BTWA Questions

Snowglobe10

Been interested in this for quite a while and have decided to apply for it.

I looked into it about 6 months ago but I hadn't been signing on for 12 months at that stage so didnt qualify. I'm over the 12 months now and would like to attempt it again.

MY questions are for anyone who has already applied, successfully or not. What exactly do I need to produce? I've the form printed out and I'm about to fill that in. I've started work on a business plan detailing what I plan on doing, and expectations etc. I'm a web designer and have already spoken with one company who want me to run a website for them, and I have some other projects that I want to work at myself also. I presume all these should be included in my business plan. In terms of experience, i studied it in college, and worked for 12 months with a design business that went bust, hence the reason I'm on JSA at the moment.

Will they require anything else from me? I'm lucky in that there is little to no start up costs with the exception of a bit of advertising. I already have a business name registered, with 2 years now, will this pose any kind of problem to me? Will they require any other documents from me, bank statements etc?

Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help me with this.

J

Solitaire

AFAIK in order to qualify you need at least three things:

- You need a Mentor to vouch for you - typically a regional enterprise agency such as Meath Partnership.

- A Business Plan deemed suitable and sustainable by either your mentor or the NDP, not sure who anymore.

- Successfully complete a Small Business course (not sure what they call it) run by the NDP. This might be a new requirement, caught me by surprise

Currently trying to get in touch with the NDP fellas myself, from what I heard someone's been shifting goalposts of late :rolleyes:

Snowglobe10

Thanks for the reply Solitaire.

I think the area I'm living in would be covered by the South Kerry Development Partnership, so I suppose I should be contacting them first to see what they have to say about it. I downloaded the pdf from the welfare.ie site and under the section "6.Can I get any other support" section it states "you should do a "Start your own business course" before beginning self employment. I guess this has become a requirement as opposed to a recommendation. Not a bad idea really!

In terms of the business plan, I presume the mentor would go through that with me?

thanks again

Solitaire

I've just spent the day trying to dig out the letter they sent me a few months back as the changes they've made aren't common knowledge and aren't on Citizen's Information or anywhere - I wouldn't even be surprised if they have the wrong end of the stick themselves about it as the SWO never notified the Partnerships/ILDCs of any changes.

I can't remember the exact name of who actually administrates the BTWEA now that the SWO has washed their hands of it; all I know is that they've also been made responsible for the SWO's job of calling up people on JA and making sure they're trying to find work. They appear to operate under the aegis of the National Development Plan.

Really you just need to get in touch with your local Partnership and do what they tell you to Let them figure out who needs what course where for the minute. You'll probably be told to go on an appropriate starting business course if you don't know how to do your own business plan, but those are usually free (most others aren't but are half-price for Social Welfare recipients).

discodave0307

Hi folks,

I was wondering does my wife's income affect my btwa? Just got a letter in the post asking about my spouse, her income etc. She is a primary school teacher.

Thanks a million million,