what was the best UK govt to be on the dole under ?

Also, she doesn't have a NI number. She's been paying NI for a couple of years, but has never got round to getting a number, as they won't give you one if you're not currently working, and obviously if you are working, you have to take the day off to go to the Jobcentre to get one. Without a NI number will it even be possible to get the dole? Anyone know?

Oh the irony, she used to work for a well known medical charity, only to be fired for being ill.

the only silver lining i can suggest is that the company were obviously total bastards so perhaps she's better off not working for them anyway.

If she's been off work sick and still has a valid sicknote, she may be able to claim Incapacity Benefit (I say may - IB is not one of the benefits I'm fully trained for...). It doesn't hurt to apply for it, they can only say no. If she does get it, it would mean that she wouldn't have to sign on for as long as she provides them with valid sicknotes.

Depending on how long she's paid her NI contributions, she should be entitled to JSA[Contributary based](iirc it has to be 43 weeks or more); it'll be the at the Single Person's Rate (£57.45/wk at the mo. I think) but it's better than nothing. This is paid even if her partner (ie. you) are in full time work and lasts for 26 weeks (but she does has to be "available for and actively seeking work") If she's been fired and has no back or holiday pay due, she should be eligible for it straight away.

Hope that helps.

I'm going to the pub now, driven to drink.

She took a total of 15 days off sick over 10 months - with doctor's notes signing her off for 10 of them, which St John's Fuckheads have ignored. Is that really that many?

Often the amount of periods of absence count against you more than the amount of days taken off. Stay off for a week = fine. Stay off five working days on seperate occasions = the heave-ho.

uh?

i've never even had a sick-note. i'm not registered with a doctor. i've taken sick days without problems.

(Ed's point above may well be a useful rejoinder if you are willing to take it further.)

Or we could just move to Walthamstow, which is what we're considering at the moment, it's tons cheaper than where we are now and I could get to work in less time.

Mrs Poo wrote an email detailing exactly what she thinks of her manager cc'ing in his boss & the head of HR, which won't help but at least has made her feel a bit better. I've taken next Monday off so I can show her how to sign on.

what's the story with the dole in the uk? i signed up monday of last week and i'm now up early to go in and tell them 6 things i did to get a job or whatever, but i've still got no money which makes the ritual humiliation rankle a bit.

i mean i borrowed money off my sister so i can eat etc, but wtf are people supposed to do who are depending on dole? surely claims should be processed in a day or two? are they supposed to be? just feel bad for them grilling people who are skint

You should get something within a fortnight

Sorry LG. It's been a while but the system always was administered by cunts who don't care how you survive until they finally stump up. Housing Benefit is even more hilarious.

Like NBS says tho a fortnight sounds about right.

All i can say is be nice, if you come across arrogant, they'll become very unhelpful very quickly. Having worked with the people and signed on, i know how they work.
If you're expecting to get money in a few weeks or only wanting help for a few weeks, i'd not bother claiming. As for how long it takes to get money, that depends on your situation. Them grilling you is for a reason, if there is something you haven't told them that come's to light later on, you'll end up with an overpayment which will have to be paid back immediately (used to work for overpayment dept), and having to pay money back when you have none is hard.

^^^ to the posts above, also...

Make sure your money gets back-dated to last Monday. Also congrats on getting one "pimp slots". Job Centres are like any other office in that the people who work there want a slightly easier time on Mondays and Fridays, so these are the two days when they schedule people who they think aren't going to cause any aggro. As long as you have your ES40 card and your "what I did to find work" form, it should be smooth sailing as long as you don't turn into the Incredible Hulk.

Housing Benefit is even more hilarious.

date I made my Housing Benefit claim - July 1st
date I received my first Housing Benefit payment - September 13th

(still haven't heard about my Council Tax Benefit claim which is supposed to be alongside the Housing Benefit.)

JSA also took forever to process; I managed to get by through being lucky enough to still be a part-time student at the time and thus able to apply for a hardship grant, on the basis of the government trying to make me starve and be evicted.

Today marked my entry into STAGE TWO of the Jobseekers process, having been unemployed for three months. Now I go in every week rather than every fortnight, so I'm now told by the advisors that there's nothing for me twice as often. A good use of everyone's time.

over here you get payment pretty quickly for both rent assistance and unemployment benefits, but then abuse of the system is rife at the same time so wherefore balance etc etc

We can probly mostly agree that abuse of the system is v bad but I don't think it has much to do with the delay, pointlessness and general mean-spirited implementation of the UK system.

Now I go in every week rather than every fortnight, so I'm now told by the advisors that there's nothing for me twice as often

you'll go back to fortnightly in a couple of months, then after a while, every week again with times changing too. It's too make working and claiming that little more difficult.

xp well yeah- abuse of the system in no way invalidates the need for that system in genuine cases, but I do think there's a link between how easy/quick it is to get these payments (and , y'know, so it should be) and the time that gives those administering them to make the necessary checks. Just as someone working in an aligned sector kind of thing.

I get that you're on this thing, but even if that checking out process creates delay you'd hardly be losing a stack of money if you expedited the payments quicker and then had to reel one or two back in after the fact.

Put it this way, if you do something wrong they are quick to tell you, very quick

... that process is lightning fast

i remember signing on this one time. the guy at the desk told me about his wife's period. it was pretty effed up.

Well yeah, personally priority would fall on getting that shit approved & out ASAP, but I'd also harbour fantasies of y'know a budget for hiring sam spades to sneak around and rattle a few cages when jobsworth here smells a rat etc

Man you wd love it working over here

prob not, they're the 'bad day' thoughts rly.

I totally get the drag of constantly dealing with petty sociopaths, but I think the "petty" is the thing there.

tbh, being on the take here and there pales into insignificance beside dealing with property damage or getting on the neighbours' tits, in terms of what i'd have to deal with

the person today was so much more reasonable. the last day i had some idiot telling me to "look in the guardian newspaper" despite me trying to explain i used their website. "yes but you have to try as many avenues as possible"

so yeah i was v polite, had a good laugh as she had a home made sign on the desk that said in huge caps TODAY'S DATE IS 8/10/2010. she said i'd been approved. it's a bit dumb tho, i've got 3 days work next week and i'd have to sign off and sign back on to keep the dole flowing.

Ha, I suppose there was no point in explaining to idiot that the site is print-advertised jobs jobs plus online...

Ha, you spend your day just hoping not to put your foot in your mouth like that sometimes.

i was a dick the first time, but only after she was really hectoring. i said since i'd done 6 things to get a job that morning, did that mean i could do nothing for the next two weeks...cos that was great if so.

Sounds like foot should have gone into her mouth, but sadly did not..

hey people I have a purely hypothetical question: in the event that someone were to be looking into doing some freelance work, not contracted and with no fixed hours set, just "here's a project, when you finish after a few months it we'll give you money", what is the way to deal with this such that the JobCentre steal as little of this person's income as possible?

depends on where the payment you'll be getting shows up

if it's cash in hand, imma look away for a second while you work it out.

if your PPSN is required for them to pay you- obv there's a chance that someone somewhere can type that in and see income. not sure how big a chance that actually is in practice, over here it's practically nil unless attention is drawn from other sources, ime.

Wouldn't even think about declaring it until after you've been paid tbh. Then if it goes thru books you might have to.

and it's an absolute nightmare to try to get info like this from other public sector depts, i couldnt go and ask revenue about payments made to a certain PPSN or anything.

which imo is kind of a problem? but others may disagree on that.

I (oops the game's up) did have to supply my National Insurance number (guessing that's the same as PPSN), before that I was v happy to be entirely dodgy about it. Quite confident, knowing the public sector, that if it comes to questioning I could just say I was given the wrong information, but I'll have a wee think and look around before making my mind up.

well yeah- if you play dumb and pay up the difference when caught, i cant imagine they'd be looking to make an example of you

don't really get the dole system here at all....i registered on monday 27th sept, and my claim has been approved for £65 quid a week, so i'm due three weeks at end of this week? or two weeks at least? today i got a payment of 84 quid. anyone have a clue? do they pay in installments or something? cos by my mathematical calculations i'm owed 195 quid come the end of the week?

I don't know how it works now, but I'm pretty sure you don't get anything for the first three days (or something) after you register. Then you're locked into a two-week cycle, which doesn't necessarily correspond with the start date of your claim, so your first payment wouldn't necessarily cover a whole two weeks. And the payment will be for the period up to the end of the cycle, rather than up to the date you receive it.

So, for example, maybe you registered on the 27th, but they only started counting it from 30th Sept, and you were asked to sign on 8th Oct, so this payment will cover 30 Sep - 8 Oct (i.e. just over one week, rather than a full two weeks).

that would make sense i think, thanks a lot!

god...fuck these guys. i got my current job at the end of november, and i had to miss a dole sign on because i had to phone the person who is now my boss instantly, and do up a cv and stuff. i figured getting in quickly was important. anyway i got the job and it turned from 5 weeks into a 6 month contract.

so when i went to explain this to the dole office that afternoon, the guy who processed my "excuse" was really dense and couldn't clearly put what i was saying into words, and wouldn't let me dictate it word for word. as a result my claim was dismissed despite the fact i was able to say my actions GOT ME A JOB and they cancelled my dole.

i was a bit annoyed, but i thought 'fuck it, i prob am owed a payment or two but i have a job, i won't go through the appeals process cos i don't really need the money do i?'

now 3 months later i get a letter saying the dwp, on dec 16th (about two days before i couldn't appeal anymore) moved the date of the end of my jobseekers back by a week, which triggered the council to send me a letter saying i now owe the 100 quid.

i can't believe this total bullshit, you try and NOT take money off the state, you actually miss a meeting SOLELY to get a job at which you then pay taxes for the next 7 weeks, and the dicks try and get money back off you.

i'm not due to be paid till mid feb cos i've been changed to monthly pay and the last thing i need is a 100 quid debt. how are they all so totally dense? like in what universe is missing a sign on to do something which GOT YOU A JOB a reason to stop your dole instantly?

well don't pay it, print that out and send it to them. easy.

The whole system seems to be based on trying to catch people out, rather than actually helping people to get work.

i phoned them...there's no fucking way i'm paying it. but seems like it'll be a bit of wrangling and hassle. just think the whole thing is a joke...and the absolute morons employed in the dole office is crazy too, the guy who processed my reason for not signing on was unbelievably hard to deal with, making everything i said a big convoluted shit sentence that nobody could possibly understand.

i'm going to press to given money by them now, fuck them for trying to make me owe money when i tried to just leave well enough alone and do the decent thing.

press to be*

I entered the six-month stage of my Jobseekersness today, which apparently involves being told to do what I want, they don't really care. I can get with that.

i just did a claim online, i'm still being paid for work i did in my job but i'm still eligible once i'm out of work right? i mean the reason i'm being paid is cos it took so long after i started my last role to get paid, so the fact dole will just come on top of full pay is the system's problem, not mine. amirite?

You're paid dole two weeks in arrears anyway, so as long as you're not physically going to work I'd imagine you're OK.

that's how i understand it, the date you're off payroll is the date you become unemployed

that's pretty sweet, on this side of it working that way. they cut you off as soon as you start a job regardless of when you're paid, so having suffered for that back in november i guess now the good times roll as i get 160 quid a week on top of almost full pay till the middle of june.

stupid system tho...god knows i needed it more then.

the system for the dole is so unbelievably stupid. i'm owed tax at the moment but as soon as you go on the dole you can't get it back, you only get it back after you come off jobseekers! why the fuck would they do this when it's way more use to me now...