Question about why friend is only getting contributory JSA - is this right?

[worriedsick100]

This is a quick question for a friend of mine. I should be grateful if anyone can help with this. He is on contributory jobseekers allowance (the benefit based on the amount of NI contributions one has made) only and no other benefits. This is what he has been told he is entitled to and has been being paid about £70 ish for the last 4 weeks. That is to pay rent, council tax etc and he is at risk of losing the room he rents in a house share.

I queried this with him because he has minimal savings (I would guess £1000?) only and no other income? Should he not be entitled to some other help?

Please can anyone explain why he might only be entitled to this and not and not to any other benefits such as council tax and housing benefit? He has tried to rise this issue at the job centre but he said they were uninterested. I am concerned that he is actually missing out on benefits he should be entitled to and that they will not backdate this as and when they do look into it. I should grateful for any advice on this. Many thanks.

He has to apply for HB and council tax benefit through his council, the JobCentre have zero to do with it. If he has savings over a certain amount (a few thousand) he may be ineligible for HB until those savings are exhausted.

Is he living on his own in rented accomodation?

Sorry - you've just said house share.
The incomes of his housemates could be being taken into consideration as household income.

He's not automatically entitled to Housing and Council Tax benefit as he's on contributions-based JSA, meaning that the Job Center has not checked his income or savings.

He'd need to apply for them separately through the council. He'll fill in forms about his income and savings, and it may take a few weeks to 2 months to be processed, depending on how busy his council is. It'll be backdated to the date of application, if he's entitled, but not too when he started to be entitled. Ignorance of the rules isn't a defence, unfortunately. He'll need a valid tenancy agreement, too.\

Housemate income isn't taken into consideration unless you declare them as part of your household - ie your partner. There is space on the form to say that you are sharing with strangers, and you don't need to declare their incomes, etc.

He will need to prove that he is responsible for x amount of the rent per month.

ok will tell him. Thanks. I think they all pay for own room (like students). Is there an issue if they are all on one agreement as suspect this will be the case rather then each having separate agreement? I am not sure if this is the case - will ask him.

I don't really understand the comment above that he is not automatically entitled to Housing and Council tax benefit as he is on contribution based JSA. I originally (and I believe incorrectly) thought that contribution based JSA was only paid people who had savings and were not entitled to any other help but had paid in sufficient NI. Looking at gov website though it looks like contribution based JSA is always paid first and then income based JSA. On that basis people might fit the criteria for both and would be paid contribution based JSA first and therefore not be automatically entitled to Housing and Council tax benefit? Not sure if my question is clear by it just seems a bit illogical.

For those who qualify, Conts based JSA is always paid first for the first 28 weeks of a claim. So even if he had no other income, he would still get the JSA C to start off with and then after 28 weeks his conts exhaust and he would then be entitled to income based JSA ( but he needs to complete a JSA3 form at around week26 to make sure this happens). JSA C always comes first.
However, as he is getting JSA C the council won't have any clue about his income/savings so he needs to apply to them separately. (If he were immediately entitled to JSA income based then the council may not have needed to reassess his income.)
As he has a shared tenancy he may need to prove/state he isn't in a relationship with anyone else in the house (simple form called LTF1)
Does that make sense?!

Yes, that's right.

Contributions-based has a much smaller applying time - they simply check that he's paid enough NI. Income-based takes a lot longer. In most cases, the applicant needs money quickly, so contributions-based is always started first. THe applicant can then fill out the forms for income-based, and if entitled, the amount they are paid will increase.

You don't need to wait for the contributions-based to run out to apply for income-based, and then housing and council tax benefit would be automatic.

As long as his tenancy agreement is legal, and everyone is named, it should be okay. The council will usually accept a letter from the landlord clarifying, anyway.

yep - what a mine field. I was thinking how is expected to pay living expenses on £70 a week. Is there any other help he may be entitled to? He is a very bright, dynamic person trying very hard to get back into any work ( he has been working 70-80 hour weeks) but has so far been unsuccessful. Thanks for your post.