Can anyone remind me - I did a case some years ago where a self employed person was denied JSA having had no work for some months. JSA aggregated his earnings over a long period prior to his claim which meant that he failed the means test, and this was supported by a Commissioners decision. This effectively denies claims due to a temporary downturn in business, due to the means test.

I need the info now but cannot find it.

Thanks all.

Could be CIS 166/1994 (income support pre existence of JSA) - self-employed builder whose work had dried up held still to be gainfully employed and thus subject to the rules for calculating his weekly income by averaging his earnings over a period of a year. It's discussed in the notes to reg 30 of the IS regs in the blue volume (iii) of the Social Security legislation. You can normally only get round this by closing down the business. If you are still looking for business, advertising, canvassing etc you are still trading.

The total inability of self-employed people to claim JSA is one of the reasons the standard class II NI contributions are so much lower than those paid by employees. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

Thanks very much for that - that was the case.

What is the equivalent Reg for JSA, as I presume the same principle applies for IB JSA?

Thanks

Regulation 95, which in the commentary says "see the notes to Reg 30 of the IS Regs".

Thanks!