job seekers allowance sanction?

Question

has anyone ever been put on a JSA sanction when you intentionally give a job up? me and me partner and 3 kids have recently moved 60 miles to be near all my family and my partner gave his job up to move here. the Dole office are now saying he gave up a perfectly good job and we may get our JSA heavily reduced! my partner hasnt got any transport and would be getting the train to work and then the bus (to get there for 6am) and this would cost over £100 per week in travel expenses. he also couldnt transfer as where he worked is the only depot in england. i have moved nearer my family as i have had post natal depression and we got the offer of a 3 bedroomed house after living in a tiny flat. are the benefits agency been unfair and could they expect my partner to travel to work everyday?could we get our JSA reduced? my partner is currently looking for work and would take anything within reason

if he stayed behind in our old town then we would be paying two lots of rent plus the £100 plus travel expenses!its just not feasible. we did look for alternative work before we left but we left in such a rush as we were desperate to leave..dont worry im not trying to be a dole bum or trying to defraud the benefits system

Answer 1

Medical reasons (your depression) should be an acceptable reason to move closer to family - make sure the Job Centre is fully informed (Doctors reports etc) ...
... and the difficulty of getting to work on time by Public Transport should be well known .. even so, I expect they will say he should have tried to do it anyway, and, if necessary, been fired...

PS when looking for work under JSA they normally accept that you can limit your travel to a maximium of 50 miles (if you have a car) .. I don't know what the limit is for Pubilc Transport, but would expect it to be less than 50.

Answer 2

I'm not convinced that they have acted unfairly? Why didn't your partner look for a job in the new area before he gave up his old job? You could have moved and he could have stayed behind temporarily until he had found another job.

The only people on benefits that seem to get left alone these days are the long term disabled and single parents. There are very strict rules for claiming Job Seekers Allowance, and I daresay you must have young children otherwise he would not be able to claim anything at all. The single person does not get a look in.

Answer 3

to start off don't expect fair treatment at the dole office. finding myself out of work through no fault of my own I am not entitled to any JSA benefit at all as like you they consider I that I made myself unemployed.
nonetheless i still sign on and occasionally find myself faced with what amounts to bullying behaviour from some of their officers.
its a small victory to be able to wrongfoot these arrogant so and so's when they threaten to reduce or cut my benefit when i ask them how they propose to do that when they're paying me exactly nothing!
asking to see the manager won't help as after 3 months he's still (conveniently) too busy to take appointments.
try the CAB or better your local MP.

Answer 4

Make sure you or your partner write exactly what you have written on here, when you have to fill in your documents regarding why he gave his job up. I think you have given two reasons which would be considered acceptable reasons to the dole people. Don't worry

Answer 5

Because she was only working part-time and still claiming JSA she still has to meet the conditionality agreement of the JSA contract. That is turn up to the Work Program. If it clashed with her p-t work she needed to discuss it with them in advance not simply not turn up! She has an obligation to find more hours or more work. She'll need to arrange toe work program again and arrange it around her working hours.

Answer 6

To many people want to be paid for staying in bed and doing nothing .