If you become unemployed, you need to go to your local Job Centre to claim benefits.

Get the forms

You need to go to your local Job Centre to get the forms to apply for JSA (Job Seeker Allowance, the social security benefit for people who are seeking work). You will find the details of your nearest office on the Job Centre website.

You first need to choose whether you are claiming :

• Contribution based: if you have paid enough National Insurance contribution;
• Income based: if you do not have enough money coming in (and you do not have enough saving, usually below £3000).

If you have resigned from a previous job, you will have to fill a specific form to explain the reasons of your leave.

Contribution based

Contribution based Jobseeker's Allowance is a flat-rate amount for you as an individual that you can get if you have paid and/or been credited with enough National Insurance (NI) contributions in the relevant tax years (you must work 2 years in UK before you become eligible). You could get it up to 6 months (you can claim up to 1 month in arrear).

Amounts you could get per week are (April 2005):

Income based

If you do not qualify based on your NI contributions, or if you think that it won't be enough money to live on, you can get “Income Support”.
Income based Jobseeker's Allowance is money for:

• you
• certain housing costs
• special needs.

For example if you have a disability. The amount you get may be reduced if you have savings or money coming in.

Amounts you could get per week are (April 2005):

Depending on your situation (single, married/partner/live with someone, worked outside the UK), you will have different forms to fill. In addition you will have to complete the form called: "Helping you back to work".

If you are renting, you should be able to get the Housing Benefit to participate to your rent. You will find information here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/housing_benefit.htm. You will have to fill the form HCTB1 that came in the pack you got at the Job Centre. If you have got a mortgage or home loan, you may also be able to get extra money.

If you are caring for someone (for example children) you can opt out and apply for child maintenance at any time.

The interview

When you will have completed the form, they will give you a date for the JSA interview in order to review your case. Basically it means just to spend a few minutes with a staff member in order to put your details into the computer system.

Once it has been done, they will ask you to come back every 2 weeks in order to check that you are still looking for a job.

Payment

Their policy is to pay all JSA directly into an account. You can open a starter account with a bank and collect cash at the Post Office.