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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Income support, JSA and tax credits  →  Thread

JSA/Zero hour contracts

benefitsadviser
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Sunderland West Advice Project

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I have a client who works on a commission based zero hour contract job, and gets a top up of WTC

His employer is not giving him any work, and apart from tax credits he and his family have no income.

The employer wont take calls or discuss anything or even see him, and he hasnt had any wages for over 7 weeks.

He spoke to Jobcentre Plus as he wants to quit and claim JSA, as £113 a week is better than the 60 quid he gets now, however Jobcentre Plus told him he would get an automatic 6 month sanction if he quit his , ahem, “job”

I would have thought the way he is being treat would be classed as good cause for resigning, and therefore allow JSA to be claimed?

Any thoughts here will be welcome : Thanks

1964
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Deputy Manager, Reading Community Welfare Rights Unit

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I would agree. Admittedly that doesn’t mean they won’t sanction him (so he would need to be prepared for that) but he would have excellent grounds for challenging the decision in my view. Another thing is that the longer he remains on WTC the more he risks incurring an overpayment (if he’s chosen for a compliance audit TCO will be bound to come to the conclusion he is not working sufficient hours for WTC to be payable).

One thing- could his partner be the main JSA claimant? At least that would get around the potential sanction issue (or they could swap roles if he is sanctioned I suppose).

benefitsadviser
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Thanks. I thought of that however any sanction would be a disaster as he has a wife and 2 kids

I may suggest she claims JSA and hope they dont sanction his personal allowance from the figure

Jon (CANY)
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Is it clear that he has to resign, in order to claim JSA? Seems like a lay-off situation? (CPAG p1047)

Paul_Treloar_CPAG
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See DMG chapter 34 paragraph 34417.

Zero-hour contracts may be ideal for some people such as retirees and students who want occasional earnings and are able to be entirely flexible about when they work, but people in the general working population, including those with mortgages and responsibility for supporting a family, run the risk of unpredictable hours and earnings. The possibility of the use of such contracts by management as a tool to reward or reprimand employees for any reason or no reason raises issues about how workers can adequately assert their employment rights or maintain decent employment relations. Therefore there can be no mandation to any zero hours contract (exclusive or not) and there can be no sanction imposed for Refusing Employment, Leaving Voluntary or losing work because of misconduct.

So it’s clear that someone cannot be mandated or sanctioned for failure to apply for a zero hours contract. The contents section of the DMG references paragraph 34709 as dealing with zero hours contracts in terms of voluntarily leaving employment but rather confusingly this reference deals with apprenticeships. However, there is a FoI request which states that:

If the details of the zero-hours contract comes to light after the Universal Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance claimant starts work or during the application process then they will always have good reason for leaving voluntarily, failing or refusing to accept the contract and a sanction should never apply. If the claimant knowingly applies for and accepts a zero-hours contract then leaves the job voluntarily, then a Decision Maker would have to consider if they had good reason for leaving, considering all the individual facts and circumstances of the case.

So they should take account of your client’s overall circumstances, and one would hope that they would hold that he does have good reason for leaving.

benefitsadviser
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Thanks Paul

Greatly appreciated.

Daphne
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written answer in parliament yesterday from Esther McVey again confirming that JSA claimants should not be sanctioned for failing to apply for zero hours contracts -

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-10/223963

Edmund Shepherd
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Tenancy Income, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London

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Let us know how it goes. I am aware of there being no requirement to apply for zero hours contracts, but I would be interested to see if it translates through to stopping doing it. However, if he is actually working under 16 hours a week, does he need to “resign” at all? Can’t he just claim JSA saying he isn’t actually working, then tell them if he gets any work? Clearly, he would need to make sure he tells HMRC about it, too.

Ben E Fitz
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I place less than zero value on Ms McVey’s assurances. Didn’t she assure us that no-one claiming JSA during an ESA MR would be refused on the grounds of their health condition rendering them incapable of meeting JSA conditions? It’s still a regular occurrence in these parts.

Pity she can’t translate her assurances into directives to JCP staff!

1964
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I agree. In our experience they sanction regardless & wait to see if cliaimant does anything about it.