Subscribe Feed (RSS)Well after six weeks of extreme frustration of waiting for my job seekers allowance (unemployment benefit in the UK) and in particular the last three weeks when my case was supposed to be sped up, the news isn’t good…
Thursday I heard that at least I passed the Habitual Residency Test, meaning they agree I am a valid resident of the UK, however I had a call this morning to say that because I hadn’t paid in any contributions while I was in the USA, I don’t qualify for any contribution based benefits. Damn! I might however qualify for income based benefits, based on Debbie’s income, but I am sure that’s not going to go in our favour either. Her earnings are not great, but they are borderline when it comes to receiving benefits.
I have an appointment tomorrow morning, where I have to fill out another set of forms and no doubt do another lot of waiting to see if I qualify. It’s not good…
Unlike many of these people who are claiming for anything and everything, I just want a JOB! I need money to survive as well as to cover my commitments.
Yet again, my life turns out to be more than a little complicated…
Wish me luck for the interview tomorrow…
Of course when it comes to job hunting, so far I haven’t seen a single job that I am well suited for, despite my years of experience in IT. So not a single interview or solid bite so far over the last eight weeks. After so many years in a successful career, it brings you down when you feel that nobody wants you. I just keep hoping that any day the perfect opportunity will come along, with the right location, hours of work, and also the right benefits…
Tags: benefits, habitual residency test, income, job seekers, job seekers allowance, out of work, residency, unemployment, unemployment benefit
“Unlike many of these people who are claiming for anything and everything”
I cant help but feel that this is a kick in the teeth to people exactly like you, I graduated in July 2009 with a First Class Honours degree and have had just two months of work since. There are 2.5m unemployed people, 400000 job vacancies. Unemployment was 1.25m at its lowest. About 80% of unemployed people have worked in the past 6 months, 90% have worked in the past 12 months. That leaves 10% who can perhaps be considered unwilling to work, just 250000 people. It saddens me that people tarnish THEMSELVES with the brush of an almost non-existant trait.
If you have a chip on your shoulder about those with benefits then perhaps consider that it is those on long term sickness benefits, who are not even countered in the unemployment statistics, many of who take £100+ per week for being an alcoholic or drug addict.
Why is it that only during a recession does the knives turn onto the unemployed? Seems bizarre logic. As for your contributions, quite right! Although I symphasise greatly with the delay on your benefits, it must be very hard for you right now, I happened to work a gap year in America….. and when I returned to the UK I paid £572 in National Insurance contributions. That contribution was optional, but I researched the pros and cons. Specifically, I didnt want to lose the right to a contributions based state pension. As a student, on a student loan, I was required to pay the sums of £272, £385, and £412 in NI contributions in order to ‘top up’ my payments.
I do believe that if you want to take out, you should be willing to put in, that system is spot on. Now they just need to consider pulling out of the EU, and sending back the 1.2m eastern europeans working in this country. See what that does to the unemployment rate? It falls to 1.3m. Just 0.5m higher than the lowest rate of the past 3 decades. And that is where the problem lies, Polish, Latvian, Bulgarian, all working for £5.80 an hour.
Bankers are wankers? Pah, the loss of this countries independance has done more than any other factor to fuck us all up.
Sorry about the rant, I know that it wasnt all directly relevant. Best wishes,
Ry.
Rant much appreciated Ry, and I feel really bad for you, all that studying and little to show for it as far as work and income.
I was out of work for a full 3 months, but at the end of October managed to find a good job, albeit paying 40% less than I had been earning before. Still, it’s a job.
I never did get a penny in unemployment benefits, which I suppose is fair enough since I had been away for 15 years, but it makes me sick to think of how many immigrants to the UK are claiming benefits and far more than I could have got too. It makes me sick also to think of all the people who sit all day in their council houses, their housing, food, and everything else paid for, when nobody in their family has done a day of work for years and has no intention of doing so. I feel bad for people who can’t get a job, but I see red thinking of all those who don’t want to work and just sponge off the taxpayers.
Hoping you find a decent job soon Ry, you deserve it.
Tony