Contact your Jobcentre Plus in England, Wales or Scotland or the Jobs and Benefits or Social Security Office in Northern Ireland if you’ve lost your job and want to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance. Jobcentre Plus has a freephone number 0800 055 6688 or textphone 0800 023 4888.
Be prepared to arrange an interview to discuss why you are unemployed and what kind of work you’re looking for. You’ll also need to have your national insurance number to claim.
You must be available for work to get JSA - you will have to be able to start a job immediately unless you look after someone or are doing voluntary work, in which case you usually have to be available to start a job with one week’s notice. If you have a medical condition and can provide medical evidence you may be entitled to restrict the type of work you do. But if it would be very difficult for you to find suitable work, you may have to claim disability benefits instead of JSA.
If you're responsible for a child under 16, you may be able to restrict your availability for work, for example, during the school holidays or during periods when your child is excluded from school. If you are claiming income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance as one of a couple, you may both have to be available for work.
The ‘actively seeking work rule’ means that while you’re claiming JSA, you must be able show that you are job hunting, for example, that you’ve been applying for jobs, reading the jobs pages and are registered with employment agencies. Keep a record of all the applications you make, people you contact, ads you reply to and websites you visit.
If you don’t find work Jobcentre Plus may make you look for different types of jobs or arrange for you to take part in New Deal – the scheme for longer term unemployed job seekers which involves training and work experience.
If you’re claiming income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and live with a partner, you may both have to actively seek work.
You can be called into the Jobcentre Plus office at any time and if they think that you are not keeping to your Jobseeker’s Agreement, your benefit may be cut or stopped.
If you are sick and can’t ‘sign on’ let Jobcentre Plus know as soon as possible. You can be ill for up to two weeks and still get the benefit. Also, you can be ill up to two times in any period of six months without it affecting your benefit. If you are ill for longer than two weeks or more than twice in any six months, your JSA will stop and you’ll have to claim other benefits. Once you’re better, you can make a new claim.
While you are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, the officer you see at the Jobcentre Plus office may make suggestions about things you could do to increase your chances of finding work. If you fail to take these steps, you may be given a jobseeker’s direction. This is a formal instruction for you to take certain action to help you find work, for example, attending a particular course, registering with an employment agency, responding to a particular advertisement or taking part in a 'back to work session'.
If you do not follow the jobseeker’s direction without good reason, you won’t get any Jobseeker's Allowance for one or two weeks depending on the type of direction. If you unreasonably refuse or do not follow the direction a second time, you will not receive the benefit for a further four weeks. A good reason for refusing might be, for example, because the direction conflicts with your religious beliefs, or because the job involved would mean you would be worse off than on Jobseeker's Allowance.
If your Jobseeker's Allowance is stopped because of a jobseeker’s direction, you may be able to claim a hardship payment. This is a reduced amount of the allowance.
If you do not take up employment opportunities or follow up chances of work, or you fail to carry out a jobseeker’s direction, you may be sanctioned. This means that your Jobseeker's Allowance is reduced or stopped altogether for between one and 26 weeks. This could happen if you fail to apply for a job which is pointed out to you by the Jobcentre Plus office, or you do not take up a job which you have been offered. You can also be sanctioned because of the circumstances in which you left your last job, for example, if you left voluntarily or you were dismissed because of misconduct.
Sanctions can apply to training schemes and employment programmes as well as jobs. For example, if you are on a New Deal scheme and you do not take up one of the options you are offered, you could be sanctioned.
If you have been sanctioned and you think the decision is unfair, you can challenge it - see under Problems with Jobseeker’s Allowance. You can challenge either the decision to stop or reduce your benefit, or the length of the sanction period.
Hardship payments and Jobseeker's Allowance
A hardship payment is a reduced amount of Jobseeker's Allowance which you may be able to get if you have been refused Jobseeker's Allowance, or your benefit has been stopped, because of doubts about whether you are available for and actively seeking work. You can also get them if you are waiting for the Jobcentre Plus office to decide whether you meet the jobs seeking conditions or if you have been sanctioned.
If you want more information about hardship payments, and how to apply for them, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau.
How Jobseeker's Allowance is paid
Benefits and tax credits are usually paid directly into your bank or building society account. However, some benefits can be paid by cheque payable at a post office if you do not have, or would find it difficult to manage, an account.
Benefits and tax credits are usually paid directly into your bank or building society account. However, some benefits can be paid by cheque payable at a post office if you do not have, or would find it difficult to manage, an account.
Problems with Jobseeker’s Allowance
If you have been refused Jobseeker's Allowance and you think you should get it, or if you think the amount you have been awarded is wrong, you can ask the Jobcentre Plus office to reconsider the decision, or you can appeal. In Northern Ireland you should ask the Social Security Agency to reconsider the decision. You should do this within one month of the decision.
If you unhappy with the service you have received, you can complain. You can do this whether or not you are also challenging a Jobseeker's Allowance decision.
