Question Please?

AustinByrnes

hello,

i have been unemployed since 1st of may 2009.

i was one of the 1900 made Redundant by Dell computers.

i have been claiming jobseekers benifit since then.

i was just going over my letter sent out by socail welfare last may.

it states that my jobseekers benifit will run for 312days. so i Make that March the 12th 2010. i have had no contact yet from social welfare to set up any meeting with an officer to means test me yet.


i just wondering how will that meeting go has anyone from dell being contacted yet.

i am currently Living at home and have been giving my parents Money from my jobseekers to help with bills.

My redundancy is gone(had Major debts Long Story)

so im just living on my jobseekers now, because i am a former dell employee and they will know i got redundancy will i being treated any differently for the means test.

they can gladly look at my bank account there is nothing in it.

my only weekly income is the 196.10
of which i give 60euro of that to my parents for bills.

i have applied for several jobs from apple in cork to aldi to tesco to hmv(all in Limerick)

i can prove i applied for all these jobs cause i asked that employer for proof i attended interviews.

because im a former dell employee i qualify for the EGF Fund to re-train myself.

i have applied for 3 coures which will all follow each other and confirmation of each course has been sent to me which states that the EGF fund payed for these courses.


should i have trouble qualifying for joobseekers allowence or am i screwed basically.

any info or advice would help me


Thanks

uoluol

You will shortly be notified that your benefit is due to expire. These letters are normally automatically sent out about 4-6 weeks prior to your your benefit running out. If you haven't got notification by the middle of next week, contact your welfare office. You can then fill out the papers for Jobseeker's Allowance, which is means tested. Only those who are under 25, will have their parent's income taken into account.

If you are over 25 and have don't have savings/capital over 20K your claim is relatively straight forward and can usually be decided upon without being interviewed by an Inspector.

If you are under 25, or have to be interviewed, it may take a little longer, but it is not something to be worried about. You just will have to provide more information, bank statements, if you received a large redundancy you may be asked for details on where you spent it, but if it was for debt reduction there should be no problems.

Definitely apply for your Job Seeker's Allowance, it really is nothing to get worried about.

AustinByrnes

Thanks very much for your advice. Much appreicated.

cee_jay

However, I don't think your benefit will expire until end April/start of May, if you only started claiming on 1st May. 312 days is 12 months - you are only paid for 6 days in a Social Welfare week.
If you are worried, go to your hatch in the Limerick office (if that where your claim is - they take queries on Monday, Thursday & Friday).

AustinByrnes

I will check this. thanks again.