Contribution Based JSA Ending

[ToothbrushMan]

So I am only entitled to 182 days of contribution based JSA and that takes me to the end of today.

Strangely the DWP letter advising me of this was dated 25th October and it was put through my door late last night. They dont exactly make it clear you are entitled to JSA in the letter - they kind of word as if your current JSA will soon run out but you may still be able to get it. I dont understand why they just cant press a button, flip claimants onto the Income Based JSA then check at your next sign on your job situation - easy. If youve found a job in that last 2 weeks then your claim is closed if not your money rollsover no gap.

I signed on last Thursday so it would have been good if my "advisor" (what a joke they are) not ony checked my job search and signed me on but he could have also told me look best I tell you this now so you can start to prepare but your claim for 6 months JSA comes to an end on 1st Nov. I am not surprised he didnt - they just want you in and out so they sit at their desks twiddling their pens or chat to another "advisor" for another 15-20 mins until the next pleb comes along.

I think I am entitled to now move over to Income Based JSA which I am going to ring them up about later today - has anybody gone through this frankly horrible milestone having still not found work after 6 months? Is it easy or a fresh load of hoops to jump through again to set up a new claim?

Universal Credit seems to have been put back so not sure that I will be going onto that benefit.

Also has anybody claimed Council Tax reductions (I didnt get a penny off my council tax when I was made redundant due to the level of capital I had but now this has reduced to below the 6k threshold so I want to try and obtain this benefit) Is it 100% reduction? What are people paying who are alo claiming JSA or maybe UC if your area has gone live with UC already?

PS - if the process of claiming Income Based JSA is long winded (on their part) am I entitled to have the money backdated so there was no gap?

Cheers

[MYOB]

I had this scenario earlier this year when my contribution based JSA ended. Payments were ongoing and there was no further forms to complete. The way they described it to me is that previously I was entitled to JSA without question, and now it's completely at their discretion. Effectively this means if they aren't happy with my commitment to search for jobs, they could stop payments.