Claiming the DOLE.

BobbyDavro

I'm finishing college for good tomorrow and I'll be looking to claim the dole.
How much will I be entitled to? Because apparently if you're living at home (which I am) you dont't get as much? None of my parents are retired yet, although my mother doesn't work.
Also, I'm probably moving out in a few weeks. What's the story with claiming rent allowance?

Thanks for any replies. :pac:

johnnyskeleton

There are two unemployment payments in Ireland - Jobseekers benefit and jobseekers allowance.

Unless you have been working part time through college and paying PRSI stamp, you are not entitled to Jobseeker's benefit.

Jobseekers allowance is means tested, and usually if you are supported by your parents or by a partner, you get little or nothing:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/social-welfare/irish-social-welfare-system/means-test-for-social-welfare-payments/how_parents_income_can_affect_jobseekers_allowance

You must also be genuinely available and willing to work, so it's not just a case of signing on, I believe you have to show that you have been looking for work but are unable to get anything (e.g bring in rejection letters).

To get rent allowance, you must satisfy your local health board that you have a housing need. If you can live with your parents, they are unlikely IMO to assess you as having a housing need.

To be honest, you will need to get a job before you will be able to move away from your parents.

Elessar

If you are over 24 your parents income will not be assessed in the means assessment for jobseekers allowance, so you'll get more. If you are under 24 (and cant get JB) you'll get little, but enough to live on considering you are still at home.

Agent J

Good luck because you are going to need it.

Techinically you will be a student until about october since most students are still students until their id expires according to the college.

Rule of thumb social welfare offices they then to treat you as a student for 6 months after your final exams.

Rent allowance moving out of home? Unless there is an extreme personal situation that you cannot live at home in the mix you can pretty much forget about it. Usually have to apply through the Community welfare officer and they are severely over burdened in the last few months.

JB(Job seekers benifit) is worked out on how many PRSI contributions you have made over the last couple of years. Google for more speifics. If you have enough then you might stand a better chance of claiming something then. JB is pretty much automatic once you prove you arent a student anymore. In other to prove that to the social welfare you'll need to deregister from the college and get a letter from them saying that. Which pretty much rules out any repeats.

JA (Job seekers allowance) is means tested and young person with no commitments living at home in an ever tightening public purse? I dont like your odds. And on top of that it will take probably at least 2 months if not more to process.

Short version.
Entitlement is the wrong word to be using. Assuming you dont have enough PRSI you'll be waiting a long while for something on JA and it wont be as much as JB and forget about rent allowance.

passive

BobbyDavro wrote: »

I'm finishing college for good tomorrow and I'll be looking to claim the dole.

Are you even considering any alternatives? I know there's not much out there...but surely even a token attempt? was your degree in "signing on"?

dudara

Moved to State Benefits

dudara

dotsflan

Im living at home and was recently let go out of work, and i am getting a fair amount on the dole, its not the full whack but it'll do until i get back into employment hopefully. they base it on your parents income and how many dependant children are in the household!!

Rowley Birkin QC

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

You must also be genuinely available and willing to work, so it's not just a case of signing on, I believe you have to show that you have been looking for work but are unable to get anything (e.g bring in rejection letters).

To get rent allowance, you must satisfy your local health board that you have a housing need. If you can live with your parents, they are unlikely IMO to assess you as having a housing need.

What if you are already living away from home, away from parents for the last 4 years in college? Does that affect eligibility for Rent Allowance?

I've been applying for jobs left right and center and been getting PFO's, finishing college in two weeks and hoping to stay in Dublin rather than head home where I know there is definitely nothing happening jobswise.

IT Loser

dotsflan wrote: »

Im living at home and was recently let go out of work, and i am getting a fair amount on the dole, its not the full whack but it'll do until i get back into employment hopefully. they base it on your parents income and how many dependant children are in the household!!

Do you mind my asking what age you are? Are you under 24 or over 24?

givyjoe81

Agent J wrote: »

Good luck because you are going to need it.

Techinically you will be a student until about october since most students are still students until their id expires according to the college.

Rule of thumb social welfare offices they then to treat you as a student for 6 months after your final exams.

Rent allowance moving out of home? Unless there is an extreme personal situation that you cannot live at home in the mix you can pretty much forget about it. Usually have to apply through the Community welfare officer and they are severely over burdened in the last few months.

JB(Job seekers benifit) is worked out on how many PRSI contributions you have made over the last couple of years. Google for more speifics. If you have enough then you might stand a better chance of claiming something then. JB is pretty much automatic once you prove you arent a student anymore. In other to prove that to the social welfare you'll need to deregister from the college and get a letter from them saying that. Which pretty much rules out any repeats.

JA (Job seekers allowance) is means tested and young person with no commitments living at home in an ever tightening public purse? I dont like your odds. And on top of that it will take probably at least 2 months if not more to process.

Short version.
Entitlement is the wrong word to be using. Assuming you dont have enough PRSI you'll be waiting a long while for something on JA and it wont be as much as JB and forget about rent allowance.

First of all I find your post perplexing, you seem more concerned about discouraging the chap from applying at all in the first place, does his post offend your sensibilities or something?! I thought your intro was a bit too smart arse also.

Absolutely incorrect as regards to most of the information provided above, there is no provisions for students to be finished for six months before claiming/recieving dole payments , nor does the date on a student card have any bearing whatsoever on anything to do with SW, it only means that the student in questions card does not expire til that date.

There are two forms of social welfare payment for jobseekers as far as I am aware, either JS benefit or allowance, I stand to be corrected on the exact names. The former is given based on the number of PRSI contributions in previous year/s etc and the later is for people who do not have sufficient contributions who are then means tested.Take a look at following linkhttp://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/social-welfare/irish-social-welfare-system/social_welfare_system_in_ireland

You will need to get a letter from college stating that you are indeed finished and that exact finish date, even if you have repeats you will still be able to satisfy the available for work criteria, I had to defer before and they simply just didnt pay me for the two days i sat in september for 'repeats' rather than rule me out for the whole summer.

Bottom line dont take anyone's word on here for gospel, check the above linek and make an application ASAP to your local SW office.

As for a wait regarding payment, if your stuck for money there is a facility for interim payments to be made just ask the guys in the SW office when making your claim.

Agent J

givyjoe81 wrote: »

First of all I find your post perplexing, you seem more concerned about discouraging the chap from applying at all in the first place, does his post offend your sensibilities or something?! I thought your intro was a bit too smart arse also.

Thats nice. I would discourage the chap from trying to look for rent allowance definatly because as i already stated unless there is a personal situation in the mix they probably arent going to get it. If there is no reason for them to move out then why apply for it?

I never said to not apply for Benifit or allowance but it is not going to be a cakewalk these days.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Absolutely incorrect as regards to most of the information provided above, there is no provisions for students to be finished for six months before claiming/recieving dole payments , nor does the date on a student card have any bearing whatsoever on anything to do with SW, it only means that the student in questions card does not expire til that date.

Really? Might want to check that with your local SW office because i have known them to state that you cant apply for 6 months afterwards because you are still a registered student. The date on the student card is a good indication of such. Students are not allowed apply for the dole.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

There are two forms of social welfare payment for jobseekers as far as I am aware, either JS benefit or allowance, I stand to be corrected on the exact names. The former is given based on the number of PRSI contributions in previous year/s etc and the later is for people who do not have sufficient contributions who are then means tested.Take a look at following linkhttp://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/social-welfare/irish-social-welfare-system/social_welfare_system_in_ireland

Uh huh. And that different from what is in my post how exactly? Benifit is the automatic one based on PRSI and allowance is the means tested one.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

You will need to get a letter from college stating that you are indeed finished and that exact finish date, even if you have repeats you will still be able to satisfy the available for work criteria, I had to defer before and they simply just didnt pay me for the two days i sat in september for 'repeats' rather than rule me out for the whole summer.

That will depend on the local social office deciding as such. If you are based in a heavy college town near a college they will put this chap through the ringer and strictly speaking if they are still a registered student (Which they are unless registration which is about the date on the ID) so they can reject them based on that.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Bottom line dont take anyone's word on here for gospel, check the above linek and make an application ASAP to your local SW office.

Agreed. Make the application ASAP but if it has to be means test it is going to take at least 2 months according to current reports varying a bit on location.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

As for a wait regarding payment, if your stuck for money there is a facility for interim payments to be made just ask the guys in the SW office when making your claim.

That facility is decided on by the community wefare officer and tracking them down and getting a slot with them is very difficult and they have to make a decision on it. If they are living at home with no dependants they get put well down that list.

givyjoe81

Agent J wrote: »

Thats nice. I would discourage the chap from trying to look for rent allowance definatly because as i already stated unless there is a personal situation in the mix they probably arent going to get it. If there is no reason for them to move out then why apply for it?

I never said to not apply for Benifit or allowance but it is not going to be a cakewalk these days.



Really? Might want to check that with your local SW office because i have known them to state that you cant apply for 6 months afterwards because you are still a registered student. The date on the student card is a good indication of such. Students are not allowed apply for the dole.




Uh huh. And that different from what is in my post how exactly? Benifit is the automatic one based on PRSI and allowance is the means tested one.


That will depend on the local social office deciding as such. If you are based in a heavy college town near a college they will put this chap through the ringer and strictly speaking if they are still a registered student (Which they are unless registration which is about the date on the ID) so they can reject them based on that.



Agreed. Make the application ASAP but if it has to be means test it is going to take at least 2 months according to current reports varying a bit on location.



That facility is decided on by the community wefare officer and tracking them down and getting a slot with them is very difficult and they have to make a decision on it. If they are living at home with no dependants they get put well down that list.

For the love of god where did you get this information on the expiry date of student cards?! Where!! I KNOW this is NOT the case as I have experience of applying myself, the student card has nothing to do with the application process, nothing whatsoever!! You are NOT a registered student til your card expires, prey tell where you have recieved this information from? Think about it, it is easily conveivable that two people doing the same degree's in different college's have DIFFERENT expiry dates on the student cards, in fact i know this to be the case. Is it not more logical that they students final day in college will be considered to be the day of their last exam, which can be easily confimed by any third level institutions registration office.

As it happens my current student card expires in Jan 2010, so by your 'logic'/information im barred from applying til then? Or six months after because im barred from applying for six months after i stop being a student?! Use your head man, that makes no sense, and like i said its completely incorrect.

BTW, Which SW office states this, how have you known them to state this? Have you applied to several offices yourself or are you going on "he said, she said nonsense", no SW will tell you this as it is completely wrong.

The date of that chaps final exam, which have obviously passed, IS the date for which the OP ceased being a student.

I said most of your info is wrong and it was worded in a way which seemed to be discouraging the chap from applying at all, dont think thats a far stretch from what I posted.

As for the overlap on JB and JA, I only kopped that at the end of my post and just left it in, no harm to show that I had researched my post too!

As for two month long applications, also not the case, a interview with a deciding officer has resulted in a 3 week wait for myself.

And what has the currenty economic situation got to do with the 'level of diffuculty' involved in making applications now, as opposed to 6 months ago or longer..? Are they now making people do tricks or jump through hoops?!

newballsplease

last year, i finished college, after 3 weeks i signed on, could have done so before that, but looked for work instead...you need a letter from college to say your finished............... i dont know were that poster is getting the idea you have to wait till your student card/date expires or whatever hes/she is talking about??

Agent J

givyjoe81 wrote: »

And what has the currenty economic situation got to do with the 'level of diffuculty' involved in making applications now, as opposed to 6 months ago or longer..? Are they now making people do tricks or jump through hoops?!

More people apply, It takes longer to process the claims. Simple numbers. I have a friend who works in the department of SW and was drafted back as a claims decider because of the massive increase in numbers. We have have had an almost 100percent increase (Its not hyperbolic check the cso figures) since last year and the dole offices are swamped even with the redeploying of staff.

Read what i have said. Techinically the Dole office can call you a registered student until such time as you are long no longer such. Get a letter from the college will usually shut them up but you are a registered student until the next round of registration from the college. If They can techinically call you
a student then they can claim you are not able for full time work then they can disqualify you.

I know first hand the one in Maynooth does this because it is a student town. I can only surmise they do this because of the high transient student population. I imagine other dole offices near colleges/ITs must do similar.

Agent J

givyjoe81 wrote: »

As it happens my current student card expires in Jan 2010, so by your 'logic'/information im barred from applying til then? Or six months after because im barred from applying for six months after i stop being a student?! Use your head man, that makes no sense, and like i said its completely incorrect.

Just because you say something is incorrect does not make it so. Perhaps you would actually read what i have said instead of skimming it and seeing what you think i said.

6 months after exams is what i wrote. They can call you a student for a few months afterwards unless you get a piece of paper from the college saying the opposite. Sometimes colleges will ask for your Student ID back when you ask for such a letter. I know that one from first hand experience.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

BTW, Which SW office states this, how have you known them to state this? Have you applied to several offices yourself or are you going on "he said, she said nonsense", no SW will tell you this as it is completely wrong.

Try again. The one in Maynooth does. I know this one first hand from a couple of years back and a handful of people since.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

I said most of your info is wrong and it was worded in a way which seemed to be discouraging the chap from applying at all, dont think thats a far stretch from what I posted.

Yes it is. You are saying my information is incorrect when it isnt. You disagree with my opinion which is a seperate matter.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

As for the overlap on JB and JA, I only kopped that at the end of my post and just left it in, no harm to show that I had researched my post too!

As for two month long applications, also not the case, a interview with a deciding officer has resulted in a 3 week wait for myself.

If you'd reseached your post and read through the link youd posted youd know which was which.
3 week wait? Jesus you are lucky. I know people at the moment who are waiting 2 months and counting for their JB to come through.

givyjoe81 wrote: »

And what has the currenty economic situation got to do with the 'level of diffuculty' involved in making applications now, as opposed to 6 months ago or longer..? Are they now making people do tricks or jump through hoops?!

Im going to respond to this one again.
-Country has less money, A lot less
-Social welfare budget is getting squeezed just like everything else
-We have 100% increase in dole numbers compared to this time last year
-CWO(Community welfare officer) has a restricted descresionary budget which is given out on a needs must basis and from the limited information available the OP does not seem to fall into that category.
-We do not have a massive increase in staff in dole offices to process the claims.

If you cannot see how the above make things more difficult in dole applicantions espeically for JA....

Here are two links related to the delays in the dole. Maybe theyll make things more clearer

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0506/breaking55.html
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idgbkfgboj/rss2/

patrickc

attack the post not the poster please, all info posted here is a guide rather than fact, and people should remember that.


Thanks

Patrick

givyjoe81

Agent J wrote: »

Just because you say something is incorrect does not make it so. Perhaps you would actually read what i have said instead of skimming it and seeing what you think i said.

6 months after exams is what i wrote. They can call you a student for a few months afterwards unless you get a piece of paper from the college saying the opposite. Sometimes colleges will ask for your Student ID back when you ask for such a letter. I know that one from first hand experience.


Try again. The one in Maynooth does. I know this one first hand from a couple of years back and a handful of people since.



Yes it is. You are saying my information is incorrect when it isnt. You disagree with my opinion which is a seperate matter.


If you'd reseached your post and read through the link youd posted youd know which was which.
3 week wait? Jesus you are lucky. I know people at the moment who are waiting 2 months and counting for their JB to come through.



Im going to respond to this one again.
-Country has less money, A lot less
-Social welfare budget is getting squeezed just like everything else
-We have 100% increase in dole numbers compared to this time last year
-CWO(Community welfare officer) has a restricted descresionary budget which is given out on a needs must basis and from the limited information available the OP does not seem to fall into that category.
-We do not have a massive increase in staff in dole offices to process the claims.

If you cannot see how the above make things more difficult in dole applicantions espeically for JA....

Here are two links related to the delays in the dole. Maybe theyll make things more clearer

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0506/breaking55.html
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idgbkfgboj/rss2/

Well 'mate', seen as Im not being marked on my posts I think the 'research' i.e wtf the names of the two types of benefits were is enough tbh. As for the 'info' you provided if you perhaps had done a little of your own instead of waffling off the top of your about total tosh which is completely untrue, then I wouldnt have needed to point out the several glaring errors in your opinions.

What kind of comment is "just cos i say so, doesnt mean its wrong.."? FFS you ARE wrong, student card?? Who gave you this info? I have asked twice already, as I stated its totally incorrect and completely illogical and would be grossly unfair if such a crazy rule were indeed fact. If you dont believe me go and check with the Citizens info bureau or the SW themselves.

I note how you have suddenly changed your tune to "oh your a student until you get a letter saying otherwise.." I told YOU this, not the other way round, you clearly stated that the expiry date on a student card will determine when someone ceased to be classed as full time student for the purposes of a SW claim, again clearly showing that you ARE WRONG!!

And what has the college asking for the student card got to do with it? If anything that just proves my point, that when issuing a letter to a student saying they are no longer in said instition, then the student card is revoked, makes sense really seen as you're no longer a student and shouldnt be able to enjoy the perks of said card.

Il be waiting 3 weeks for the interview with a deciding officer, after that who knows how long for the thing to be actually processed. But there is a facility for as you stated a community welfare officer to make interim payments.

Again seriously, what does the current climate have to with the level of 'difficulty' regarding SW payments? It is still the same process, they havent moved the goalposts, and if they did there would be absolute uproar, but as things stand (aside from diff levels of payment for younger claimants) its still the same process now as it was 12 months ago, just might take longer to get, not more difficult to apply. As for you links im not even going to look at them, like Iv said above, difficulty and then length of time for applications are two totally seperate things and the former doesnt even come into the equation.

closeline

If you are living at home with both parents and working part time are you entitled to something... Just finished college too?

cee_jay

Zombie thread, close line please start a new thread and try not drag up 6 year old threads