Worried

pentom

My husband is currently receiving contributions based ESA.He is in the support group.He first claimed when I was working. 
I am now unemployed. I do not receive child benefits or redundancy payments or anything.
I want to claim JSA. Because our full time student daughter 20 we are classed as having no dependents.
Because we are classed as having no dependents my claim has to be a joint claim as a couple (The Jobcentreplus adviser told me).
I filled out an exempt form for my husband but he still needs to be interviewed.
I am worried that my claim for JSA will trigger some change in my husband's situation re assessments.Would they make him attend another work capability assessment ?
If my claim was successful and we were awarded the £114.85 for a couple , would my husband's ESA benefit of £109 be deducted from the amount leaving me with £5.20?
I'm more concerned about the consequences of me claiming on my husband.
Still don't understand why ESA can treated as a single claim but a JSA one has to be treated as a joint one.
Could any one help please?

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @Pentom

Sorry to hear about the confusion!

Both ESA and JSA have a type called 'contributions based' (which is always claimed singly) and 'income based' (which is always claimed as a couple). The situation you describe is where the only type of JSA you are entitled to is income based (i.e. either you have not paid sufficient NI contributions over the past few years, or your entitlement to contributions based JSA (which only lasts for 6 months) has run out.

If you think you may be entitled to contributions based JSA (i.e. you have worked and paid NI for the past 2-3 years) then please get this checked (if you want to let us know what work you have done for the past 3 years we can give you a fairly good idea, but if not see a local money advice service /citizens advice /etc).

If you could get contributions based, this would be a separate claim to your husbands and the £73.10 you would be paid would not be affected by his ESA. If it is an income based joint claim, then as you state, his ESA would be deducted, and in this case I would question whether it may not be wiser for you to go onto his ESA claim (you would just request an ESA3 form from the DWP for this and fill it in).

As regards whether a JSA claim would trigger further assessment of your husband's ESA, the answer is, it shouldn't. He would be excused from actual jobseeking so this would not call his ESA into question.

Much as I hate to add another scenario into the mix, if your husband is claiming the Daily Living element of PIP, the perhaps you could claim Carer's Allowance as an alternative to JSA? You may then have a possible entitlement to Income Support... Just a thought.

Let us know if you need anything further.

Kind regards,

Mary