Jobseekers allowance

[Floofydawg]

Has anyone applied for this recently. How bad is the process and do they force you to apply for jobs which are not relevent to your experience? Have just been made redundant and wondering whether I should apply for it.

Oops posted too soon. I don't mind giving regular phone updates. I just can't be arsed traipsing to a job centre f2f every week.

That attitude is going to annoy the Daily Mail

Mine were over the phone except the first one as there was some sort of industrial action at my job centre but I wouldn't have minded going if I'd had to, the conversations were all short and sweet. The £ has been welcome. Never claimed any sort of benefits and paid my tax & NI all of my working life so was happy to take it.

^ this. I applied recently after being out of work for a few months (didn’t realise JSA still existed, thought it was UC and I wasn’t eligible)

I had to go in person 1st time, and some appointments are f2f, but it’s been on phone so far (every fortnight). My experience is they can see I am serious about getting a new job, and as am 20 years into a decent career it’s taking time. No pressure to take an old job and they have been really pleasant to deal with

Having spent most of my life as one of the 10% or so of tax payers who are bet contributors I definitely feel justified to claim: it’s only £91 a week but I’ve paid in,& also want the NI stamps (which were backdated for me)

^ that should read any old job/something not relevant to my profession

I read my JSA agreement. Willing to travel up to 90 mins each way! Want a higher paid job but this way the extra money will be swallowed up by extra fuel.

I applied for JSA, didn't have a choice. Company went bust, claimed for stat redundancy, anything earned/paid in my official notice period would be deducted from my notice pay whether I'd claimed JSA or not.

I haven't had to provide any proof of job searching or interviews and was never given an amount of time I had to spend searching for jobs...35 hours a week is bollocks. I've had one face to face meeting and 2 phone meetings, was asked if I'd looked for jobs, they didn't ask for any more information. Have secured a new job now, emailed to tell them and received a good luck email back

Don’t worry 6 interviews with Britains unbrightest employers in two months, nothing to worry about.

These days it’s an accolade to the employer if they actually know who they are speaking too (all jokes aside)

Had an interview last Friday who told me to follow up if hadn’t heard by time frame given of mid week oh sometime. #employers of today

I've just applied after being made redundant.

I put down the level of salary I said I can't do minimum wage as it won't cover mortgage and bills. I gave them 3-5 job titles I'm looking for. They want you to treat it as a full time job applying for work and they said (I asked what they expected) apply for 5 jobs a week.

This was my first week but I had the covid and flu booster and was really floored with that so I hope they are understanding. If they deduct a week so be it.

Hoping to not be on it long and start a job in the New Year. It's better for me to work even if it's not what I was doing or same level as my brain will turn to mush otherwise.

I had a very positive experience when I had to claim 2 years ago. As a carer I explained I was only available Pt, I only wanted part time although I was flexible with the hours. And that went on my agreement I also said I needed to not to have to travel more then 20 miles ( the city is 40 miles ) because of being a carer, and that was fine as well. Its possibly different rules for non carers

My advisor was able to help by pointing me to agencies which could have helped with form filling to claim benefits befitting my carers role, not that I wanted to go that route, I like to work and like to fit work around the situation Im in. They also helped in pointing me towards ESP instead of JSA, as I was injured, was still under the hospital. But for the 6/8 weeks I was claiming, after one F2F it was via the telephone and as long as I could say that I had applied for this or that job, gave feedback about how interviews went, they were happy enough

As a PP said, JSA's are there to apply the rules. They arent there to find you a job. However they can get you access to courses if you want, help you apply for start up loans/grants etc. As long as you show you want to work, are looking for work, they are happy. Think I spent more time chatting about day to day life with my advisor then work searching because she knew I was actively looking and wanting to work

They were happy that I passed the 3 courses which did in past three weeks. Showed the exit review PDF file to show it’s funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

I was made redundant a couple of years ago. I'm a nurse and was allowed something like 12 weeks where I could apply for roles that were only relevant to my experience, salary and qualifications, if I had wanted to claim for longer than 12 weeks I would then have had to prove I was applying for anything available.

I had to go to face to face appointments, something like every 2 weeks. Think I got a job after about 8 weeks so didnt claim for long.

I don't remember having to prove I was doing exactly 35 hours job seeking in a week but I had to prove I was doing some applications and working on my cv.

My work coach was very nice and the appointments were only about 5 minutes long when I did have to go in

Thanks, made me chuckle. My interview was face to face.

I had been claiming contribution based / new style JSA and they didn't put me under any pressure to find a job ( I was looking anyway so could honestly report my activities when I signed on but I never felt interrogated)

They may turn the screws a bit tighter for people unemployed a long time but I think they move you to UC after 6 months if you're eligible and it may be a bit different then. Certainly in the early stages of unemployment its quite light touch in my experience.