Wife Refused Job seekers allowance

giftgrub

My wife who's out of work was recently refused Jobseekers allowance after a means test.

They said it was because of my salary which is about 38k a year.

To be honest after the mortgage is paid it leaves us pretty screwed.

Has anyone been in a similar boat here? what are our options?

Devia

Sounds a bit harsh. Were you recognised as having any savings/investments or claiming any other benefits? Did they take your mortgage costs into consideration?

giftgrub

We dont have any savings right now, ( that went into buying the house). I have a small pension payment every month.
We get childrens allowance for our 2 year old, but the letter we got back didnt seem to take the mortgage into consideration. It just said my gross weelky pay put us over the limit.
And from what i remember the means test form had nothing about mortgage payments, althoug it did ask for weekly rent.

deelite

giftgrub wrote: »

My wife who's out of work was recently refused Jobseekers allowance after a means test.

They said it was because of my salary which is about 38k a year.

To be honest after the mortgage is paid it leaves us pretty screwed.

Has anyone been in a similar boat here? what are our options?

We were in a similar situation to yourselves - we ended up down with the community welfare officer (health centre) - who was a fantastic help and he didn't make us feel like we were begging.

ABajaninCork

You can appeal this...

Do a complete budget breakdown of where your salary goes. Back it up with evidence such as bank/mortgage statements.

Was your wife asked to provide these when she applied? If not, I'm very surprised as this would be the first thing they ask for.

Having said that, the same thing happened to me. I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction to put people off TBH. It was plainly obvious I DID qualify, but was made to jump through a lot of hoops first. In the end, I had to get the TD involved.

I guess you can do this as a last resort.

Good luck!

cee_jay

What outgoings you may have do not come into consideration when calculating your means for Jobseeker's Allowance.

Your spouse’s or partner’s income from employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.

To find your spouse’s or partner’s means from work you must:

Deduct €20 per day from your spouse's or partner's assessable earnings for each day worked up to a maximum of €60 (including Sunday)
Next get 60% of the balance. This is assessed as his or her weekly means from work.
Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day (maximum €60 for 3 days work) = total x 60% = weekly means from work. (from http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/work_and_jobseekers_allowance.html#ld616a).

roachbhoy

I just recieved a form for the jobseekers allowance means test this morning (my jobseekers benefit is due to run out next month), I'm married with 2 kids & the wife works fulltime and she earns about 350 a week. Does anybody know if I would be entitled to the JSA, I had a look on the welfare website but can't make head nor tail of it. I'm freaking out all day worrying about it.Can anyone advise?

busman

roachbhoy wrote: »

I just recieved a form for the jobseekers allowance means test this morning (my jobseekers benefit is due to run out next month), I'm married with 2 kids & the wife works fulltime and she earns about 350 a week. Does anybody know if I would be entitled to the JSA, I had a look on the welfare website but can't make head nor tail of it. I'm freaking out all day worrying about it.Can anyone advise?

I know the feeling about not making head nor tail or it!

Would your wife be entiteled to Family Income Supplement?
Have a look here http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/family_income_supplement.html

FIS is calculated on the basis of 60% of the difference between the income limit for the family size and the assessable income of the person(s) raising the child(ren)

Limit for 2 childern = €602

(602-(350+your pension)*.6 = payment

The best thing is to drop down to your SW office and ask them.

efb

if she is not working you are entitled to the married person's tax credit and there's an allowance for stay at home mothers.

So if she can't get benefit I would follow this route and at least reduce your tax liability and increase your take home pay.

See revenue.ie for the value of tax credits this year

thenightrider

giftgrub wrote: »

My wife who's out of work was recently refused Jobseekers allowance after a means test.

They said it was because of my salary which is about 38k a year.

To be honest after the mortgage is paid it leaves us pretty screwed.

Has anyone been in a similar boat here? what are our options?

Im in the same boat my girlfriend is only on 25k and it costs her over 6k a year just to get to work as she has to travel over 130 miles a day for work and then 20 euro a week in toll charge's

yabadabado

ABajaninCork wrote: »

You can appeal this...

Do a complete budget breakdown of where your salary goes. Back it up with evidence such as bank/mortgage statements.

Was your wife asked to provide these when she applied? If not, I'm very surprised as this would be the first thing they ask for.

Having said that, the same thing happened to me. I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction to put people off TBH. It was plainly obvious I DID qualify, but was made to jump through a lot of hoops first. In the end, I had to get the TD involved.

I guess you can do this as a last resort.

Good luck!

social welfare wont refuse someones claim just to reduce costs/keep numbers down by putting people off.Getting a TD envolved will not get you a benefit if your not entitled to it, at best it might get the process sped up a bit.

mrsbyrne

ABajaninCork wrote: »

You can appeal this...

Do a complete budget breakdown of where your salary goes. Back it up with evidence such as bank/mortgage statements.

Was your wife asked to provide these when she applied? If not, I'm very surprised as this would be the first thing they ask for.

Having said that, the same thing happened to me. I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction to put people off TBH. It was plainly obvious I DID qualify, but was made to jump through a lot of hoops first. In the end, I had to get the TD involved.

I guess you can do this as a last resort.

Good luck!

please ignore the above post as its rubbish. JSA mean test does not take into account any outgoings. you have at 38000euro almost twice as much as would disqualify your wife from JSA. i suspect you are disqualified from mortgage interest supplement as well, but its worth a try. generally if one of you are working 30+ hours per week then you are disqualified from MIS. you need to go to your mortgage lender and ask them for help. please go to the citizens information centre nearest you for help first .good luck.

ABajaninCork

yabadabado wrote: »

social welfare wont refuse someones claim just to reduce costs/keep numbers down by putting people off.Getting a TD envolved will not get you a benefit if your entitled to it, at best it might get the process sped up a bit.

That's not what I said. The response I got was a knee-jerk reaction, which, I am afraid DOES happen. This is the reason why I suggested the OP challenge the decision. Of course, involving the TD is as I suggested a last resort, and DOES NOT mean that benefit will be paid!

ABajaninCork

mrsbyrne wrote: »

please ignore the above post as its rubbish. JSA mean test does not take into account any outgoings. you have at 38000euro almost twice as much as would disqualify your wife from JSA. i suspect you are disqualified from mortgage interest supplement as well, but its worth a try. generally if one of you are working 30+ hours per week then you are disqualified from MIS. you need to go to your mortgage lender and ask them for help. please go to the citizens information centre nearest you for help first .good luck.

Actually, my post might be rubbish in YOUR opinion, but no it's not. My post was based on facts as the same thing happened to me. I did this after taking advice from my local councillor and speaking to the CWO. This is purely a suggestion to the OP to act on or not as they please...

eastbono

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Actually, my post might be rubbish in YOUR opinion, but no it's not. My post was based on facts as the same thing happened to me. I did this after taking advice from my local councillor and speaking to the CWO. This is purely a suggestion to the OP to act on or not as they please...

JSA is means tested, household outgoings and mortgage are not taken into account as Mrs Byrne said. You mention speaking to your CWO this person deals with Supplementary Welfare Allowance, Rent Allowance etc and does not deal with JSA so your initial post could be misleading.

ABajaninCork

eastbono wrote: »

JSA is means tested, household outgoings and mortgage are not taken into account as Mrs Byrne said. You mention speaking to your CWO this person deals with Supplementary Welfare Allowance, Rent Allowance etc and does not deal with JSA so your initial post could be misleading.

Fair comment. In my case, I was going round in circles and being pushed from pillar to post having never claimed before. My claim was kicked back as the Welfare claimed they never had bank statements from me (which I hand delivered two weeks prior!). So different people (Civil Servants) were telling me different things. Meanwhile my husband'a wages were cut, so things were even tighter. Being the person I am, I eventually lost my temper, wrote a snotogram to the Welfare and got the TD involved.

I can only relate to what worked for ME.

eastbono

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Fair comment. In my case, I was going round in circles and being pushed from pillar to post having never claimed before. My claim was kicked back as the Welfare claimed they never had bank statements from me (which I hand delivered two weeks prior!). So different people (Civil Servants) were telling me different things. Meanwhile my husband'a wages were cut, so things were even tighter. Being the person I am, I eventually lost my temper, wrote a snotogram to the Welfare and got the TD involved.

I can only relate to what worked for ME.

I can understand your frustration with your case but unfortunately documents do go missing because of the large volume of claims that are being processed everyday in offices, this is not an excuse but these things do happen (even civil servants are human). I love your term snotogram.

yabadabado

ABajaninCork wrote: »

That's not what I said. The response I got was a knee-jerk reaction, which, I am afraid DOES happen. This is the reason why I suggested the OP challenge the decision. Of course, involving the TD is as I suggested a last resort, and DOES NOT mean that benefit will be paid!

How was the response you got a knee-jerk reaction? A deciding officer decides a claim using guidelines and legislation and using the information supplied.most likely a mistake was made ,which seems to have been sorted for you.

wmpdd3

twice the sw employees have told us to contact a td? I refused to, i cant understand why they would say this. either they are right or wrong, why involve the equivelent of a company director into a dicision?

LegacyUser

Hi does anyone knows if I refuse to take a job will I lose my social welfare payment? thanks

haveringchick

Applegate wrote: »

Hi does anyone knows if I refuse to take a job will I lose my social welfare payment? thanks

Hi applegate
What reason have you for refusing the job?