims for both of us, I'm not going on holiday so it seems unfair that I'm penalised as well.

Fingers crossed he finds work before July eh

Its one of the rules on job seekers, if you are not actively available for work you have to sign off.

Well flower, I think it is disgraceful personally. He has worked hard most of his life and the holiday was booked when he was working... nobody has crystal balls!

Personally, as DD2's boyfriend has caused the trouble I think he should pay for you both for the two weeks since everyone else has been inconvenienced by his inability to keep it in his pants.

I don't recall him saying thanks to me for paying a full half of the holiday or saying thanks to you guys for bailing us out by dad coming and paying a quarter share of the holiday THEY both suggested we have!

Of course I will leave it up up to you to ask DD2 to pass this on to the ex since DD1 is a coward and would not dare tell her sister this!

I used to work in the job centre many a year ago when they transitioned from "unemployment benefit" to "job seekers" and the reason they re-named it was because they felt that you should be actively "job seeking" and not just unemployed.

Sadly he will have to sign off, if it was in this country he could have called into the job centre where he was away as I believe they have access to his local area's jobs on the computer and then he would have been actively seeking work despite the holiday.

It does seem unfair but it just means that he doesn't get paid for the period where he is unavailable for work.

why can't you claim for yourself while he is away?

If he's not available for work, he's not entitled to the benefit.

I have 19 weeks holiday in my job per year. I might go away for 2 weeks max, so 17 of those weeks is staying at home. It is very restful and valueable. You don't have to go away to have a holiday.

Grrr on your behalf, flower.

the reason they renamed 'job seekers' allowance' was IMO to lie about unemployment - hurrah, we've abolished it, see there ARE no unemployed people. Just like renaming Windscale Sellafield. And to patronise unemployed people and make it sound like hand out rather than a contributory benefit: "allowance" not "benefit".

This happened to my friend. She was feeling so low so her parents took her on holiday with them. She had to sign off the dole for 2 weeks, then sign back on when she got back. When she found a job she lost the back to work bonus because, due to having to start signing on again, she had not been unemployed for long enough. Crazy!

Flower, someone I know also found out about the holiday thing lately - they were just going to visit family abroad (flight had been booked and paid for before they became unemployed) and in fact the person spent a lot of the week on the phone and internet actively job-seeking, speaking to recruitment agencies, etc.

I remember many years ago in ireland you used to be allowed a couple of weeks "holiday" a year when signing on without it affecting your benefits.

why doe she claim for both of you?