Anyone signed on the dole while benched?

[expat]

....
The only useful information posted here has been from Cyberman. The only thing I don't understand is what constitutes the company being dormant. Doesn't the fact that it is not trading mean it is dormant?

The term 'dormant' applies to a company that, in legal terms, has 'no significant accounting transactions' during a financial year. It is not the same as a 'non-trading company', a term that has no legal meaning.
...
A company can be non-trading in the sense that it isn't doing business. But it may still have other accounting transactions going through its books, which means that it is not dormant in a legal sense.

See Companies House website for a full and clear explanation.

[Cyberman]

If your company has no funds and is not trading then it is effectively dormant. My accountant advised me to remain registered for VAT and PAYE to reduce hassle once I start trading again.

Get your accountant then to issue a P45 and as long as you have paid class A NI contributions for over a year you are eligible to claim contributions-based JSA plus NI credits for six months.

[expat]

If your company has no funds and is not trading then it is effectively dormant.

Wrong. "Dormant" has a precise legal meaning, which you can find at the Companies House web site. It is not just a word in everyday language which everyone is free to interpret as they see fit.

[mossman]

Funds

So if there is still a reasonable amount of money in your co. bank account you can't claim?

[Bagpuss]

There is a fine line here between entitlement and fraud. Even if the DSS pay out it doen't mean it isn't potentially fraud.


PS what are class A NI contributions?

[Cyberman]

Wrong. "Dormant" has a precise legal meaning, which you can find at the Companies House web site. It is not just a word in everyday language which everyone is free to interpret as they see fit.

Agreed, but we are talking here about satisfying JSA requirements and that is all.

[Cyberman]

So if there is still a reasonable amount of money in your co. bank account you can't claim?

If you have a P45 and you paid the requisite Class A NI contributions, you can claim under contributions-based JSA. The best way to find out is to put in a claim.

[expat]

Agreed, but we are talking here about satisfying JSA requirements and that is all.

OK, fair point. I read with interest.

[KentPhilip]

Slightly amusing (to me) is that I saw this thread for the first time this afternoon sitting in a jobcentre waiting to apply for job seekers allowance.

My situation is that despite having well over £16K of savings, and not closing down my company, I am eligible to claim, and I came out of today's meeting with a dole card and a first signing-on day set for two weeks.

In my case I finished PAYE (permie) work 18 months ago with voluntary redundancy (so I had a P45 and some NI contributions).
Since then I have been working through my Ltd company as a contractor, but I haven't got round to getting an accountant or setting myself up as PAYE (I've done corporation tax returns etc myself). So I am not an employee of my company.

At the meeting they just asked for recent accounts and took my old permie P45 and that was that. Although they have asked me to fill in a "self employment" form I need to post off - maybe my (truthful) answers on that will sink my claim.

Will be interesting to see whether the £60/week turns up. Will keep you posted. Unless I get a new gig before then

[mossman]

Dole

I have claimed JSA. I completed the claim on-line by going here:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/eservice/#

You answer some questions on-line, then the system informs you that you will receive a call in the next couple of days. When the call came through, the woman asked me some more questions, then made an appointment for me at the local job centre. The appointment was for 9am Saturday. My wife said that must be a mistake, because they don't open on Saturdays. I turned up at 8.50 anyway. Sure enough, the door was locked, and the sign on the door gave the opening times as Monday to Friday. I saw a guy of about my own age lurking nearby, and I asked if the place was closed.

He said he also had an appointment for 9.00. It seemed they are now opening on Saturdays because of the exceptional demand. The conversation then went like this:

Me: This is the frist time I've ever claimed.
Him: Me too.

Me: I'm 57.
Him: Me too.

It turns out he's a designer in the car industry. He's been freelancing successfully for 25 years in the UK and abroad. Now the market for his skills has suddenly died. Sounds familiar. We both agreed that half the point of signing on is to get ourselves on the jobless stats, so that the severity of the situation isn't hidden.

The doors were unlocked on the dot of 9.00. By then at least half a dozen claimants were waiting to go in. The jobcentre is in a small commuter town. I didn't see the expected career claimants clutching cans of special brew, just a bunch of decent looking people that you'd expect to see on the train to London. To be honest, the staff looked more pikey than the claimants.

I was interviewed by a guy with pierced ears and BO. He got me to sign some forms, and said I should hear within 2 weeks. No-one asked me if I am a company director, let alone if the company is dormant. No-one asked to see a P45, which is just as well, because I haven't got one yet. He spotted that my last employment was with MySurname Consulting Ltd, but this just elicited a comment of "I see you worked for your own company".

Is it worth claiming?
As I have savings, I am only entitled to the non-means-tested benefit, which is £64.30 a week for up to a maximum of 6 months. This doesn't even cover our weekly shopping bill. I am still living on savings, but the way I look at it, it's £256 a month that's not coming out of savings.

National Insurance is, as the name implies, an insurance. If you had been paying an insurance company for income protection insurance, you wouldn't fail to claim when the opportunity arose. There is also the issue of getting onto the jobless stats.

Of course, I hope I'll have a contract before I even need to sign on again in 2 weeks time, but Jobserve isn't looking like a land of opportunity right now.