For anyone that doesn't know how benefit payments work here is a brief overview of how the seem to work (no idea if this is the whole truth but it's what I've deduced over the last few months).
I sign on at the Job Centre fortnightly on a Wednesday, the Saturday directly after that the Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) appears in my bank account, two weeks worth at a time, roughly £220.
Housing Benefit (HB) is also paid into my bank account every two weeks on a Saturday, two weeks worth at a time, also roughly £220.
This is kinda nice because it means I only have to wait one week between payments. I save just over half of each weeks JSA/HB to pay the rent, and the rest is for food, electric, other bills.
Yesterday I checked my bank account to make sure that when today's HB came in that I would have enough in the account to pay the rent. I did, but only just, spent slightly more than usual over Christmas, I will do another blog soon about Christmas on the dole. So I knew that for this coming week I would have about £10 to last the whole week, but that's ok. I topped up the electric and did a food shop last week, so we wont run out of anything, except maybe toothpaste because that's running low (I'll just have to halve the amount of toothpaste I put on my brush for the next week).
I logged into my bank account this morning to pay the rent and to my horror and confusion an extra £110 has appeared in my account, labelled JSA. I got my last JSA payment of £220 last Saturday, and I'm not expecting another until next Saturday. Confusion abounds, my brain goes into panic mode, my thoughts race....
Why have I been paid one weeks worth of JSA now????
Do I need to tell someone they have made a mistake????
Will they take it back without telling me????
Will I get any JSA next Saturday on the day it's normally due?????
If I get any then will it be 1 weeks worth or 2?????
Why is a hundred quid making me so nervous????
I am due to sign on this Wednesday, I will ask my adviser, who probably wont have an answer, about this payment. Until then I will try not to touch it .... who am I kidding, I have a bill that needs paid :/ ... I will try not to touch any of it not used to pay that bill.
Now I will go have a cup of tea, without milk because we don't have any in the house, to try and calm my nerves. I hope I get a job soon or I will be popping the happy pills and twitching uncontrollably because of the stress. I swear 3 months unemployment has shortened my expect life span by at least 3 years just because of the stress.
Hi Natascha, your not the only one who has had a weeks pay appear in their account, I logged in to my account about an hour ago, to find that I too have been paid a weeks pay. Although mine went in Friday. Knowing I'm not the only one who has been paid puts my mind at rest a little. I am phoning the jobcentre Monday, so if I get an answer then, I'll comment again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's good to heard that I'm not the only one thus has happened to.
DeleteHello again, I phoned the job centre this morning and was given the phone number for the payments office, rang that and got a recorded message saying "If you are calling about receipt of one weeks pay, this is half of your benefit and the other half will be paid as normal. Please budget for this accordingly." No explanation as to why though.
DeleteSaw my advisor today and asked why she told me "system error".
DeleteSometimes you may get your money early over Christmas and new year. For example, my partner and I are on ESA and we were due to be paid on New Year's day. The money went in on New Year's Eve (a day early). They may have sent your money early to ensure you receive it promptly over the Christmas/New Year break. Your jobcentre adviser may not know your payment schedule, but you can use the phones in the jobcentre free of charge to contact the payment centre, and establish the reason for this early payment, and find out what other payments may be due, etc. This should give you a clearer picture of where you stand.
ReplyDeletethanks, I will ask at the job centre when I sign on this Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI have had it confirmed from the Job Centre that there was a system error that caused some people to get an early payment of 1 weeks JSA, this means that their next payment will only be for 1 weeks JSA instead of two. They don't know why it happened or they haven't told their front line drones what happened to cause it.
ReplyDelete