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** >> 25th January 2014 << **

I posted recently a picture of some figures that I'm trying to sell off to make some kind of money. Well I just thought that some of you might not know what has happened and why I'm suddenly struggling for money to live on.
So I'm going to explain.

Basically, in the UK there's this thing called 'Job Seeker's Allowance'. Not sure if you've heard of it. To summarise it, JSA is a scheme run by the government to give the unemployed money, so long as they are fit and able to both look for work and to actually work. Once you start earning with a job over 16 hours a week, you get signed off the scheme and don't receive money anymore.

End of last year I had a TEMPORARY PART TIME work. Less than 16 hours a week, paid monthly.
Went to the Job Centre every other week as usual, got paid as usual. Had to fill in forms to say how much I had worked and how much I would be paid when.
I did these no problem. My employer did not supply payslips, neither did they let us know where they were. Upon asking, they said that a supervisor had to get them, and so I waited, but never got the slips.
They're not posted.
So I had to put on each form that I hadn't got a pay slip, which was true. My advisor never said anything about the lack of payslips.

Now that I have finished that work and I'm back on JSA full-time and looking for employment, they've decided that they can't pay me. Why? They didn't tell me at first, just sent a load of forms and run-of-the-mill letters that never explained shit. So i gave them a ring, they told me if I sent a bank statement in it would be fine. So that is what I did, I even provided my Department Manager's e-mail in case they had questions about when I had finished work.

Didn't hear from them for a week, until yesterday. I got three envelopes. One was a form that I had already filled out and sent to them, along with a notice on the changes to my circumstances, and also a note saying that a bank statement was on its way to them. The second envelope was yet another letter, this one saying that I was 'earning' so I wasn't eligible for JSA. (That's bullshit; I'm unemployed now. My contract ended at the start of this year.) The third was different, a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions. A government office. This one threatening me with a £50 'civil' fine for not enclosing payslips that I didn't have.

Now, I'm better than I was at keeping calm about things. But when you get slapped with one letter that is not true, another that you've sent already, and another threatening you with a fine that you can't afford... It got too much for me. My depression couldn't take the strain and I broke down.

Short version: The government has fucked me over and is fining me something I can't afford and accusing me of something that I haven't done.

I wish there was another way to say this but I'm in a really bad place at the moment. No money, a fine over my head..

All I can ask is that you forgive me if there isn't any art or anything for a while. I just can't get motivated.

Thank you, and I'm sorry.

Rez

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