Benefits & Pensions
Claiming Jobseeker's Allowance: Actions on Posting Within UK
The purpose of this advice is to explain the steps that you should follow if you want to make a successful claim for contribution based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Most Service spouses will have to give up their job when their partner is posted and this advice is specifically aimed at coping with this situation. The issues that are most likely to cause problems for spouses, which are covered in more detail during the document, are:
- The possibility of a sanction for leaving employment voluntarily
- The need to make any benefit claim in the new location promptly
- The need to be available for work when a claim is made
If you do give up your job because your spouse is posted, this alone will not be enough to qualify you for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Why? Because all claimants for JSA have to show that they have acted in the interests of the other contributors to the National Insurance Fund. Put simply, this means you have to make real efforts to find new employment, even before being posted, and you must stay in your current employment for as long as possible. If you do both, you will probably have done enough to qualify for JSA. Remember that as far as the other contributors to the National Insurance Fund are concerned (and that is you as a taxpayer too), the ideal outcome is a smooth transition from one job to another. It is not a successful claim for JSA.
Timescales
The amount of notice personnel have of posting is extremely important when determining what you should do to find new work. Most personnel receive at least three months notice of posting. This is more than adequate to meet the requirements set out below. Those who have less than three months notice of posting are covered in a separate section below.
Voluntarily Unemployed
If you have given up your job as a result of your spouse's posting you are considered to be 'voluntarily unemployed'. Do not read too much into this. It is a classification which determines who deals with your application for JSA. In this instance decisions have to be taken by the area Decision Maker. You may consider that there was nothing voluntary about your decision to leave your job, but in this context, it has a very narrow meaning. If you terminate your employment you are 'voluntarily unemployed'. The Decision Maker looks at all 'voluntarily unemployed' claimants for JSA to determine whether they had just cause to leave their employment.
The Decision Maker
The Decision Maker can allow your claim, refuse it or impose a sanction before JSA will be paid. A sanction is a period for which JSA will not be paid. The Decision Maker has considerable discretion to impose sanctions.
There is another type of JSA, income based, but it is unlikely that any Service spouse would qualify for this.
Just Cause
The Decision Maker needs to be satisfied that you had 'just cause' to leave your employment. You do not meet the requirements for 'just cause' simply because you have moved too far away to be able to travel daily. This may be a good reason, but it is not enough, on its own, to show just cause. The Decision Maker may ask for the following information, and you should be prepared to provide it:
- why you moved;
- when you moved;
- when you first knew you would be moving;
- when you gave notice to your employer that you would be leaving;
- when you finished work with your employer;
- what steps did you take to find employment between knowing you would be moving and moving.
Showing 'Just Cause'
There are no hard and fast rules to show just cause. Each case, rightly, is judged on its merits. The first step will be to explain why you gave up your job, the second step is to show that you have tried to get a new one. Keep a record of all that you do. It will help you to answer the Decision Maker's questions.
You will have to explain that you gave up your job because you had lost your accommodation. Explain that Service families living in Service Families Accommodation have no security of tenure. Instead they have a Licence to Occupy which becomes invalid after their posting expires. Their position, in law, is like that of a hotel guest whose room is now required for a new guest. The family therefore has to move to the new location where accommodation is now provided. If the family does not move they become homeless and the Service partner will face disciplinary action.
Once the Decision Maker understands why you left your job, you need to show what you have done to find a new one. The following actions are the sorts of things that will help you to show just cause:
- Ask your current employer for a transfer to your new place of residence. Seek written confirmation that this is not possible, even if you know this to be so. The Decision Maker will not know this.
- Get in touch with the Job Centre or Jobcentre plus office before you give up your job. They will be able to help you to look for work in your next location. New ways of looking for work include Jobpoints, with touch screen access to thousand of jobs, Jobseeker Direct (0845 6060234) a telephone job-matching service and of course, the internet www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk .
- Send your CV to any prospective employers of which the Job Centre advises you (and any others you know of). If there is a suitable vacancy apply for it.
- If offered an interview, attend. If you do not, you will need to explain why to the Decision Maker. He/she will take into account what you say about your circumstances. For example, if you have pre-school children and no-one to look after them you may not be able to travel any distance at all and the Decision Maker will appreciate this. If you are offered all your expenses paid and there are no child care problems you may be expected to attend an interview that might require an overnight stay.
- Remain in work until 5 working days short of your move. This assumes that you will be using the Service furniture removal scheme and is broken down as follows i.e. one day to prepare house for packers, one day packing, one day loading furniture, one day cleaning house, one day marching out/moving to new location. This is a rule of thumb and would not apply if the removal scheme is not used. Consider using untaken leave so that you can remain in employment, even if not working, for as long as possible. Remember, if you are considered to have left employment too soon, your claim for JSA will either have a sanction applied or be unsuccessful. Be prepared to explain to the Decision Maker that, if you have used the Removal Scheme and acted in accordance with this guidance, that you have indeed done so. Be prepared to show the Decision Maker this guidance.
- If you have been unsuccessful in finding a job before moving, on the next working day in your new location register with Job Centre. Do not delay. If you do you, may miss out on days of possible entitlement. A JSA claim is treated as made on the day that the would-be claimant contacts the Jobcentre, provided you duly attend the subsequent appointment for the 'New Jobseeker Interview'. When you register you should be available for work.
The basic rules are not altered if you move at short notice. You will still have to show that you have made an attempt to find work, that you have worked for as long as possible (which in these circumstance may not be a problem of course!) and that you have sought work immediately upon arrival in your new location.
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