Maternity Benefit

annsie17

Hi All,

i was wondering if I could get some information. i started a part time job on the 30/09 one day a week. It is all I was able to find in the CEC.

I am 27 weeks pregnant due the 02/01/12. Will I qualify for maternity benefit. I have made an application for JSA in July but have encountered a lot of delays due to "HRC" and sick leave in the section that deals with it. The lady at Hatch 10 has advised that it may be after xmas before my claim gets dealt with. I have been refused SWA due to awaiting decision from SW ( I thought that SWA was seperate to JSA and was a payment to cover delays - Can someone explain this to me please). I am getting a stamp paid since my first pay today but I cant figure out the maternity benefit - my head is weary from dealing with the state benefit system. It is causing me a lot of stress and I wake every night worrying how will I support a child when I have nothing to support myself.

any ideas welcome

mrsbyrne

Annie your having alot of problems .Returning to Ireland is tricky if you dont have jobs lined up. Here is the number of an excellent organisation who can give you guidelines and advice on your SW entitlments when youve come home from being abroad for a long time.
Crosscare 018732844.
SWA is granted at the discretion of the CWO, its not an automatic entitlement. If you were refused SWA you should have got the refusal in writing and Appealed it straight away as per the instructions on the refusal letter. It was also open to you to contact the Superintendent CWO for your area, but none of these options are garaunteed to over turn the original refusal.

pennysmom

To qualify for maternity benefit you must have at least 39 weeks PRSI paid in the 12-month period before the first day of your maternity leave. So that means if you have worked since the beginning of this year and paid prsi, yes you qualify, if you haven't there is another way of qualifing if you have at least 26 paid contributions last year and 26 the year before.

eastbono

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Annie your having alot of problems .Returning to Ireland is tricky if you dont have jobs lined up. Here is the number of an excellent organisation who can give you guidelines and advice on your SW entitlments when youve come home from being abroad for a long time.
Crosscare 018732844.
SWA is granted at the discretion of the CWO, its not an automatic entitlement. If you were refused SWA you should have got the refusal in writing and Appealed it straight away as per the instructions on the refusal letter. It was also open to you to contact the Superintendent CWO for your area, but none of these options are garaunteed to over turn the original refusal.

Hi Mrs Byrne... I have read nowhere on ops post that she is returning to Ireland.. double checked it... but as you say she should have got an official refusal from cwo for supplementary allowance. From her post she says she is working one day a week since 2009... depending when she started employment in 2009 she may not have any entitlement to mat benefit.

mrsbyrne

Hi eastbono what an exciting pair we are at this carry on on a saturday night! annie had at least one previous thread here on state benefits regarding returnin to ireland after living and working abroad and entitlements and access therein to Sw payments. i remember her circumstances, i dont know why.

eastbono

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Hi eastbono what an exciting pair we are at this carry on on a saturday night! annie had at least one previous thread here on state benefits regarding returnin to ireland after living and working abroad and entitlements and access therein to Sw payments. i remember her circumstances, i dont know why.

I know we need to get a life lol...did not see that or remember it will check her previous posts. I like to help others as best as I can the same as your self. On a serious note if she did work within the eu and has worked in Ireland since she came back she can get her cons from abroad added to her cons here and she may be entitled to mat benefit.

pennysmom

eastbono wrote: »

Hi Mrs Byrne... I have read nowhere on ops post that she is returning to Ireland.. double checked it... but as you say she should have got an official refusal from cwo for supplementary allowance. From her post she says she is working one day a week since 2009... depending when she started employment in 2009 she may not have any entitlement to mat benefit.

I can't find where she says she has been working since 2009. I took the 30/09 to mean the 30th of sept! And as she doesnt mention a year I presumed she meant this year.

eastbono

pennysmom wrote: »

I can't find where she says she has been working since 2009. I took the 30/09 to mean the 30th of sept! And as she doesnt mention a year I presumed she meant this year.

Your right mea culpa

annsie17

hi there, i am working one day a week since the 30/09/11 only 2 weeks ago.

I worked self employed in the UK and paid National insurance at class 2 from april 2005 - march 11. i have emailed about vol contributions to see how they are calculated to bring up my contributions from april 11 to end of september 11 it may well be worth while paying this.

my problem stems here from Habitual Residence and the fact that i have a flat in the UK. I havent sold it because i would loose money on it still at this stage. I am not in negative equity but i would sell at lower than i paid and lose the deposit i put down (part of it and would have to pay estate agent fees) therefore i want to hold on to it until i can keep the money i invested in it. Its a deposit of 17k sterling and to me a lot of money and also this is all i have as a foot hold for purchase overhere when its sold!.

i am finding it all very stressful.

mrs byrne that number is that an irish company or is that a uk number

thanks all for your help

annsie17

Mrsbyrne,
i did get a refusal letter from the SWO on financial circumstances but when i spoke to a superior he said that she had dont the calculation wrong but then said refusal on HRC and they would have to contact the social welfare office and until they dealt with the HRC that my claim would be pending. I was under the impression that one was a subsitute for the other while it was being processed!.

medical card pending the social welfare too cause no income when i applied

social welfare are dealing with HRC claims of April 11 at the moment lady in the office said xmas or later before decision is made

mrsbyrne

hi annie
crosscare arent a company, its an organisation set up here in Ireland to help returning emigrants, specifically in regards to securing SW payments. yourself and your husband are in a precarious position regarding entitlements. You cant expect to get any financial assistance while your in possesion of a valuable property abroad. I can see where your coming from about your investment etc. but thats not how the SW system works. People asking for "assistance" cant have "nest eggs". That would be crazy.

annsie17

its not a nest egg - nor an investment it was our home and we cant sell it. We lost our jobs and we moved back to the country I was born in. I have paid tax in both the UK and Ireland for many years and I do feel that yes I should be entitled to benefits when the chips are down. All our savings that we had when we came over here are eaten up living not that we had a lot in the first instance and we are also allowed to have some investments which we are well within.. The flat downstairs has been on the market for 8 months and kept bringing the price down and no sale. There is a ressession and things dont sell end of.... while i really want to hold on to it to make sure i dont loose out my deposit that took me 5 years to save! I also cant get rid of it. I am sorry but I find you post very typical of an attitude of a country that i have returned to.

if i hadnt left and i bought a house in ireland and it was not in negative equity but i couldnt sell it would you have the same thoughts for me. If I had lost my job in Ireland and my husband lost his job 3 months later would you say well you do have a nest egg so why should you get benefits. not fair not fair at all.

Balagan

annsie17 wrote: »

Mrsbyrne,
i did get a refusal letter from the SWO on financial circumstances but when i spoke to a superior he said that she had dont the calculation wrong but then said refusal on HRC and they would have to contact the social welfare office and until they dealt with the HRC that my claim would be pending. I was under the impression that one was a subsitute for the other while it was being processed!.

medical card pending the social welfare too cause no income when i applied

social welfare are dealing with HRC claims of April 11 at the moment lady in the office said xmas or later before decision is made

The reason for this is because, as with all social assistance payments, http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/social_assistance_payments/residency_requirements_for_social_assistance_in_ireland.html you have to prove Habitual Residency in order to become eligible for Supplementary Welfare Allowance.

You will normally qualify for Supplementary Welfare Allowance if you satisfy the following conditions:

You are living in the State.
You satisfy the means test.
You have applied for any other benefit/allowance you may be entitled to.
You satisfy the habitual residence test, except for the Exceptional Needs Payment. EU/EEA workers and Swiss nationals working here will satisfy the habitual residence condition. However, people from the EU/EEA or Switzerland who move to Ireland in search of employment are subject to the habitual residence test in the normal way while looking for work.
You have registered for work with FÁS if you are of working age.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/supplementary_welfare_allow.html

mrsbyrne

People who have paid sufficent PRSI contributions will get Benefits. Think of it this way , you get the "benefit " of the contributions you make.
You just dont have sufficent PRSI contributions made, so you simpy cant get Benefits. End of, as you would say. The tax you paid while workng here has no bearing on Sw entitlments.
When you dont have an entitlement to benefit, you are then looking for "assistance". If you have enough money, be it in income or capital, then you wont get any assistance. Thats just common sense. If you have just come to Ireland to avail of SW, irregardless of your nationality, then you wont get any assistance. That also is just common sense.Being Irish by birth does not mean your automatically entitled to assistance. If every Irish born person on the planet came back to ireland looking for assistance, by reason of "birthright", it would be a bigger bloody mess than it is. Once again common sense. If you possibly have entitlment to Benefits in another country, then why not exercise your entitlment there?i am ignoring the "attitude" jibe. Youve asked for advice and its been given. not liking the advice isnt really an excuse to be rude.