TUS Programme

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

My wife finished her Tús placement last week and applied for JSA online as soon as possible. She hasn't heard anything back yet and we were wondering how long does this process usually take?

Quick update, still no word and my wife was blue in the face trying to call and email the local social welfare office so she decided to head down this morning and talk to them. The office opens at 10am so she arrived at 9:40am but the queue was already 20 people deep. Apparently they were only letting one person into the building at a time so by 11am there were 16 people ahead of her as they had only let 4 people in the previous hour. She waited until 11:30am then she left totally frustrated and will arrive before 9am tomorrow to try her luck again. The whole situation is disgraceful if you ask me!

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

Quick update, still no word and my wife was blue in the face trying to call and email the local social welfare office so she decided to head down this morning and talk to them. The office opens at 10am so she arrived at 9:40am but the queue was already 20 people deep. Apparently they were only letting one person into the building at a time so by 11am there were 16 people ahead of her as they had only let 4 people in the previous hour. She waited until 11:30am then she left totally frustrated and will arrive before 9am tomorrow to try her luck again. The whole situation is disgraceful if you ask me!

Did she check her bank account to see if any payment was made?

Phat Cat

Deleted User wrote: »

Did she check her bank account to see if any payment was made?

Yes she checked, she hasn't received anything since her final Tús payment a few weeks ago.

sonofenoch

Phat Cat wrote: »

Yes she checked, she hasn't received anything since her final Tús payment a few weeks ago.

I know someone who finished on Tus a while ago, he didn't hear anything for over a week from leaving the form in then went in to see them and got the payment sorted for the following week.........I think your missus will definitely need to see someone face to face to get it sorted, they won't be fussed to get it done if not


either way she'll get backdated payment for the weeks waiting

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

Quick update, still no word and my wife was blue in the face trying to call and email the local social welfare office so she decided to head down this morning and talk to them. The office opens at 10am so she arrived at 9:40am but the queue was already 20 people deep. Apparently they were only letting one person into the building at a time so by 11am there were 16 people ahead of her as they had only let 4 people in the previous hour. She waited until 11:30am then she left totally frustrated and will arrive before 9am tomorrow to try her luck again. The whole situation is disgraceful if you ask me!

Another update: My wife stood outside the Social Welfare Office for three hours in the pouring rain just to be told that her Job Seekers application was still pending and that they were dealing with an unprecedented number of applications and were unable to provide a time-frame when a decision on her claim will be made.

She is at the mercy of the deciding officer and has now gone three weeks without any sort of payment which I think is an absolute disgrace!

dhaughton99

Phat Cat wrote: »

Another update: My wife stood outside the Social Welfare Office for three hours in the pouring rain just to be told that her Job Seekers application was still pending and that they were dealing with an unprecedented number of applications and were unable to provide a time-frame when a decision on her claim will be made.

She is at the mercy of the deciding officer and has now gone three weeks without any sort of payment which I think is an absolute disgrace!

Would it be worth her while talking to her ex line manager in TUS and ask can they be of any help. They have responsibilities towards her and can’t be just used and abused as cheap labour.

Away With The Fairies

Phat Cat wrote: »

Another update: My wife stood outside the Social Welfare Office for three hours in the pouring rain just to be told that her Job Seekers application was still pending and that they were dealing with an unprecedented number of applications and were unable to provide a time-frame when a decision on her claim will be made.

She is at the mercy of the deciding officer and has now gone three weeks without any sort of payment which I think is an absolute disgrace!

Can your wife get supplementary welfare allowance?

Phat Cat

dhaughton99 wrote: »

Would it be worth her while talking to her ex line manager in TUS and ask can they be of any help. They have responsibilities towards her and can’t be just used and abused as cheap labour.

She's been onto them, they were as surprised as her with the waiting times etc but said that they couldn't do anything as she is no longer a participant on Tús and is now back in the system.

Away With The Fairies wrote: »

Can your wife get supplementary welfare allowance?

Her Tús supervisor actually told her to talk to the Community Welfare Service but that will mean another few hours queuing up outside the Social Welfare Office which she said that shes not prepared to do for a third time in as many weeks.

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

She's been onto them, they were as surprised as her with the waiting times etc but said that they couldn't do anything as she is no longer a participant on Tús and is now back in the system.



Her Tús supervisor actually told her to talk to the Community Welfare Service but that will mean another few hours queuing up outside the Social Welfare Office which she said that shes not prepared to do for a third time in as many weeks.

Community Welfare is a different department.

Phat Cat

Deleted User wrote: »

Community Welfare is a different department.

Well she was told to talk to the Community Welfare Officer so I really don't know

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

Well she was told to talk to the Community Welfare Officer so I really don't know

You’ll find details here. https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/carersrelatives/community-welfare-services-.html

sonofenoch

https://www.mygovid.ie


If nothing else at least she can keep an eye on what stage her claim is at

LegacyUser

Can anyone help me out, tortured with tus, they want me to work in local charity shop, it's opened on reduced hours due to covid and they still expect me to do 19.5 hours, obviously want me to be there when it's not opened, has anyone ever said they're not doing it, what happens do they cut the money straight away, do you eventually get money back again or what way does it work?

Dude19

segosego89 wrote: »

Have you tried ringing or emailing your local social welfare office to ask about it?

Check the website as they should send a reply or email I herd back within two days I got paid a week later

crossmolinalad

Smcn20 wrote: »

Can anyone help me out, tortured with tus, they want me to work in local charity shop, it's opened on reduced hours due to covid and they still expect me to do 19.5 hours, obviously want me to be there when it's not opened, has anyone ever said they're not doing it, what happens do they cut the money straight away, do you eventually get money back again or what way does it work?

So what???
Im working on CE scheme and still have to make my hours in a community centre thats closed from March and will be closed untill somewhere next year
Still plenty work to do
Even your shop is closed there will be plenty to do for you like cleaning and or shorting things out making ready for resale whatever
I dont see your problem

dhaughton99

Smcn20 wrote: »

Can anyone help me out, tortured with tus, they want me to work in local charity shop, it's opened on reduced hours due to covid and they still expect me to do 19.5 hours, obviously want me to be there when it's not opened, has anyone ever said they're not doing it, what happens do they cut the money straight away, do you eventually get money back again or what way does it work?

I’ve lads on TUS working in a school who have to do 27 hours a week to make up for the schools being closed over the holidays. I’m only getting 11 hours paid work in the school.
It’s a brutal scam.

segosego89

Smcn20 wrote: »

Can anyone help me out, tortured with tus, they want me to work in local charity shop, it's opened on reduced hours due to covid and they still expect me to do 19.5 hours, obviously want me to be there when it's not opened, has anyone ever said they're not doing it, what happens do they cut the money straight away, do you eventually get money back again or what way does it work?

You eventually will have your payment suspended for 9 weeks if you refuse to participate. They wont tell you beforehand when they suspend payment also. You will find out for yourself when you visit the post office and the clerk behind the desk will say there is nothing there for you. They have designed the system in such a way so as to catch you off guard when the suspension takes place. It's their way of sending a message to people. It's like a "carrot and stick" kind of thing.

I'm not sure whether or not you will get your money back after the 9 week suspension. You will have to appeal the suspension to an appeals officer or something like that. I've never heard of anyone bearing the 9 week suspension before and getting their money back in the end.

Have you actually started work in the charity shop yet? How do you know you will have to be there for 19.5 hours considering the circumstances? Has the manager of the charity shop specified this to you already?

segosego89

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I’ve lads on TUS working in a school who have to do 27 hours a week to make up for the schools being closed over the holidays. I’m only getting 11 hours paid work in the school.
It’s a brutal scam.

How is it that you're only getting paid 11 hours work? You are supposed to be getting paid for 19.5 hours work?

Do you mean to say that you are DOING 11 hours work? Or that you're doing 19.5 hours and getting only paid for 11 hours?

Bobdn37

This seems to be the place to talk about the Tus scheme:


I have unfortunately been unemployed for a few years and recently done an interview with these crowd and Overall I have to say the people who interviewed were really nice and down to Earth,

They more or less said that they were going to place me locally and to wait to be contacted within a week or two,

I was fairly happy about this but I have heard nothing and now 3 or 4 weeks have passed.

Wondering now of they offer everyone places or has anyone else ever been let down by them ?

Bobdn37

Bobdn37 wrote: »

This seems to be the place to talk about the Tus scheme:


I have unfortunately been unemployed for a few years and recently done an interview with these crowd and Overall I have to say the people who interviewed were really nice and down to Earth,

They more or less said that they were going to place me locally and to wait to be contacted within a week or two,

I was fairly happy about this but I have heard nothing and now 3 or 4 weeks have passed.

Wondering now of they offer everyone places or has anyone else ever been let down by them ?

It’d be no harm to give them a call. With the ongoing pandemic, things are a bit up in the air with some CE and TUS Schemes almost at a standstill.

segosego89

Bobdn37 wrote: »

This seems to be the place to talk about the Tus scheme:


I have unfortunately been unemployed for a few years and recently done an interview with these crowd and Overall I have to say the people who interviewed were really nice and down to Earth,

They more or less said that they were going to place me locally and to wait to be contacted within a week or two,

I was fairly happy about this but I have heard nothing and now 3 or 4 weeks have passed.

Wondering now of they offer everyone places or has anyone else ever been let down by them ?

Did they give you any indication of what kind of job they were going to place you in? Did they ask you what kind of job you would prefer out of a selection of jobs available?

Bobdn37

segosego89 wrote: »

Did they give you any indication of what kind of job they were going to place you in? Did they ask you what kind of job you would prefer out of a selection of jobs available?

Yes In fact,they were happy with my qualifications and told me exactly where they were going to place me,They initially mentioned outdoor work but I politely told them that I was not interested in doing that kind of work which they didn't seem to take offense,

If you are going for one of these interviews I wouldn't worry too much. You have room to bargain so ask them for alternatives based on your experience.

I will probably wait another few weeks to see if they get back to me with something

Phat Cat

Phat Cat wrote: »

Another update: My wife stood outside the Social Welfare Office for three hours in the pouring rain just to be told that her Job Seekers application was still pending and that they were dealing with an unprecedented number of applications and were unable to provide a time-frame when a decision on her claim will be made.

She is at the mercy of the deciding officer and has now gone three weeks without any sort of payment which I think is an absolute disgrace!

Final update: My wife finally got approved for job seekers a full four weeks after finishing her Tús scheme. She was probably unlucky because most people apparently get sorted out a week or two after they finish. I have to say though, her local Intreo Office seemed to be an absolute nightmare to deal with.

tdf7187

If you do a TUS scheme you can leave early if you find a better paying job, is that correct?

The Lost Sheep

tdf7187 wrote: »

If you do a TUS scheme you can leave early if you find a better paying job, is that correct?

Yes of course.

tdf7187

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Yes of course.

And the pay rate basically works out as minimum wage. Doesn't seem too bad at face value.

alanzo27

tdf7187 wrote: »

If you do a TUS scheme you can leave early if you find a better paying job, is that correct?

Yes. I wasn't due to finish with TÚS until October but because I am returning to college and have applied for Back To Education Allowance I was able to leave early.

segosego89

alanzo27 wrote: »

Yes. I wasn't due to finish with TÚS until October but because I am returning to college and have applied for Back To Education Allowance I was able to leave early.

Am I correct in saying you were the person who was placed in a local charity shop? If I remember correctly you had a bit trouble with your boss at first I think?

Can I ask how was your experience overall after working there for almost a year? Did you end up enjoying it in the end?

segosego89

tdf7187 wrote: »

And the pay rate basically works out as minimum wage. Doesn't seem too bad at face value.

Well see, someone mentioned a while ago on this thread that you're actually taxed a tiny bit on what you earn on the scheme. It's a bit weird because Jobseeker's allowance is not considered taxable income yet when you're put on the Tus scheme, your income(which is basically the same rate as Jobseeker's with an added 20 Euros) is taxed to some extent.

I might be totally wrong but I think someone did the calculations on here and it turned out that you're actually a tiny bit worse off on the scheme compared to being on JSA. I'll have to try to go through this thread to see where the calculations were mentioned...

Can someone who knows about this stuff correct me if I'm wrong?

The Lost Sheep

segosego89 wrote: »

Well see, someone mentioned a while ago on this thread that you're actually taxed a tiny bit on what you earn on the scheme. It's a bit weird because Jobseeker's allowance is not considered taxable income yet when you're put on the Tus scheme, your income(which is basically the same rate as Jobseeker's with an added 20 Euros) is taxed to some extent.

I might be totally wrong but I think someone did the calculations on here and it turned out that you're actually a tiny bit worse off on the scheme compared to being on JSA. I'll have to try to go through this thread to see where the calculations were mentioned...

Can someone who knows about this stuff correct me if I'm wrong?

Oh you are taxed a tiny bit as i worked a lot doing various different jobs on top of the tus work and got taxed a fair bit on the tus work...
its very little but i wasnt ever worse off than being on JSA