OK, so despite a degree and an MA I've been forced to sign on for a little while til I manage to find myself some employment. I initially made my claim on the 25th October, they finally fitted me in for an 'interview' on the 3rd November, I signed on last thursday (10th November).

Does anyone have any idea how long it will take until they start actually PAYING me some job seekers allowance?

I've also had nothing through the post from them and nothing to say how much money I should be getting per week... anyone any ideas???

(I'm 27 and living alone, before you ask)

Ta

Em
xx

It's usually about 45 quid a week, going down every 2 weeks to sign on, thats 90 squid every two weeks, took about 3-4 weeks before I got my first 'back' payment from when I first contacted them, you usually get payed on tuesdays.

Hiya Em, try the DWP/Jobcentre plus websites, I found lots of information on there.

The payment, when you do get it, should be backdated to the day you first called. Hope you get a job pretty soon though :thumbsup:

You shouldn't have to wait more than 2-3 weeks...any longer and you should phone them or go down to the jobcentre (phoning's better than going down these days). I would advise NOT leaving it though, as there's often a bit of confusion around payments over Christmas and you'd be much better off having your claim sorted well before then.

As said before, you should get about £90 a fortnight and it will be backdated to 25 October. The payment day depends on your signing day (which depends on your NI number, not that that's remotely relevant or interesting!). IIRC it'll be Tuesdays for you if you sign on a Thursday.

hope this helps and good luck job-hunting (but whatever you do don't fall into the trap so many of us have, and end up working for DWP!)