Jobseekers Allowance or Income Support - which one should i claim?

[spacedonkey]

I've been made redundant so I'm claiming benefit. Is it better to claim JSA or Income Support? They gave me the choice. Any thoughts anyone?

[starshaker]

whats ur circumstances do u have kids

[marshall]

do you have a dh/dp that is working? if you do i believe you claim job seekers.

if your a single parent i belive you claim income support as you get more to care for your family.

[spacedonkey]

yes I have two kids although only one officially lives with me (it's all very complicated). I can apply for either JSA or Income Support - I think with JSA you get your stamp paid for you, but you have to sign on every fortnight whereas with IS they pretty much leave you to your own devices. I'm just wondering if there's any advantage in claiming one over the other

[spacedonkey]

i don't live with dp no

[starshaker]

if u claimed jsa then u would need to be actively looking for work and if u turned something down or didnt "try hard enough" they would stop ur money. u would be better off with income support

[spacedonkey]

starshaker, that's what I thought, but the adviser who was taking my details sort of pushed me to apply for JSA. I couldn't exactly say "no, I want to apply for income support because I don't want you lot hassling me to scrub toilets"!

[iota]

donkey if you are in receipt of child benefit you do not need to get your 'stamp' paid as you get HRP (home responsibilities protection)

[spacedonkey]

I do get child benefit for my daughter (my ex husband gets CB for our son)

[iota]

HPR here

[spacedonkey]

iota, thanks for that link - I hope when they call me to complete the claim process on monday i can tell them i want to claim IS and not JSA!

[starshaker]

a while ago i was on jsa and got details for a job reading electric meters which i needed a car for (which i did have so not a prob) i had an accident 3 days later and wrote off my car i didnt see the point of applying for the job as had no longer got transport. they stopped my money for 6 weeks cos they said it wasnt a good enough reason so wouldnt recomend jsa lol

[sophiajones]

How much time you work and how much you earn also affects whether you can claim for Income Support. You can't usually claim for Income Support if you are already getting Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). If you need detail information about income support, rules and procedure, then visit here.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

How old are your children living with you? If the youngest is aged 5 or over then you'll be expected to claim JSA and actively seek work, you can't just "tell them" you want to claim IS as the eligibility is different.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

Oh, zombie thread. Weird.