I am confused about benefits

rameire

Hi,

I have set up my own photographic business within the last 8 months and I am at the moment getting the social welfare's enterprise allowance of €196 per week to help me thru the startup rather than the job seekers allowance.

My question is that I am due to have a baby on 2nd August and have applied for maternity benefit to start from 3rd week of July (or 2 weeks before my due date), so what will I be entitled to?

A bit of background to help...I was working full-time from Dec 2004-Nov 2009 for a company where I paid PAYE and PRSI before I left and started the company up. The social welfare office said to apply for the maternity benefit and it shouldn't be a problem as they are basing the maternity payments on 2008 PRSI payments that I made. Is this correct?

Will I continue to get the enterprise allowance along with the maternity benefit or can this be "paused" and restarted after my maternity benefits are finished....

Finally, will I still be able to run the company as a sole trader with no staff whilst I am on maternity leave legitimately and earn the company money, as I am not taking any payment or salary from the company and living of the allowance from the social at the moment, and putting all the money back into equipment, or will this cause problems for me?

Thanks for your help!

Citizens Information: Graham

Hi rameire


Your Back to Work Enterprise Allowance payment will be paused for as long as you are receiving Maternity Benefit. You should be able to receive it again afterwards provided you are running the same business and you still meet the conditions.

I'm afraid you are not supposed to work (including self-employment) while receiving Maternity Benefit. In exceptional circumstances it may be possible to work for a day or two (although you wouldn't receive a payment for those days) - you should discuss this with your Social Welfare Local Office.


Graham Long
Citizens Information

rameire

Citizens Information (Graham) wrote: »

Hi rameire


Your Back to Work Enterprise Allowance payment will be paused for as long as you are receiving Maternity Benefit. You should be able to receive it again afterwards provided you are running the same business and you still meet the conditions.

I'm afraid you are not supposed to work (including self-employment) while receiving Maternity Benefit. In exceptional circumstances it may be possible to work for a day or two (although you wouldn't receive a payment for those days) - you should discuss this with your Social Welfare Local Office.


Graham Long
Citizens Information

Hi Graham,

Thank you so much for the reply. It is great to be able to get a clear idea of what is the right thing to do and what I am entitled to.

How long before the maternity leave do you think I will find out if I am approved? I got a basic letter stating that it was being reviewed and that's it so far...

The help is much apprieciated.

Cheers

Citizens Information: Graham

Hi rameire


I'm afraid I don't know exactly how long the application will take to process, but nearly all applications for Maternity Benefit are processed by the date the maternity leave is due to start.

Graham Long
Citizens Information