Advice greatly appreciated and needed!

*George*

Hi.

This could be a slightly long post but bear with me please as I need to get this sorted out pretty soon. Basically my situation is: I'm a 22 year old who has just finished college and I'm currently living at home with my parents. My father works and pays a pension. My mother doesn't work.

So...I went into the local Social Welfare office this week in search of JSB/JSA. I explained to the the girl my story, filled out the necessary forms etc. and was told that I am 4 credits short of being able to claim the 204e a week. (I have 27 credits due to my 6 month work placement plus another part time job I had while in college, but I need 31). She explained that unless I get 4 extra credits from somewhere I'll be entitled to a "pittance". Not good. She stressed that I should find 4 weeks work somewhere (even just work 1 day a week for 4 weeks?) and that would bring me up to the 31 credits and subsequently the 204e.

To be honest, it's fairly crucial that I get these credits as getting a "pittance" not only doesn't sound appealing for obvious reasons, but also my father is getting sick of providing for me lately. Fair enough, I'm sick of him providing for me too. However, getting a job in the current climate is virtually impossible where I live even though I have tried.

This is where ye come in: I need advice on what option to take.

A} if my family knew of a local employer, is it feasible to get them to "hire me" for the next 4 weeks, say I worked one day a week, and then qualify for the 31 credits that way. I haven't thought about this option in any detail whatsoever yet, but don't see why that wouldn't work?

B} do a FAS course for 6 weeks. Again, I haven't looked at the FAS websites just yet, but If I got a 6 week course in anything at all (acceptance permitting) surely this would bring me up to the 31 credits. The problem here is I've heard that it's fairly hard to even get a FAS course these days.

C} Move out. This is the most ideal option. Again, my father is pretty fed up of providing for me and to be honest I'm sick of living at home too. If I move out, my "allowance" so to speak would significantly increase right?

Thanks for reading and I greatly appreciate any advice given.

Xiney

Apply for Jobseeker's Allowance. You will get credited PRSI contributions while receiving it. Four weeks later, apply again for Jobseeker's Benefit.

Confirm this by asking the social welfare yourself, of course.

*George*

Hi Xiney,

Thanks for your advice. Yeah I was reading about that but wasn't sure of what the full situation was. So basically what you're saying is that I'll apply for the JA (recieve very little if anything for the next 4 weeks) and then I would be entitled to the larger sum of e204 in four weeks time?

Also, another short query: as I was saying in my original post, I'm currently living at home. Subequently, living with my parents means I'm entitled to very little. If I move out, how much more would I be entitled to?

Thanks again for any info.

mp22

I think you need the stamps in the qualifing year for this years claims 2007
is the qualifing year citizens advice is the place to check this

*George*

Q: If I move out, would I be entitled to the Jobseeker's Benefit of 204.50?

dlambirl

*George* wrote: »

Q: If I move out, would I be entitled to the Jobseeker's Benefit of 204.50?

Possibly but then you'll have to pay rent....

*George*

That's true. But my logic would be: rent is e50 around this city.
My social welfare would go up to 204.50.
Now obviously I haven't taken into account any other expenses involved, but I'm fairly certain it would be more beneficial financially to move out even if you take the other factors into consideration.
Is there a catch to this that I'm not seeing? Anyone?

Xiney

bills: electricity, gas, internet, tv (and tv license), phone

household stuff: toilet paper, shampoo & soap, washing up liquid, cleaning products

food

entertainment


all in all, you might be better off financially at home in any case. living independently takes a lot more money than you'd think.