jsa circumstances change

[davy]

My partner is on jsa and just got a letter asking about any changes. And im worried about my pip money. im on PIP both enhanced rates. and i got a big back payment last year after a tribunal so have over 6K Also the money is in my partners bank account as i cannot get a account for a few reasons.

[nukecad]

The big question here is how long has your partner been on JSA?

In other words is it 'Old Style' JSA or 'New Style' JSA.

It doesn't matter which account the money is in, as a couple it's counted as joint anyway for benefits purposes.

EDIT-
Just looking back at your previous posts your partner is on 'Old Style' Income Related ESA, with premiums included because you have PIP.

That is normally affected by savings over £6,000 and so you have to be careful here when replying to their letter.

You PIP backpayment shouldn't count as 'savings' for at least a year.
So it has to be made very clear in your reply to the DWP just where that money came from, and that you only got it last September.

They should be able to check themselves that it was a benefit backpayment for PIP and so shouldn't be counted as part of any savings. (at least not yet).

It will eventually be counted as savings, (most likely from next September), if you still have it - so you might want to consider spending some on things that you need.

[davy]

ok thank you very much. as for spending it lockdown hasn't helped lol

[nukecad]

Just to note:

Spending it on anything you like now would not be classed as 'Deprivation of capital' because it would not affect your/your partners current benefits in any way.

However if you spend it after it starts being counted as savings then it could be counted as Deprivation if spent on things that were not 'needed', because that could affect how much JSA your partner would get then.

If you want your partners JSA to stay the same (after next September) then you have to get it below £6k before it starts being counted as savings.

The only other thing is if it can be disregarded for longer than a year?

Normally that's only if the DWP make an 'Official Error' , which yours probably wouldn't be if awarded by a tribunal.
(Official error is things like when they 'forgot' to add IR ESA to those transfering from Incapacity Benefit and had to make big backpayments for that).