Social abandonment

Anyenama

Whats the story

I have no idea if this is in the right category, but it seemed the most suitable for my problem even if it isn't a broken heart.


I have been unemployed for about 3 or 4 months. I dropped roughly 60 CV's around but I either got laughed at (literally) or sent packing (politely)

I'm fairly experienced in the retail sector, I had Christmas jobs in this sector for the last 4 years. I'm a 6'6'' man, I dressed well, I even had a shower. But still no job.

I then went to the social welfare office to try and get jobseekers allowance, or some other form of social welfare.

I signed on, a few weeks later I had an interview and everything looked hunky dory. But not 1, not 2, not 3 but EIGHT weeks later I got a letter saying I'm not eligible for anything. I went to the local office to make a scene as I was very, very pissed off, but they said all i can do is appeal, but I wont get 1 cent for the 4 months I have been unemployed, or the 8 weeks I was waiting a reply.

Is this fair? I still wont be eligible because all my details are the same. I'm unemployed, skint, living with my parents, only my mam works, and my dad is pissing around with me looking for a job(he is too proud to be a "Social leech")

I feel completely abandoned by our mockery of a government and I am sure I am not the only one. If anyone has any advice, or a job I would greatly appreciate it.

mood

what are the grounds for rejection? What age are you?

Anyenama

I'm 20, they said my parents earned too much last year, even though they paid an insane amount on morgages, i dont have the figures with me, but it worked out my dad earning roughly 90 a week(he was self employed) and my mam 40 something grand a year

mood

From the Citizens Information web site:

Living with your parents
If you are 24 years of age or under and you are living with a parent or a step-parent in the family home, some of your parents' income will also be taken into account in the assessment for Jobseeker's Allowance.

This is called an assessment of the benefit and privilege you get from living with your parents. More information is available on how benefit and privilege is assessed in the means test.


They won't change or bend the rules for you so there is no point creating a fuss.

Check out www.citizensinformation.ie for more information.

Maybe you could do a fas course or go to college while looking for job.

Anyenama

I understand they won't bend the rules, but my parents can barely afford to keep me. I can't even afford to get the bus to any fas course, I sold my xbox and laptop for food. Seriously. food. And the government wont help me at all?

Any money my parents get goes straight to the morgage, debts etc. My brother is in a full time course in trinity so they also have to pay for that. All I am is a financial drain

mood

Anyenama wrote: »

I understand they won't bend the rules, but my parents can barely afford to keep me. I can't even afford to get the bus to any fas course, I sold my xbox and laptop for food. Seriously. food. And the government wont help me at all?

Any money my parents get goes straight to the morgage, debts etc. My brother is in a full time course in trinity so they also have to pay for that. All I am is a financial drain

Surely your brother gets a grant (so the college fee would be paid) if money is so tight. And surely your father would apply for social welfare rather than see his family struggle to feed them selfs. Surely his family is more important than his pride.

zxcvbnm1

mood wrote: »

Surely your brother gets a grant (so the college fee would be paid) if money is so tight. And surely your father would apply for social welfare rather than see his family struggle to feed them selfs. Surely his family is more important than his pride.

It doesn't say that his father i seligible for dole? His father works.

Why would he be elegible for social welfare?

solovely

He says his father is not working either and too proud to go on the dole.

And surely your father would apply for social welfare rather than see his family struggle to feed them selfs. Surely his family is more important than his pride.

Totally agree.

I'm sorry OP, this is not what you want to hear and I'm sorry you feel socially rejected, but I think the government are easier to blame here than taking any personal/ family responsibility here. Personally, I wouldn't want my tax money going into supporing a 20 year old living at home. Sorry.

When I was your age, I was in college supporting myself (with help from a grant). What do you see yourself doing for the rest of your life? Where do you see yourself in 5/ 10 years time? You're so young, you've your whole life ahead of you. You should be focusing on what you want to do, and how you can get there, not on blaming the rest of the world for your situation right now.

It's crap that your parents are in debt, and even more crap if that is stopping you from fulfilling your own potential. But there is lots of ways out of this. You can go to college (there's lots of ways of doing this without parental support) or do a FAS course. You can do voluntary work to increase your skills and your quality of life. You can look to other ways of making money to keep you going (doing jobs for people, etc).

You are at such an exciting stage of your life, a stage where you can take control and do and be whatever you like. You should not be blaming other people. If you get into a cycle of thinking this way at 20, it will follow you around forever (and we all know...and avoid....those kinds of bitter people).

Mark27

Solovely, and who do you think it was that paid for you grant?? So maybe you should not feel too stongly about supporting some 20year old thats living at home?

OP the only solution for you is to move out of home, even rent a room in a house somewhere and you will be entitled to full social welfare plus rent allowance. I realise it will be my tax money paying for it, but i was out of work and on the dole/mortgage relief myself for a while and badly dependant on it. Go for it..

LegacyUser

Mark27 wrote: »

OP the only solution for you is to move out of home, even rent a room in a house somewhere and you will be entitled to full social welfare plus rent allowance. I realise it will be my tax money paying for it, but i was out of work and on the dole/mortgage relief myself for a while and badly dependant on it. Go for it..

Anyenama, sorry to hear about your situation. I was unemployed for 3 months last year before I got my current job and I had a nightmare with my rent and trying to get rent allowance. There are some criteria you must fulfill before you can qualify for RA including the fact that you have to have been renting for a period of 6 months before your circumstances changed (become redundant etc). Otherwise, from what I was told you have to go through the local authority and see if you are a case for social house. There was a 4-6 month waiting list to be assessed for that when I tried to get assessed last year. Here are some documents you might want to look at :

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/local_authority_and_social_housing/applying_for_local_authority_housing.html

I hope you find a job soon, I applied for over 200 jobs in that period of 3 months and got one interview and got that job Its a tough market out there now, but keep at it

fghijkl

I'm sorry OP, this is not what you want to hear and I'm sorry you feel socially rejected, but I think the government are easier to blame here than taking any personal/ family responsibility here. Personally, I wouldn't want my tax money going into supporing a 20 year old living at home. Sorry.

When I was your age, I was in college supporting myself (with help from a grant). What do you see yourself doing for the rest of your life? Where do you see yourself in 5/ 10 years time? You're so young, you've your whole life ahead of you. You should be focusing on what you want to do, and how you can get there, not on blaming the rest of the world for your situation right now.

Thats a bit harsh tbh, its easy to sit there and use the old i pay my taxes, social welfare is too much blah blah blah
Unfortunately this attitude usually comes from those who have never been unlucky enough to lose their job, when you're in the situation yourself and have to actually apply for these things, its not nearly the huge financial windfall people think it is.. I was unemployed when i was 23, i HAD to live with my parents, i had no money, i was awarded the huge sum of 20euro a week or there abouts, i wasn't unemployed out of choice, i had a degree and experience and was very employable, there were simply only a handfull of jobs and hundreds of people applying for them. The few interviews i got were half way across the country, 20euro a week, pfft that didn't even buy me a train/bus ticket/petrol to get to these interviews.

Maybe you'll find that out the hard way one day, you never know whats around the corner, you could lose your job in the morning, it'd be interesting to see how you feel about other peoples taxes supporting YOU

Personally, I wouldn't want my tax money going into supporing a 20 year old living at home. Sorry.

The irony of this of course is that when YOU were 20 YOU were being supported by other peoples tax money paying your grant. Must be nice up there on your high horse. I really wish everyone in the country was forced to live off social welfare for 3 months and maybe they'd see how ridiculous their holier than thou attitude is.

Surely your brother gets a grant (so the college fee would be paid) if money is so tight. And surely your father would apply for social welfare rather than see his family struggle to feed them selfs. Surely his family is more important than his pride.

Admittedly i'm not an expert, but i'm pretty sure there are rules with regards to the self employed and it is much harder for them to receive social welfare payments, so his father may not even be eligible for payments.The OP may not qualify for a grant, its based on previous years income, his dad earned approx 4,600 last year and his mother earns 40,000+ this is fairly close to the grant cut off point.

OP i'm really sorry to hear about your situation, the irish social welfare system really is a joke, the bad news is that if your dad does apply for social welfare this will also be included as income so it's unlikely you'll receive dole if you reapply again next year or whenever, you can't apply in your own right until you're 24, thats a long way away, the only other advice i can offer you is to at least try the college route, you don't say if your brother is getting a grant, having some sort of qualification will stand to you in the future, help you find secure employment if our economy ever does pick up, and will also give you the opportunity to travel and work abroad, if your brother is also going to college you may just scrape a grant, it'd be better to apply while he is still attending college because it will increase your chance of getting a grant, you can use this site to see if you will qualify, http://www.studentfinance.ie/mp9392/check-reckonable-income-bands/index.html
all the best OP