Jobseekers benefit finished

piamhy

hi all

got letter today to say i have exhausted my days on jobseekers benefit. it gives me a form to fill in for credits or jobseekers allowance where i have to show all the money my boyf ('partner') and i have. I find this so ridiculous as i would never expect him to pay my way!

my boyfriend is returning to college and has nothing much in the bank anyway. I have about 2000 max in the bank. He will be receiving a maintenance grant though. we will still have to pay our mortgage and not sure how we're gonna do this.

what can i expect to receive on JB allowance? i'm so anxious that it will only be about e130 and i'm searching for a job every day. its very frustrating!!!

also, what does it mean apply for credits? i have been thinking of going freelance and doing freelance design work and perhaps starting work at a farmers market. would i be better applying for Back to work allowance?

I also considered a fas course but none are very suitable. I wanted to do a graphic one or intense web design one. anyway they all start within a week or so! another option is moving back home and renting our apartment. how depressing, but i am over 25.

thanks in advance

Xiney

There is an FAQ thread stickied at the top of this forum, in it is a post on how your spouse's means affect your JSA means test. There's a spreadsheet where you can enter earnings from employment.

However, it is calculated differently for the Maintenance grant. I know that when I was on JSA while my husband was on the mantenance grant, they simply took the full rate + qualified adult rate - grant per week = what they gave us. So perhaps moving back home and renting out the apt. is the best way to go about it.

piamhy

thanks for the reply xiney. as far as i know his maintenance grant won't even cover the fees which are about e4500 so will it still affect us! He's studying a postgraduate diploma not a degree

Xiney

Unless things have changed since I had my first means test, then what his fees are won't matter.

Wuggectumondo

You can do an online Photoshop course through FAS (and Dream Weaver, web design, few others)

piamhy

Xiney how much did JB A did you get in the end? I'm up the wall now that they won't give me anything and my credit card is nearly full, mortgage due tomorrow and they say it'll be another three weeks. it's horrible living like this and im so stressed out and on the edge about money. i try to forget about it but not know is so worrying as i owe money after waiting two months already.

Xiney

They gave me 157 or so per week, if I remember correctly.
I think the dole went up since then, so you might be getting closer to 167.