PA UC benefit year ended - Do I file a new claim or reopen my old one?

You did the right thing. When your benefit year ends, you DO need to file a completely new application - not just reopen your existing claim. It's essentially starting from scratch since the system needs to reevaluate your eligibility based on any work you've done during your previous benefit year. You'll need to go through the whole identity verification process again and they'll determine a new weekly benefit amount based on your most recent work history. Just keep filing your weekly certifications if you're able to (sometimes the system blocks this until they process the new claim).

i did the same thing last month, thought i was supposed to just reopen but turns out new benefit year = new claim. took about 3 weeks to start getting payments again but they didnt backpay me for the first 2 weeks i was waiting

BE CAREFUL!!! If you didn't earn enough wages during your previous benefit year, they'll DENY your new claim!!! This happened to me and I was caught completely off guard. Make sure you earned at least 6x your weekly benefit amount from your previous claim or you'll get a financial determination saying you're ineligible!!!! The system doesn't warn you about this when you're filing!!

I've helped several people navigate this process. Here's what happens at benefit year end: 1. You MUST file a new claim, not reopen (you did this correctly) 2. PA requires you to have earned at least 6x your weekly benefit amount in your previous benefit year to qualify 3. You'll receive a financial determination in about 7-10 days 4. You'll serve another waiting week if eligible 5. If determined eligible, you'll need to resume weekly certifications If you're worried about the processing time, you might want to try using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent quickly. They have a service that helps you bypass the busy signals and actually connect with UC. I've recommended it to several people who needed to check on their claim status. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2

When my benefit year ended I filed a new claim but then got soooo confused because I kept getting different answers from everyone!!! The system is deliberately made difficult I swear. I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through on the phone and finally got someone who told me I did it right but there was an "open issue" they needed to resolve manually. ALWAYS FILE A NEW CLAIM AT BENEFIT YEAR END!!!!

whats a benefit year? ive been on uc for like 4 months is that gonna run out soon?

dont forget u have to do the work search activities again while waiting for the new claim. my buddy got denied cuz he thought he could skip those while waiting for approval

Just checking back - did you receive your financial determination yet? If it's been more than 10 days and you haven't received anything, I'd definitely recommend reaching out to the UC office directly.