Temping / Unemployment Benefit

[Moose]

I'm not sure if this thread should be in this forum or in the 'Welfare & State Benefits' one, so please can a moderator move it to the latter, if it's more appropriate.

I was made redundant last month, signed on on March 12th, got a letter informing me that my claim had been processed on March 15th and that my first payment would be in my bank on March 22nd. I've been looking for full-time work but had also been open to temping in the meantime, thinking it'd at least add to my experience and be better than not working. The first offer of temping I got was last Tuesday, so I went to my SW office, and let them know I'd just gotten a call to work that afternoon and the next two days. In other words, I let them know in person the earliest I knew myself. The woman wasn't that happy, said this meant I'd been overpaid - I'd thought the payments operated a week behind - and that if I was going to be doing this on a regular basis, I'd have to sign on at another hatch, fill out various forms, etc. She also said I'd have to bring a letter from my employer stating what days I'd worked.

My problem is that I honestly don't know if I will be doing this on a regular basis. I may have an offer of one day's temping this week in the same company where I worked last week, but as I can't do the second day (interview), I'm guessing the agency may prefer another person to train in this week and do both days. So before I phone the agency and look for my letter, stating which days I worked (or am working), I wanted to get some advice on here first.

Is it viable to temp while trying to get full-time employment? I was initially very flexible and thought I'd get some offers because of that, but now interviews for full-time work are starting to come through, and I need to be available for those and can see that this obviously doesn't suit the agencies. Or if I decide to try concentrating on temping for a while full-time, should I be more proactive and ring agencies on a daily basis to see if they need anybody covered for sick days?

Also, when do I need to produce the letter for social welfare? If I work a day this week with the same agency, can that be mentioned in the letter, or will I need a separate letter for a day's work that relates to this week?

Thanks in advance.

 

[KCT]

Ask the SW office to issue you with what they call casual dockets, you complete them and have the agency countersign them each week. The SW office will then process any payment due to you, if you don't work in a particular week just sign the docket stating you had no work. It's a procedure that occurs quite a lot so the SW staff are well aware of what to do.

 

[bleary]

I found it really difficult temping while looking for permenant work -One SW office advised they had to keep closing my claim and starting a new one everytime I worked for a week or so They told me the only arrangement they could have was if I worked the same days times every week part time .When I worked a 3 week contract and then came back I had to get landlord signatures etc again to reset up the claim Another took my timesheets from my agency and paid me accordingly
-I got a job offer from one of my temp companies tho and it kept me out of trouble
I would say that the easiest and most profitable thing is not to temp but for your own sanity and possibly C.V it can be better .

 

[Moose]

I just phoned the agency and they said the earliest they'll be able to send a letter out is Thursday, so now I'm wondering to myself if I need to phone SW and okay that delay with them (they'd said bring the letter in as soon as I stopped working), lest future payments are affected. Ah, it's not easy being green...