Job centre rage

[galadriel1010]

So because I've got 19 hours in my signing session next week, I have to sign off. But I can get Working Tax Credit.

Then the following week I can sign back on, and sign off WTC...

This is why people don't bother getting work experience through temping, because it's such a fucking stupid system. When I rule the world there will be one benefit for people who do casual work, and what they get will depend on how many hours they work, and all they'll have to do is fill in the form with their hours.

Funny thing, though. I'll get more from them as WTC than I do as Jobseeker's Allowance when I get a few hours. Just need to find out what it means for Council Tax benefits.

Right now I am annoyed, so I am going to buy food and have cake and then apply for many jobs.

Comments

[beesandbrews.livejournal.com]

That sounds utterly baffling.

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

Turns out it's less baffling than I thought, because I can't actually get Working Tax Credits, being under 25 and working under 30 hours a week. Basically, if you're under 25 then you should be at home with mummy and daddy, and not really doing part time work because you might get too many hours which would mean losing the few benefits they do give you.

I don't mind losing my JSA, because it gets cut down if I work and goes back up if I don't, so if I'm working it's fine. The only problem is that if I'm not on JSA, we have to pay the full council tax, which is considerably more than I'm gaining in my three extra hours.

Oh, and my agency have me on the wrong tax code.

[kelticbanshee]

Job centres are a nightmare. A few years back, my partner was not even gettin Jobseeker's Allowance, bu merely getting National Insurance contributions paid while he was unemployed. We arranged a holiday to Ireland for a few days, and slotted that one around his (at the time) fornightly visits to the job centre. Then he was told he had to attend every week, because he had been claiming for a certain number of weeks. He explained we would be on holiday, and was told that, because he was leaving the country for the holiday, his claim would be stopped, and he could reapply after we got back. Because you can't be claiming if you are not available to work in the UK. But we would have been fine if we had decided to go on holiday to, say, Sherland.

*facepalm* doesn't quite cover these things. I await the day when you take over the world and put a more sensible system in place!