Back to work enterprise allowance

du bist schon

hi, has anyone here experience of getting this?
i'm applying for it this week and i'm a bit apprehensive about what to expect...

cheers

WHU

Thought I'd bump this as I am also interested in this scheme.
How did you get on du bist schon?
Any updates?

WHU

Changes to the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme

TheSupplementary Budget April 2009 announced a number of changes to the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme.

• From 1 May 2009, the amount of time you can participate on the BTWEA scheme will be reduced from 4 years to 2 years for new applicants. Also from 1 May 2009, the qualifying period required for BTWEA is reduced from 2 years to 12 months provided you have an underlying entitlement to Jobseekers Allowance.
• From 1 May 2009, if you have previously participated in the BTWEA scheme and exhausted your entitlement, you can participate a second time after a period of at least 5 years has elapsed.
• A new Back to Work Allowance Scheme called the Short-term Enterprise Allowance will start on 1 May 2009.

Short-term Enterprise Allowance

• There is no qualifying period. You can get immediate access to the allowance but you must meet the qualifying conditions.
• To qualify you must have an entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit and have either 104 contributions paid in the past 2 years or qualify for statutory redundancy.
• The Short-term Enterprise Allowance will be paid to you for a maximum of 1 year. It will end when your entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit ends (that is, at either 9 months or 12 months).

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/JobseekerSupports/BackToWork/EnterpriseAllowance/Pages/ea.aspx For full details.

The Big Red Button

WHU wrote: »

Short-term Enterprise Allowance

• There is no qualifying period. You can get immediate access to the allowance but you must meet the qualifying conditions.
• To qualify you must have an entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit and have either 104 contributions paid in the past 2 years or qualify for statutory redundancy.
• The Short-term Enterprise Allowance will be paid to you for a maximum of 1 year. It will end when your entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit ends (that is, at either 9 months or 12 months).

I've a quick question about this - a friend of mine has worked out that he has approx. 11 months worth of "stamps" left for JSB. He's currently applying for the Short Term Enterprise Allowance Scheme. What I'm wondering is, why does it say at either nine months or twelve months, is it rounded to the nearest three months or something? And which would apply in his case?

Thanks!

cee_jay

The number of contributions you have paid overall when applying for Jobseekers benefit decides whether you get JSB for 9 months or for 12 months.
If you have less than 260 you can claim your stamps for 9 months, more than and you can claim them for 12 months before they run out.

The Big Red Button

chatterpillar wrote: »

I've a quick question about this - a friend of mine has worked out that he has approx. 11 months worth of "stamps" left for JSB. He's currently applying for the Short Term Enterprise Allowance Scheme. What I'm wondering is, why does it say at either nine months or twelve months, is it rounded to the nearest three months or something? And which would apply in his case?

Thanks!

Just an update on this - my friend has applied for the short-term scheme, and it looks like he'll definitely qualify for it. It means that he can set up as a self-employed tradesman straight away, but continue to receive his full JSB until next August straight into his bank account. It's great because it means that he can get started totally legally without worrying about a lack of cashflow for the first few weeks/months. And in addition to this, he's also getting a grant for €1,000 towards tools!

I'm just posting this because I'm sure there's plenty others in a similar position, and while it's a fantastic scheme very few people seem to know about it. For example, when he asked about it in the SW office and in a Citizens Info Centre they'd never heard even heard of it! Hopefully they'll publicise it a bit more, it was only introduced in May so I suppose that's why more people aren't aware of it.

absolutegroove

Hi chatterpillar,

I'm also hoping to apply for this.

Did your friend apply to his local SW office? Did he also apply for the grant for tools at €1000.00 at the SW offfice or somewhere else?

Any info would be great.

Thanks in advance.

The Big Red Button

absolutegroove wrote: »

Hi chatterpillar,

I'm also hoping to apply for this.

Did your friend apply to his local SW office? Did he also apply for the grant for tools at €1000.00 at the SW offfice or somewhere else?

Any info would be great.

Thanks in advance.

I think it was the Community and Enterprise officer he was dealing with to get the Allowance. He was given a number for him by the SW office.

As for the €1000 grant, I'm not entirely sure what the story is with that, as he has to get final confirmation that he's getting the allowance before he can apply for the grant. He's been given a name and phone number of the person to contact about it, however I don't know what that person's position/department is. I'll post back here when I find out. Basically the grant can only equal 75% of the total amount he spends, so he'll have to spend €1,333 in order to qualify for the full €1,000. And he has to make a list of exactly what he needs in advance and get three written quotes for whatever he buys.

The best thing you can do is call into the SW office and ask them about it. We had to talk to a few different people in there before we got anyone who'd even heard about the scheme! You'll also need to register with revenue as being self-employed in order to qualify. Also you'll need to fill in a lot of paperwork, including a business plan and projected financial statements, I think it took us about three hours to fill in the whole lot!

Sorry I'm a bit vague about the specifics, I'll try and find out exactly who he was dealing with and post back again! It seems like a really good scheme though, you should definitely look into it.

absolutegroove

Thanks chatterpillar.

All that info is a great help.

WHU

Does anyone know what happens if your business fails under the back to work enterprise allowance scheme, are you totally up a creak without a paddle

The Big Red Button

WHU wrote: »

Does anyone know what happens if your business fails under the back to work enterprise allowance scheme, are you totally up a creak without a paddle

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you will still qualify for JSA - you won't get JSB again though. Open to correction on that, but that's the impression I got anyways.

WHU

Thank you chatterpillar for your reply