Am already on JSA, now girlfriend made redundant, options?

germwarfare

I have been on a very reduced JSA for some months now. Last Wednesday, my girlfriend was made redundant (with 2 weeks salary advanced as termination pay). Should she go to a SW office immediately, or are you supposed to wait until you receive your termination pay and P45? She is due to receive the latter on Wednesday. We don't have any savings at the moment really, by claiming as a couple should we receive the full €312 p/w until we find new employment?

Dempo1

Ideally your girlfriend show go to the SW on receipt of her P.45 as this will be required to open a claim for JSA/JSB. As your probably aware there are inordinate delays in claims being processed. I'm not an expert on what you will be entitled to as a couple, others may have a better understanding of this!

germwarfare

Thanks for that. Actually my claim was processed within three weeks, so perhaps it won't be that bad this time.

upinthesky

if you have no other income you will get the maximum payment she should go to the sw office as soon as she is out of work to open her claim not sure if they will add her to your claim or not

germwarfare

Ok, due to both myself and herself going through job interview processes over the last few weeks, we didn't really press ahead with this Social welfare claim.

Since my jobseeker's allowance has been drastically reduced for the last number of months since we began cohabiting, I decided to pop down this morning to claim as a couple until one or both of us finds work.

Her letter of employment termination which I handed in to them states that her last day of payment was the 26th of January. Do you think they will backdate the extra payment we should have received to that date, or will we only be assessed as a couple for future weeks? The girl I was dealing with at the SW office was new, and couldn't really tell me one way or another, all she said was that the claim should be processed within a week.

Chaotic_Forces

I doubt it. See, back dating only works from when you claim it. The only thing I can think of is when my mother's income was cut and I was entitled to the full amount of 196. I was back dated from when her pay was cut.

I don't know if you're asking about her claim or you're money was cut because of her working. But if your money was cut, then hopefully it should be backdated. :-)

germwarfare

Thanks Chaotic. Yeah, I realise that the only real chance of backdated pay would be the difference between the full individual rate and my actual pay for the subsequent weeks since the g/f was made redundant.

However, we did both go to claim as soon as she was laid off, but she did not receive her P45 until a week ago, despite repeated requests to send it out sooner. Without that, we were not allowed to proceed. Hopefully the SW office kept some kind of record of that visit, but I would think that to be unlikely.

I filled out a qualified adult dependant form this morning, so hopefully we will receive the couple's rate from now on, while I hope to have my own pay backdated to the 26th, to make up the difference from the rather paltry amount I'm on right now. Do you think this is 'doable'? Apologies for the rambling!

Chaotic_Forces

germwarfare wrote: »

Thanks Chaotic. Yeah, I realise that the only real chance of backdated pay would be the difference between the full individual rate and my actual pay for the subsequent weeks since the g/f was made redundant.

However, we did both go to claim as soon as she was laid off, but she did not receive her P45 until a week ago, despite repeated requests to send it out sooner. Without that, we were not allowed to proceed. Hopefully the SW office kept some kind of record of that visit, but I would think that to be unlikely.

I filled out a qualified adult dependant form this morning, so hopefully we will receive the couple's rate from now on, while I hope to have my own pay backdated to the 26th, to make up the difference from the rather paltry amount I'm on right now. Do you think this is 'doable'? Apologies for the rambling!

I'm not sure, if you do remember the date she made the claim on, then *hopefully* it will be back dated. But I've heard two stories: it is backdated from when the claim was made and it is back dated from when the claim goes through (as in when everything is handed over). Personally, mine was backdated from when I first made the claim, since it took me a few days to fill out the bit about looking for jobs and whatnot (I had to go to FÁS and all).

Anyway, I'm about 99% sure you will be back dated for the money you should have gotten (from when she stopped working). I honestly don't know about couple payments but just try to get down in the morning and make sure the claim is being done from when she first made it (whenever you made it the first time for her), hopefully it'll be okay.