Conflicting Advice, Please help...

djd80

Hi All

My girlfriend was laid off 6 weeks ago from her job and has applied for and received job seekers allowance of 204 per week and that's great.

She may now have the option of working a 12 hour shift some Sundays but we are being given different advice from different people about this.

On one hand we are being told that if she is working less than 20 hours a week she can switch to "casual??" and still get her allowance for the days she doesnt work. Is this the case and how do we go about switching to that system?

On the other hand we are being told that you simply cannot work full stop if you are to continue receiving benefits..

Also we spoke to 2 different people in the social welfare office who each told us one of the stories above so now we are totally confused...

Also since she has her P45 is it possible to claim her tax back? My brother did this a long time ago but not sure what the story is now.
Again we are being passed from pillar to post in the social welfare when we ask about that?

Sorry for the long post!

Xiney

She can switch to casual jobseeker's as long as she's working 3 days or less Monday to Saturday.

As Sunday work doesn't count towards it, she'll still be getting her full JA and the pay for the 12 hour sunday shift on top of that.

You have to ring up revenue to get your tax back. I'm not sure how that works.

djd80

So she can work the odd Sunday whenever it's available and it basically makes no difference whatsoever to her payments. Does she have to make the welfare office aware of the fact that she might be working the odd Sunday or does it matter to them?

Does anyone know the rules surrounding claiming tax back for the year?

Xiney

Yes she has to make them aware.

However if she only ever works Sundays it won't affect her claim.

You can try the taxation forum for the tax question.

very miffed dub

I'm not sure that is correct. If the op's girlfriend is on Jobseeker's Allowance then income from employment is assessed because it's a means-tested payment.

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/ja_inc_insuremp.aspx

As far as I know if she was earning 150 euro for working the Sunday then her Jobseekers Allowance would be affected.

Take the income disregard (20 euro) from 150 = 130. 60% of 130 = 78. That means her assessable means from employment would be 78 euro. Therefore her weekly Jobseeker's Allowance would be reduced by 78 euro.

If she is on Jobseeker's Benefit then she can work on a Sunday without it affecting her weekly payment.

Whatever payment she is on, she should tell them about this work.

Hope this helps.

Xiney

ah you're right, she would be means tested. missed the part where she was on JA.

In any case she'd still be better off with the job.

djd80

Thanks for the replies