What is my girlfriend entitled to.

budwider

Hi guys,my girlfriend is currently living at home with her parents,she has recently graduated as a nurse from college.She cant get a job as the current state of the economy does not allow it.My question is,what is she entitled to with social welfare? her mother is in a job earing roughly 40k/year and her father is on disability benefit..is she entitled to anything? any help would be greatly appreciated folks,thank you.

Bannasidhe

budwider wrote: »

Hi guys,my girlfriend is currently living at home with her parents,she has recently graduated as a nurse from college.She cant get a job as the current state of the economy does not allow it.My question is,what is she entitled to with social welfare? her mother is in a job earing roughly 40k/year and her father is on disability benefit..is she entitled to anything? any help would be greatly appreciated folks,thank you.

All the info is here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/unemployed_people/

Essentially it boils down to 2 questions:
1. your girlfriend's age:
As she has finished college she would be deemed an adult and can claim some monies, but the amount depends on whether she is over 25 or not. The fact that she is living with her parent's and their income has no baring on this. She cannot claim rent allowance however.

2. Whether or not she has PRSI contributions.
If she has the required number of 'stamps' paid in the relevant years she can claim non-means tested Jobseekers Benefit (JSB). If not, she can claim mean's tested Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). She will be the one means tested - not her parents. Her personal income, or lack thereof, is the only relevant issue.

budwider

Thanks for your help,really appreciate it

eastbono

If she is under 25 and living at home her parents income will be assessed as means for her claim.

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/JobseekerSupports/JobseekersAllowance/Pages/ja.aspx

Bannasidhe

budwider wrote: »

Thanks for your help,really appreciate it

No Worries.

I should warn you that the SW is going to ask for all sorts of information (I know this from when my son who lives with me had to make a claim) like details of her parent's mortgage - I argued this was not pertinent as that was my personal financial information and had nothing to do with my son - it was a hellovah battle but they eventually gave in. They will also look for utility bills as proof of address - as she lives with her parents they will all more then likely be in her parent's names so she should gather together every single 'proof of address' she can - personal mobile phone bill, bank details, letters from Inland Revenue, official college correspondence, any letters from County/city council re:grants etc plus a copy of utility bills and a letter from her parent's explaining that it is their home therefore the bills are in their names.
Once her claim is being processed she can go to Community Welfare to get a payment while waiting for SW to come through - this has been known to take months. I would advise she do this (again from experience) as if you don't SW reckon she doesn't 'need' the money so will put her claim on the back boiler.

Lugh Ildanach

If she has the PRSI contributions she can claim Jobseekers Benefit. It is not means tested and parent's income is not relevant.

If not, she can apply for Jobseekers Allowance. If she is under 25 and living with her parents, their income WILL be taken into account. If she doesn't live with them, their income will not be taken into account. If she's over 25 or has a dependent child, or is living with a spouse/partner, parent's income will not be taken into account.

Exact calculation of how parent's income affects Jobseekers Allowance see here http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/ua_benpriv.aspx

Balagan

Bannasidhe wrote: »

No Worries.

I should warn you that the SW is going to ask for all sorts of information (I know this from when my son who lives with me had to make a claim) like details of her parent's mortgage - I argued this was not pertinent as that was my personal financial information and had nothing to do with my son - it was a hellovah battle but they eventually gave in. They will also look for utility bills as proof of address - as she lives with her parents they will all more then likely be in her parent's names so she should gather together every single 'proof of address' she can - personal mobile phone bill, bank details, letters from Inland Revenue, official college correspondence, any letters from County/city council re:grants etc plus a copy of utility bills and a letter from her parent's explaining that it is their home therefore the bills are in their names.
Once her claim is being processed she can go to Community Welfare to get a payment while waiting for SW to come through - this has been known to take months. I would advise she do this (again from experience) as if you don't SW reckon she doesn't 'need' the money so will put her claim on the back boiler.

Just as a point of information, it is in the best interests of someone under 25, living with their parents and putting in a claim for the means tested Jobseekers Allowance, that the parents declare their mortgage payments as that sum is among the sums deducted from their earnings before the assessment is made to determine the amount of Jobseekers Allowance the claimant will receive. This link is helpful
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/how_parents_income_can_affect_jobseekers_allowance.html