Reply to: Applying for Job Seekers Allowance

[rhino6]

as i'm coming to the end of my first contract and t being at the Christmas time of the year i am expecting not to be in work at least until the middle of jan - end of jan (expectation). i had advice to start looking for another job one month prior to the end of the contract - yet i have been very busy and not had the time to date. anyhow on to your subject if you are with the umbrella company as i am all you need to do is call the umbrella and say to them you need to claim JSA while you are searching for more work so please issue me with a p45, and when you obtain another job you will come back to them to utilise them as you had with your original contract, then they keep you on there system for ease of joining again once you secure a new job. with the JSA you simply say i am now out of work and here is my p45. good luck and i hope you find work soon !.

i would however like to know what the situation would be if you are a director of your own company (PLC) and cannot find work and the "nest egg" has been drained over a duration from the company. how would you stand with the government and claiming any form of JSA contribution based ?

[Support Monkey]

first thing is you have to apply online, then they call you in for an interview then they pull you apart, but as others says, you are an employee so your employer as let you go, don't mention contracting, or even better just say you were a temp, they get loads of them.

Then its a case of having to apply for 6 jobs a week and if you don't you get put on a warning, you get 3 months to apply for jobs in your skillset after that you have to apply for anything, to be honest for the £50 a week (it takes a few weeks to get paid unless you can claim hardship) its not really worth the hassle however and what a lot of people forget is YOU ARE ENTITLED TO IT so if you need it apply for it

[MPwannadecentincome]

Assuming you work via a personal service company the answer is No because you yourself aren't self employed.

The other alternative was to say that I was "employed" which clearly I was not.

Other supplementary questions after saying yes to self employed was asking if the business was a Ltd Co and if I am the director.

[eek]

OK I'm claiming JSA online. I don't want to get a P45 so have declared myself temporarily laid off.

This then brings up a new series of questions, one of which says...



I googled to see if anyone had advise about that - nothing in these forums and nothing even on google, maybe the question is new as the only matches that came up was the code in the site front end with the text in it and some translation sites to help our immigrants with their claims.

There was an "unable to answer" option so I selected that for now.

Assuming you work via a personal service company the answer is No because you yourself aren't self employed.

[MPwannadecentincome]

still regarded as self-employed for VAT and/or tax purposes

OK I'm claiming JSA online. I don't want to get a P45 so have declared myself temporarily laid off.

This then brings up a new series of questions, one of which says...

Are you still regarded as self-employed for VAT and/or tax purposes?

I googled to see if anyone had advise about that - nothing in these forums and nothing even on google, maybe the question is new as the only matches that came up was the code in the site front end with the text in it and some translation sites to help our immigrants with their claims.

There was an "unable to answer" option so I selected that for now.

[psychocandy]

What everyone here says. You're going to need a P45 and tell them you're no longer employed.

Don't mention that you're a contractor etc they just get confused. Tell them the truth - you were employed by X now you're not due to lack of work. Thats all I did, tell them I was employed by company A (which just happened to same address as me).

Even got a letter addressed to me asking why I had left employment. Weird.

[masonryan]

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/how-to-claim

You can apply online. Then they will direct you to a job center office. You won't get any benefits until you fill in the online forms. They won't do backdated claims usually.

[Mephisto]

feel for you.

How I believe it should go.

If you are via an umbrella you are an employee. Get them to issue a P45.

Take P45 to Job Centre and sign on. Tell them you were let go by the X management ltd(Umbrella).

You confused / raised the Job Centre's prejudices by mentioning contracting. They then assumed you were self employed and paying lower NI that doesn't entitle you to contribution based JSA or any help at all really.

Someone who has been through this a few times may be along soon to help you. This is second hand knowledge from me.

Did you not have a warchest?
Good luck

For some the opportunity to acquire one of these never arises thus they end up going round in circles

[quackhandle]

Do a search, there's loads of threads about this.

Yes, it's a total nightmare, my 2ps worth of advice is to spend as muich time as possible getting the next gig, even if lower than normal daily rate.

A lot less stressful in the long run.

Best of British.

qh

[Boney M]

It shouldn't be anything to do with P45s, just make it clear to them you're not working, your last job came to an end, and you're looking and are available and they should give you the contribution based JSA for 6 months. After that you're into the realms of income based JSA, and then they start demanding evidence of your savings and company accounts (if you have a Ltd.).

The chances of a Job Centre numptie understanding what an umbrella company is are nil, they just want to see employed or unemployed. But it probably will help their tiny brains cope if you can present them with a P45.

Get online and claim for it now and select the date 7 weeks ago you wanted to claim from. This previous 7 weeks will be refused and your claim will be taken from today minus the first 3 days. Then appeal the fact they will not pay the previous 7 weeks for wrongful advice from them. It will be allowed as this is good cause.

[VectraMan]

It shouldn't be anything to do with P45s, just make it clear to them you're not working, your last job came to an end, and you're looking and are available and they should give you the contribution based JSA for 6 months. After that you're into the realms of income based JSA, and then they start demanding evidence of your savings and company accounts (if you have a Ltd.).

The chances of a Job Centre numptie understanding what an umbrella company is are nil, they just want to see employed or unemployed. But it probably will help their tiny brains cope if you can present them with a P45.

[Churchill]

feel for you.

How I believe it should go.

If you are via an umbrella you are an employee. Get them to issue a P45.

Take P45 to Job Centre and sign on. Tell them you were let go by the X management ltd(Umbrella).

You confused / raised the Job Centre's prejudices by mentioning contracting. They then assumed you were self employed and paying lower NI that doesn't entitle you to contribution based JSA or any help at all really.

Someone who has been through this a few times may be along soon to help you. This is second hand knowledge from me.

Did you not have a warchest?

Good luck

A warchest is more difficult to accumulate if you're paying full income tax, employer and employee NI.

Don't be too hard on the fellow.

[Old Greg]

feel for you.

How I believe it should go.

If you are via an umbrella you are an employee. Get them to issue a P45.

Take P45 to Job Centre and sign on. Tell them you were let go by the X management ltd(Umbrella).

You confused / raised the Job Centre's prejudices by mentioning contracting. They then assumed you were self employed and paying lower NI that doesn't entitle you to contribution based JSA or any help at all really.

Someone who has been through this a few times may be along soon to help you. This is second hand knowledge from me.

Did you not have a warchest?

Good luck

Psychocandy is the resident expert. Search for threads started by him.

[vetran]

feel for you.

How I believe it should go.

If you are via an umbrella you are an employee. Get them to issue a P45.

Take P45 to Job Centre and sign on. Tell them you were let go by the X management ltd(Umbrella).

You confused / raised the Job Centre's prejudices by mentioning contracting. They then assumed you were self employed and paying lower NI that doesn't entitle you to contribution based JSA or any help at all really.

Someone who has been through this a few times may be along soon to help you. This is second hand knowledge from me.

Did you not have a warchest?

Good luck

[eek]

My contract expired several weeks ago and I have been unable to find a new contract even though I've been trying hard to find one. Dare I ask this question but I am considering whether to claim for Job Seekers Allowance to help pay the bills while I'm looking.

I went to the JobCentre and although it was probably the most awful experience I've had with unhelpful staff, they said that I couldn't claim as I was classed as a contractor and self-employed. This confuses me as I use an umbrella company and they state that I'm an employee of theirs and I've been paying my hard earned cash to the National Insurance contributions.

I was wondering whether anyone has had similar experiences of this as well and would know where I would stand with this and whether I am actually eligible to claim JSA or not? Be great hear what you guys say.

I guess you need to sort out a P45 from your umbrella and take that to the JobCentre.

Remember anything no standard is just going to result in a No from the time-managed workers at the Job Centre as they need to process x claims an hour / day.....