So now that I’m newly unemployed (first time in over 25 years….) I believe that I will need to sign on to make sure that my NI contributions are still paid.
So any idea what I have to do?
JSA looks like filling in an online form and just providing NI number etc.

Never had to do any of this before….

Thanks

No idea, but good luck with it.

Sorry to hear about losing your job, when it happened to me last time about 10 years ago it was a real battle, the experience at the job centre was not great, its not just JSA, don’t forget to claim council tax benefit as your still liable for council tax.

Might be worth going to citizen advice the forms are or used to be overly complicated and need completing correctly, they will have someone with experience to guide you through.

Hopefully some work will turn up for you soon, try to stay positive, enjoy some extra time out on the bike.

I have had the pleasure of this recently. New owners asset stripped and shut us down in 7 months.

It’s very straight forward and painless.

Like you say just fill in the form online with your personal details.

Far better than the face to face carry on the Mrs went through a few years ago.

Don’t you have to go into the Job Centre with evidence that you’ve been Job Seeking anymore then?
I really enjoyed that. 😏

Don’t you have to go into the Job Centre with evidence that you’ve been Job Seeking anymore then?

I haven’t.

However, I think they are so busy at the moment, they haven’t got round to it.

I signed on for a couple of months during lockdown whilst I waited for a new job to start.
I did it all online, then got a call to verify a few details. They did say they’d normally ask you to come in but with Covid they’re not doing that at the moment. Never had to prove I was applying for jobs either.
It was surprisingly easy actually.

Do it online, then there’s less chance of an admin ‘error’, and will probably be processed faster.

A mate has just gone through it online and said it seemed surprisingly easy

If you have £16,000 or more in savings so, if you’re saving up and trying to buy your first house for instance, like I am, then you’re not entitled to any. I worked hard for those savings and am likely to end up on the street at some point as I work through that money. The government want people to literally have nothing.

If you have £16,000 or more in savings so, if you’re saving up and trying to buy your first house for instance, like I am, then you’re not entitled to any.

That’s what i thought.

However, I had to claim unpaid notice period from gov.uk. They asked online about my JSA claim and I had stated that I hadn’t claimed as I was not eligible due to my savings.

When I received my notice period claim, they had deducted a few hundred pounds for my unclaimed JSA which I was entitled to. Came as a surprise!

So I went online and submitted my JSA claim. It didn’t ask about savings and was successfully processed in a few days. They wouldn’t let me back date it though, so I still lost money.

As far as I know the £16k only applies to Universal Credit not JSA.
That’s how I read it last night.

If I’d have known that then I would have applied three years ago when I left my work. Been on about £3500/yr since then as I’ve been self-employed and not doing very well due to a number of factors. I have been completing self assessment.

Trying to progress through the JSA application (even though it states the £16,000 savings limit (I’m about a couple of thousand over that) and it’s asking what my monthly salary is. I’m paid once I’ve finished the job so not sure what to put there.

From gov.uk

Why should I claim New Style JSA?
Your savings and capital (or your partner’s savings, capital and income) are not taken into account when claiming New Style JSA. However, your earnings and any payment you are getting from a pension can affect the amount you may receive.

gov.uk

If you’re claiming contribution based JSA, you’re entitled to 6 months money regardless of how much you have in the bank.

I successfully claimed back in December, despite declaring £40k works severance settlement in the bank.

Good info here
Think I’m going to need it come the end of October.

Was just about to post the link above.
Savings doesn’t count for ‘new style’ JSA – hoping not to be out of work for the full 6 months…
As long as my NI still gets paid I don’t mind.
To be honest if it came to it I could stick the excess savings in the kids accounts.

Might have to claim UC, depends on your area. It wasn’t a fun experience, the hoops you have to jump through were nuts. Wife had to claim as well. Despite having proved who i was various times on line I still had to go into the job centre to prove who I was, they weren’t interested in my job hunt, was there 5 mins, never had to go again. Had to log my job search on line, 3 to 4 jobs a week, never got any follow up or threats. Had to apply twice though, my wife didn’t make job centre appointment (we didnt realise she had to, she was working), UC cancelled our claim on day 30 then told us afterwards my wife should have made an appointment, had to start again. Wasn’t a good experience, zero practical support or advice but did a could of grand over 5 months which was helpful but went no way to replacing my lost salary.

So do I get this right, you can claim the ‘new style contribution bssed JSA’ for 6 months regardless of savings etc for either yourself or partner. After 6 months this then is means tested so if the claimant has over 16k is entitled to 0 until below 16k. Is that correct? Asking for the wife. Cheers

I signed on a week or so before lockdown and it was all pretty painless. Due to Covid they are not doing interviews. The online process was very simple, but I don’t recall having to declare any savings. After a month or so I hadn’t heard anything, gave them a ring, and it was sorted within a few days indicating when i’d get paid and what back dated entitlement i’d get. So far, not been asked to provide any evidence of job searching.

Try to get their forms in paper format as it is very important that you be able to read all the questions in their entirety before you start filling it in.

This is the Conservative party remember, and the aim of the form is to catch you out by having follow up questions pages into the form, by which time you’ve already filled in one section, and that might then clash or be at odds with what you were going to put.
Contact citizens advice for help in filling it in. Some sections you might not think apply to you but possibly do as you don’t really know the ins and outs of it.

Currently the Tories are in the public gaze over JSA and other benefits they claim Britain leads the world in, so are happy to throw money into that pot, when normally they’re slashing budgets and closing offices.
I suppose the pandemic has bolstered the social security welfare state as without this crisis, they would have continued on dismantling it.
So you should get something at least, but always best to get help filling in any DWP form.

Thanks all.