I'm a part time post graduate student studying for a postgraduate. I attend Uni on Wednesday afternoons (1pm - 6pm).

Would I be entitled for Job seekers allowance?

Nope.

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you have to be actively seeking work and prove you are doing so!

You can get housing benefit

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I think the real answer is nobody knows! I had finished my stipend and was writing my thesis (and was in the registration only period) and decided to apply for JSA, which I gratefully received. I had to show them the jobs I had applied for once a fortnight.

The Job Centre said I would be able to claim housing benefit. So I sent off an application, I was perfectly upfront and honest about my claim (including my situation with the PhD, now the council wants me to pay back the housing benefit I recieved, as according to their records I am a full time student... hmmm, I can't get a student loan, my stipend finished in June, no savings, and looking for a job. Benefits screwed me over!

I would be very wary about any application for benefit, as my experience is that no one knows their arse from their elbow in these places. Perhaps in future if I need benefits I'll just outright lie about my situation.

Good luck with your aplication!

You can, depending on your circumstances,

You need to be "officially" studying or working less than 16 hours per week, this depends on how many credits you're studying towards, check with your uni what the official quota of hours attached to the module, this is not just simply the hours you are in class but the study hours allocated to your module(s), also you need to be actively looking for and prepared to accept full-time work.

That is my understanding anyway, see this doc for more info and contact numbers, you should just phone and enquire they will usually be quite helpful:

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_015482.pdf

Thanks, Matt.

My boyfriend started a full time HNC course at college and although he was at college for less than 16 hours (over 2 days) he wasn't entitled to any job seekers allowance because he was in full time education. My friend, on the other hand, managed to get job seekers allowance for the days she wasn't at college because she was studying part time. She bascially got a pro rata payment for the days she was able to work.

You would be best to speak to someone from the job centre as they know more about this than anyone.

Hi,

I've just found this thread and have been having similar problems. I'm a Part Time MSc student at Cov Uni. Since I started I was claiming JSA until now - where for some reason (after having all of the "official" JSA forms all signed, stamped and dated by my University for my 9 hours a week taught course) they now have suspended my claim indefinitely as they regard me as full time because I am doing a Masters degree. No one told me I couldn't claim as I'm under 16 hours but since they have suspended it apparently "you can't claim for masters degree's regardless of being part time and the University providing a letter to this effect.

The next part is even better. I get a letter from the "decision makers" asking for my job searches since I enrolled on part time as they also for some unknown reason think I'm full time. I don't know how or why as I handed in Part time forms to the job centre! So I send me job searches in. My claim gets suspended without any letters telling me so. Bank balance at -£1000 and dropping. I call the job centre and they say claim suspended by "decision maker" as the "decision maker" has apparently called the University to see if I'm full or part time. I can't find out who exactly supposedly called them. So I call the University and on the system, yes since I started I've been a Part time student.
Getting repetitive. Called the job centre back they say then I need an official letter. No problem call the University they do me one. Call the job centre back and say can get letter but don't know about hours. They say they need confirmation of hours but then ask what course I do. I say P/T Masters. They then say you can't claim for Masters however I've not ever been told in the past 13 weeks I've been signing on nor seen this in writing anywhere?

I then ask well if I've been a part time student then won't they want all the money back. Not great when bank balance is -£1000! The guy says maybe "but between you and me don't say anything". So professional.

So my question is do I argue the toss about my hours and Part Time "ness" or cut my losses and hope they don't want paying back! I lean toward the latter (a) because of the hassle of dealing with obviously incompetent people and (b) the demoralization of signing on with 1 master's and studying a second. It's not like I've not been looking for work either. How does someone survive on £50.65 a week driving 60 mile round trips to University (part time).

I do agree that nobody knows their arse from their elbow and might suggest they give me a job at the job centre as I'd no doubt be more competent at it than most of them. What's most annoying is the fact that they speak to you like your stupid and worthless when all you do is try and get a measly £50 a week. It's not like they are giving you it out of their own back pockets!

Rant over.

But seriously if anyone knows where I stand or what I could do for the best please let me know

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I don't have any info myself, but the Citizens Advice are good at handling these things, they tend to ring the b*ggers up for you and sort things out according to the official rules (whatever they are), they seem to get treated like human beings; whereas, mere mortals do not.

Maybe your handle should be Kafka.

Hi,

I've just come across this now so sorry this reply is so late. I'm a part-time student and I also work part-time, my job is on a contract so I researched whether I would be entitled to benefit if the worst came to the worst and I lost my job. People who have said that you're not entitled to JSA are correct as this has the stipulation that you have to be actively seeking full-time employment. However, you may be entitled to income support which does not come with the same stipulations as JSA. I'm sorry I don't have a link to post but I remember reading on a government website that part-time students (may) be entitled to income support as this is a means tested benefit on a person's circumstance. Hope this helps.

Hi again, in response to the last post: thisit what the University of Brighton tell their students aout JSA etc.

http://www.brighton.ac.uk/studentlife/money/benefits/index.php?PageId=540

I did part of my part-time teacher training whie claiming JSA and my office were fine about it, I suspect it depende on who you talk to.

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I'm NOT recommending this course of action... however...

I'm about to finish an MA which I have done over two years part-time. I got made redundant last year and signed on, and simply kept my mouth shut about the MA.

In my experience, trying to reverse the decision of an anonymous "decision maker" is almost impossible. I had a very stressful time when they stopped *all* my benefits for several weeks after I simply decided to be honest about some unpaid website and editing work I was doing for an academic journal. It was very awkward and it's only because my landlady is a friend that I wasn't turfed out of my house. It was truly Kafkaesque - they made a decision of "assumed earnings", and I had to prove that I wasn't getting paid. I didn't want to get the journal involved so I told the dole I wasn't doing it any more due to budget cuts on the journal (a lie).

After that debacle I decided simply not to tell them a thing. Just turn up every fortnight, apply for some jobs every now and again, be nice and middle class and co-operative, and things will be fine.

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There are two kinds of Jobseeker's Allowances. The first kind of Jobseeker's Allowance is based on how much National Insurance a person has paid in the previous 2 years, and is paid for up to 182 days. This is called 'contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance'. The second kind of Jobseeker's Allowance is based on the claimant's income and savings and is called 'income-based Jobseeker's Allowance' you are talking about which one.
http://www.samplejobdescriptions.org/