Advice Please, what are her rights

ShellyHea

Hi,

I have a question, if anyone can help.
I am about to finish college in June-I am the youngest in my family.
My mother is 63, she is legally separated, and she has no pension until she turns 65. Her lone parent benefit will stop when I am finished college.

My father has never made any contributions to the family, and the question I have -is there anything available for her from now until she turns 65, or is it just the job seekers allowance?

She has never worked, as she reared us by herself, and I did enquire in the revenue office about what options are available, but they wouldn't disclose this information.

We just want general information, if anyone can help, that would be great, I cannot find any information on this on-line.
thanks

Sleepy

As far as I know: she's entitled to Job Seekers Allowance (though as the name indicates only if she is actively looking for work). She could find work, many employers (particularly small shops etc.) prefer to hire mature workers as they tend to be more reliable than teenagers. Depending on both the circumstances of your father and their separation, she may be entitled to some maintenance from him but, should he have moved out and left her the house, she could be opening a can of worms here that could lead to the house having to be sold.

ShellyHea

Hi, thanks for your reply.
She hasn't been working, or been looking for work, and we are mostly wondering if she is eligible for anything other than job seekers allowance.
In regards to my father-he is not involved and we prefer to keep it this way..

Sleepy

Then, afaik, she's not entitled to anything and tbh, if she's not looking for work, she's not entitled to job-seekers either.

ShellyHea

so, once a mother is finished rearing her kids, and has no work, that's it?
A lot of people are full time mothers I'm sure, Her job was a full time mother.
Unfortunately, she has no qualifications, and the town we are from-has nothing happening in it , where several businesses have closed down.

UDP

If she is unemployed then she can apply for JSA but she has to look like she its looking for work. If there is actually no work available then that wont be hard.

Sleepy

ShellyHea wrote: »

so, once a mother is finished rearing her kids, and has no work, that's it?
A lot of people are full time mothers I'm sure, Her job was a full time mother.
Unfortunately, she has no qualifications, and the town we are from-has nothing happening in it , where several businesses have closed down.

Yes. If you paid attention to the news, you'd know your mother's had it better than most will in future: single parents will be expected to find work to support their families once children turn 7 in future.

A stay-at-home parent is a luxury usually afforded by one parent having a good enough salary that they can pay both parents way in life or by the family sacrificing lots of the "nice things" that can be afforded if both parents work.

The state should not be paying people to raise their own children. Yes, we should support those who cannot find work or who have been abandoned by the other parent when that parent can't be tracked down and made live up to their responsibilities.

That your mother has no qualifications is her own fault. That she lives in an area with high unemployment is unfortunate (though she may look upon it as fortunate if she intends to claim JSA as it'll mean the welfare officers are less likely to be vigilant about asking her to proves she's looking for work if she's no intention to do so).

Do you honestly think the taxpayer should be funding a grown adult that doesn't want to work? To be honest, if you've been in college for the past 3 years she should have been looking for work a long time ago instead of expecting the taxpayer to pay her way.

ShellyHea

I know, I seen that.
I am well aware.

Is is expensive to go to college as people are well aware, and the money was not there to do that when my mother could have gone, so can you please leave those type of comments away from this,as it is irrelevant. Merely what I meant about having no qualifications was that it makes searching for a job even harder than ever before, and with this I am speaking from experience. I guess I should have explained that more clearly, but I thought it was obvious. She registered for home help work a few years ago, but she wasn't allowed in due to 'lack of experience' (which is a funny thing to say to a mother, but there you go), and also, there are no jobs available in my town -such as a cleaners job, etc., which she has done in the past.

mp22

Closed we have 2 threads on the same subject.