Social welfare question?

LegacyUser

I live with my girlfriend, she lost her job at christmas, she only finished college last summer so she doesn't have enough stamps apparently. I take home about €600 a week, i have a child from another relationship and he is costing me over €500 a month. She is applying for job seekers allowance and they are looking for my pay slips. Am i expected to support her now? I simply can't. We are living in rented accomodation and i need her to pay half or we are in serious trouble. Anybody got any advice or know how much she will get?

Silverfish

Moved from PI.

OP you will probably get more advice here.

Das Kitty

Unfortunately if she ticked the "cohabiting" box ye're fecked.

I made this mistake once, my then boyfriend was working in Supermacs. I got my part of the rent covered and €6 per week to live on, bills food and all, he was expected to support me for the rest on his minimum wage.

It really really sucks. You don't get any tax benefits from cohabiting like a married couple would but on the flip-side they treat you like a married couple when they want to give you less money.

Even if you were to move house and she said you broke up they still need the names and PPS numbers of those sharing the house so there's no real way around it.

Sorry.

PurpleBerry

Everything Das Kitty says is true. If she has declared herself as co-habiting then your income is taken into account, ridiculous as this is in practicality.

If she gets refused the only thing to do is "break up" with you, fill in the forms as "single" and apply again on that basis. Maybe the two of you make up after she's filled in the form, I don't know, none of my business .

Sure I made the mistake of saying "we" in front of the community welfare officer, She jumped on it straightaway. I explained I have a boyfriend but he doesn't live with me.

Mrs OBumble

Unregistered wrote: »

I live with my girlfriend, she lost her job at christmas, she only finished college last summer so she doesn't have enough stamps apparently. I take home about €600 a week, i have a child from another relationship and he is costing me over €500 a month. She is applying for job seekers allowance and they are looking for my pay slips. Am i expected to support her now? I simply can't. We are living in rented accomodation and i need her to pay half or we are in serious trouble. Anybody got any advice or know how much she will get?

I'm sorry: you re taking home 2400 per month (or 3000 in the few months with 5 weeks), you have a cost for the child of 500/month. That leaves a whole 1900 per month, which is plenty to live on. Many many people manage on far less.

If you don't want to be treated as a couple, then stop living as one.

Grrr.

jaffa20

JustMary wrote: »

I'm sorry: you re taking home 2400 per month (or 3000 in the few months with 5 weeks), you have a cost for the child of 500/month. That leaves a whole 1900 per month, which is plenty to live on. Many many people manage on far less.

If you do want to be treated as a couple, then stop living as one.

Grrr.

- Rent for 2
-Travel Expenses
-Loan repayments
-Bills for 2

1,900 will not last long then.

Das Kitty

JustMary wrote: »

I'm sorry: you re taking home 2400 per month (or 3000 in the few months with 5 weeks), you have a cost for the child of 500/month. That leaves a whole 1900 per month, which is plenty to live on. Many many people manage on far less.

If you don't want to be treated as a couple, then stop living as one.

Grrr.

My only problem is that you get none of the benefits from the state for cohabiting that a married couple would but they jump straight away to give you less in times of need because of it. It should be equal.