can a spouse pick up a jobseekers allowance payment from the Post Office?

Rionach

Due to an illness in the family, it may be necessary for me to travel to the US in October for an unknown amount of time - could be a couple weeks, or could be a couple months. Can my husband pick up my payments for me? Is there a proper procedure to follow regarding this?

dario28

Not a chance - Ring them they might deffer your payments

Rionach

ring who? The PO or my local Social Welfare office?

dario28

Where ever you signed onto the Dole originally...they are a bunch of W@nkers so I wouldnt expect a favorable response

Rionach

ugh ! ok...thanks for the help. Jesus - what to they expect people to do when they need to be out of town cause of family emergencies? ...that's terrible.... !!!

Ok, another question - if I do need to be away for say 2 months, when I get back will I be able to collect again?...or do I need to go through the system from the beginning again.

dario28

No idea - best bet is to call them

They had a hissy fit when I went on a 3 week holiday

Rionach

oh jeez - well, I hope they're in a good mood when I talk to them !

Thanks for the info.

Clueless09

Hey, if its only two weeks you could sign a form in the social welfare taking a holiday and they will defer your payments.
Two months is a differenent story, you will either have to sign off or if your not collecting your payment they will cancel your claim.
Yes you will have to process a new claim i think, my friend signed off for a new job, was let go after 3 weeks with half the office and had to start a new claim all over again after just 3 weeks.
I wouldnt even bother telling them you might be away for that long, they wont care, if your getting jobseekers benefit or assistance you need to be jobseeking and available for work and they will just say if your in the US your not...
Hopefully everything will work out for you.

Rionach

Good thinking. You'd think they'd have some sort of policy/scheme in place though for this type of situation. Eh....hopefully I won't even have to leave at all !...or in the worst case, just for 2-3 weeks.

Galen

You will probably be expected to sign off because it is their attitude is that you must always be available for work.

Xiney

dario28 wrote: »

Where ever you signed onto the Dole originally...they are a bunch of W@nkers so I wouldnt expect a favorable response

dario, please have a look at the charter... calling the dept. of social welfare "a bunch of W@nkers" is against the rules and will earn you an infraction or a ban in future.

Ta,

Xiney

Xiney

Go into the office and request holidays. You will get paid for the first two weeks of your holiday when you return. You are allowed to stay longer, but you won't get paid for additional weeks you are away.

dario28

Xiney wrote: »

dario, please have a look at the charter... calling the dept. of social welfare "a bunch of W@nkers" is against the rules and will earn you an infraction or a ban in future.

Ta,

Xiney

Apologies - but when they accuse you of pulling a scam cause you move back to Ireland cause your father dies you may have similar feelings

Rionach

Sorry for your loss. That's terrible.

dobsdave

Rionach wrote: »

ugh ! ok...thanks for the help. Jesus - what to they expect people to do when they need to be out of town cause of family emergencies? ...that's terrible.... !!!

......

Not much different if you were in employment and asking for an indefinite amount of time off with pay.

Rionach

Right, I thought about that a bit later on.

trad

Sorry if I'm going out of the spirit of this discussion but how can you be seeking work if you are outside of the country?

Surely it's job seekers allowance and to qualify you have to be seeking employment? How do you propose to do that from America?

Black Lead

trad wrote: »

Sorry if I'm going out of the spirit of this discussion but how can you be seeking work if you are outside of the country?

Surely it's job seekers allowance and to qualify you have to be seeking employment? How do you propose to do that from America?

You could agrue that you are checking fas.ie regulary and emailing CVs.

Rionach

What black lead said. And, I'd actually be looking for work in America as well.

Xiney

Persons on Jobseeker's payments are allowed to take vacations - away from home and away from jobseeking.

Jobseeking is a Jobseeker's job. Employed people are allowed to take vacations away from their jobs. It's no different.

With that said, if you're gone for more than two weeks, you don't get paid for the extra. Same as with a job: unpaid leave beyond your maximum.