General Chat

'quite good' at filling in forms etc, but I have to say the JSA online application has just taken me the best part of 2 hours to complete, ( admittedly some of that was hunting for paperwork I didn't think would be needed, exact dates re mortgage etc) I think they asked everything but my blood group :-(

My daughter is in the process of getting her son into an Early Assessment programme ..........

......... the administrator told her last week that the forms will be sent to her, but "they are very difficult, and many people give up" :-S :-S



what do these people think their clients are?

Beats me Sylvia, I've filled in forms for other people for attendance allowance, council tax etc, my own income tax forms, but this one had me tearing my hair lol.

I'm just collecting together the five years of paperwork that I scattered everywhere :-(

I hope the job centre interview goes more smoothly :-0

Do you think there is a university degree in form set-up? :-D



Good luck at the interview!

I'm sure, a while back, in England, they set some maths graduates up to discover how the Child Support Agency worked out how much the 'absent' parent should pay.
They gave up.

Best thing to do.....Get a job, then JSA would not apply......

Misty x

oooooooooooooh .......................



a bit nasty, Misty????

No sorry..not meant to be nasty.....but common sense has to kick in at some point...

Mistyx

well, I'm pretty certain that RR is not a malingerer who needed that kind of comment :-)

to be clear ...............



I did not RR Misty's comment

I don't know what the comment was but it probably applied to me as well.

RR, I am going through it all at the moment as well and have not received any money from them for six weeks now.

Can't pretend to not having been a claimant in the past and the forms were not easy then, I always wondered how somebody who was none too bright would get on with them. Now I wonder how Einstein would fare.

Now the whole process is ridiculous and the Job Centre totally disheartening.

When we were on Attendance Allowance I used to wonder why there were food banks because, even if I was quite generous to Fred with pocket money and his obsession with the tumble dryer, I could still put money away.

Well, how fortuitous that I did.

Might get up early today, I have a lot of malingering to do!

Was Misty's reply in reference to my comment about the CSA?

30 years ago, just before the CSA's inception, ex and I got divorced. The court decided the settlement. Along came the CSA. I was sent a letter asking me if I would like things to stay as they were or for the CSA to take over.
I wanted things to stay as they were. So the CSA took over :-P

My ex paid regularly, picked the girls up every other weekend without fail, travelling from West Dorset to North Hampshire. Then the CSA started asking for 'silly money'. I didn't get anymore, but it got so he couldn't afford to pick the girls up. He had a nervous breakdown, left his wife and went to Western Australia. The girls had lost their daddy. After a few months, he started sending them letters, and his address, was a PO box in the nearest town.
I informed the CSA about what had happened. They asked me precisely where he was - I gave the PO box number - all I had. This wasn't good enough - I told them, this was how it was out there. They accused me of giving 'false information' and cut 6 weeks worth off my benefit every year.

So, girls lost their daddy for a few years, I was just scraping by on nothing. I don't think anyone deserves that!

Just as well I hadn't told them he occasionally phoned - they'd have wanted the phone number. The 'phone' was on a nearby sheep station - a good 5 miles from where he was!!

What did Misty say?

Perhaps you could repost it Misty or let me know by PM so I can address the issue?

The point I was trying to make was not that all the questions should not be asked but that they be phrased unambiguously and with possibly a better 'check list' given before hand, eg that you will have ALL the various papers to hand. 10 pages in is not the best time to find you need an ancient piece of paperwork when you know the website automatically cuts out after 20 mins.

The form is easy enough if it there are no 'other circumstances' for instance, it is hard to answer how much my 'new' student son 'IS' giving me for his board and lodging considering it is only 2 days ago that his student grant went into his bank

I think even the people who constructed the form must have had 'some' idea that it wasn't entirely straightforward, because in the following 'satisfaction survey' the question was asked, 'did you have to phone a member of staff for advice while filling in this form'.

I think the forms are designed, and have always been to some extent, to dissuade you from making an application.

I really do wish you the greatest of good luck with your application.

It is harrowing.

Thankyou Sharron :-) It's a 'last resort' and I'd much rather not be in the situation where I have to claim but the mortgage has to be paid regardless unless i want to be homeless or unless I fall under a bus in which case my life insurance will cover it and I won't be a burden to the taxpayer.

Hopefully someone will be busting a gut to find a 57 year old employee with very poor eyesight and arthritic knees :-D

Apparently there is somebody longing to employ a 61 year old who has been out of the job market for eight years and gets their pension in fifteen months time.

Meanwhile, it would be quite pleasant if they were to actually let us have some money to live on. I can't help thinking that six weeks is a reasonable time for us to wait for some.

Since it has now be reinstated I can address Mistycat's comment ( though I still can't understand why she felt it necessary).

"Mistycat Report 23 Sep 2014 00:33
Best thing to do.....Get a job, then JSA would not apply......

Misty x"

Apart from a talent for stating the bl**dy obvious (which I 'think' I can just about manage to work out for myself!) why could you not come up with a simple 'hope you get a job soon' ?


"Common sense has to kick in at some point". I don't quite see how that is a relevant comment either? Being unemployed for ONE whole day hardly makes one lacking in common sense does it.

good reply, RR :-)

I couldn't think was JSA was Rose.......but then, I am a bit past the age of knowing these things :-D


One of the things we discuss at the Autism Steering Group, are benefit forms and how difficult they are for people to fill in. Many of those with autism can go into an absolute panic at the wording of them. Many autistic folk actually want to work but struggle with the forms and the interviews.


Even the form for Attendance Allowance which my husband gets, is a trauma......I mean, what has his inside leg measurement got to do with anything.......or did I read that wrong? :-D


Hope all goes well with the interview. <3