How does one get back into the system? Get recognised by the state once again?

vicwatson

Was talking to a pal at the weekend and he was telling me his story -

He told me he fell off the face of the earth as far as the government are concerned a few years ago when he was made redundant, he claimed unemployment benefit (as it was known then) for the allowed period and then had "too much means" to claim unemployment assistance so he fell out of the system and isn't getting any benefits for years and isn't "on the books" of the government so to speak bar claiming a home carer allowance in his wifes annual tax return - she is self-employed.

Is he not entitled to anything at all?, he wants to be registered with fas to try even get on one of those back to work schemes but he was told by fas that he has to be claiming jobseekers allowance (the new UA I believe)

Seems barmy to me that as a citizen of the country who pays and has paid income tax all his working life can be deemed to be "invisible" in the eyes of the state.

Has he this correct, has he NO entitlements?

Mods - this might be a Social Welfare issue but I posted it here as it also relates to getting back to work and jobs, and surely the first thing my mate has to do is be registered with the state before seeking work? All a bit bizarre. He reckons there are hundreds if not thousands of forgotton people of the state. in a similar position to him

bustersdad

thats the way it is mate,
i was self employed for ten years,i employed about 40 people over the years ,payed there tax ,ins ,holiday pay,
became unemployed in 08 and guess what im entitled to after paying in for all those years sweet f/a./my misses earns over 500 a week as a nurse so im not entitled to anything ,local dole officer tells me i will have to work for someone for 2 years before i can claim.
if i was younger or had no kids id be in australia now ,as many of my mates are doing well over there.
banana republic if you ask me ,run by *ankers for bankers

aujopimur

I think he should have been signing for credits to stay in the system.

Pistachio

I'm in a similar situation as a stay at home mum for the last few years. He should check with the tax office though because if his wife is self employed and they file joint tax return then possibly they paid in tax credits for him. Tax office will be very helpful. If he hasn't gone to Social Welfare maybe he should, they are also very helpful in my experience.

Fas were not very helpful when I registered with them. If you are not receiving a social welfare payment then they're not interested because you're not counted in the unemployment figures.

Mrs OBumble

He doesn't HAVE to be registered with any state agency to get a job: he does need to register the employment with Revenue when he gets one, and this is how he "gets into the system".

He is entitled to register with FAS, though unless he's fairly low-skilled or detatched from the workforce, they're not likely to be much help.

He's not entitled to benefits because his wife is earning too much, or because they have too much in assets between them. JSB (the one that runs out) isn't means tested, which is while he got it for a while. If their income or assets have changed since last time he applied, he can re-apply and be re-assesed.

As someone said, he possibly should have been "signing for credits" - and this option would have been explained to him when JSA was declined. (Hmm, not sure if his wife's income would have precluded this: I know that when I was doing it, getting a 1/2 days temping meant a trip to the Welfare office to get off the "signing for credits" list for that week - I just gave up once I started getting at least some temping every week.)

And if they have children, he and wife are entitled to child benefit.

Oh ... and his personal tax credit will be allocated against his wife's tax too. He's most certainly not fallen off the government radar.