JSA and cross border workers

LegacyUser

Hello all,
I am looking for a little bit of help as I have been to the social welfare office and havent got much there.

Basic jist of the story,
I was made redundant last year, I have been receiving JSB of €188 a week since then. I have received a form to apply for JSA as my time on JSB is up.

I have been to the social welfare office and handed in the form, I asked if there was someone I could speak to and go through my claim with them and I was told that it would be processed and they would let me know the decision.

My problem, the redundancy money is almost finished we are really starting to struggle.
My Husband now takes home £240 after having his hours cut, thats Sterling as he works in the North, we have two boys that go to school in the North and we don't claim any family allowance for them in the Republic because of this.

We have a mortgage of almost €700 a month and its on a tracker so will probably get higher as time goes on.

When filling out the JSA form it didn't ask us if we had a mortgage, just if we had bank accounts. The only thing I was asked to provide was my husbands pay slips and proof of my redudancy payment.

Questions:
Is there someone I can meet with to discuss my claim?
Is there any point? are things like mortgage payments, electric bills, home phone bills etc taking into account?
Would FIS be a better option to apply for?
Are we intitled to mortgage interest relief.
Anything else I havent thought off?

If anyone could help with suggestions or guidance I would be grateful.

Many thanks

eastbono

JSA Noob wrote: »

Hello all,
I am looking for a little bit of help as I have been to the social welfare office and havent got much there.

Basic jist of the story,
I was made redundant last year, I have been receiving JSB of €188 a week since then. I have received a form to apply for JSA as my time on JSB is up.

I have been to the social welfare office and handed in the form, I asked if there was someone I could speak to and go through my claim with them and I was told that it would be processed and they would let me know the decision.

My problem, the redundancy money is almost finished we are really starting to struggle.
My Husband now takes home £240 after having his hours cut, thats Sterling as he works in the North, we have two boys that go to school in the North and we don't claim any family allowance for them in the Republic because of this.

We have a mortgage of almost €700 a month and its on a tracker so will probably get higher as time goes on.

When filling out the JSA form it didn't ask us if we had a mortgage, just if we had bank accounts. The only thing I was asked to provide was my husbands pay slips and proof of my redudancy payment.

Questions:
Is there someone I can meet with to discuss my claim?
Is there any point? are things like mortgage payments, electric bills, home phone bills etc taking into account?
Would FIS be a better option to apply for?
Are we intitled to mortgage interest relief.
Anything else I havent thought off?

If anyone could help with suggestions or guidance I would be grateful.

Many thanks

Mortgage payments, electric etc are not taken into account.
I dont know if your husband can apply for FIS as he is paying his taxes etc to
HM Revenue.
See below for link to mortgage interest supplement
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/SupplementaryWelfareAllowance/Pages/MortgageInterstSupplement.aspx

Is £240 gross or net? Link below shows how to calculate spouses earnings for means for your jsa. Original link does not seem to work for some reason so go to the following link and scroll down and look for how income from work is assessed.
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/JobseekerSupports/JobseekersAllowance/Pages/ja.aspx

You should qualify for some payment on JSA as you will get personal allowance €188 adult dependant allowance €124.80 ( I presume this will be applied even though spouse is working in NI) and child dependant allowance x2 of €29.80 before your husbands earnings are assessed as means.

Lugh Ildanach

The state responsible under EU law for paying family benefits (FIS, child benefit, child/working tax credits) will be the UK, as your husband is employed under British social insurance legislation, and you are no longer receiving a social insurance linked payment.

He should look into applying for Family Tax Credits or whatever it is called in the North.

I'm not sure if FIS will pay a supplement if the amount of FIS is greater than what you'd get from the British authorities. They will usually look at the total amount of family benefits available in each state, this will include child benefit, FIS in the 26 County State, and Tax Credits and Family Allowance in the UK.

Here is a link to the rather complicated guidelines on EU rules and family benefits http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Policy/EU/Euguide/Documents/Part9.pdf

You could also contact Border People http://www.borderpeople.info/ or the EU Commission information service http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights for a definitive answer

Lugh Ildanach

All new applications for Mortgage Interest Supplement from January will be deferred for 12 months while applicants engage with the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process. YOu should contact MABS to advise fully on the process and how to best engage with your bank. They can also help you with Mortgage Interest Supplement.

www.mabs.ie