JSA with OH working?

HannahL

Hi Guys,

I received a social welfare letter this morning telling me that my jobseekers benefit will be ending soon. I was a bit shocked especially that I am only claiming it for 5 months and have never been on it before. Anyway, I understand there are some budget changes and the time for receiving JB has been cut. This is fair enough. We live in recession times.
My question relates to the Jobseekers Allowance. There was a form included in today's letter telling me that I can always claim for the jobseekers allowance. As I didn't really know what it is I rang Citizen Information. The lady who I spoke to told me that SW assess my spouse's salary when deciding about granting JA and that I should contact my local SW office for more details. I then rang social welfare. The woman I spoke to told me that rent expenses are not being assessed in the means test ! How come, it's a m e a n s test. She said no. She sounded pretty firm about it.

I tried to calculate whether I am entitled to JA as per personal rates found on welfare website. If rent and any other expenses are not means tested we're entitled to nothing (sorry, we could get €20 (!) a week in Family Income Supplement).
My husband earns €450 a week, we have a one year old baby.
We pay €800 rent, €250 in bills per month
Which means that deducting above from my husband's monthly salary we are left with €187.50 per week.
So is that it ? After working years & not claiming any Social Welfare am I entitled to nothing?
Was the Social Welfare Officer right ? No rent, nothing is being taken into consideration for the means test? Should I even bother filing out the JA form ?
Apologies for the long post but I am very upset about the whole thing. Thank you in advance for any advice.

mp22

JSA means test done roughly for your income,€450 minus prsi,union ect=€410

€410 minus €60(disregard)=€350 get 60% of 350 =€210 this is your weekly means.

The max payment from the dept for a couple with one child is €342 aprox therefore you will be able to get €130 or so per week JSA.

Get down to your local office asp and get the paper work started

HannahL

Hello mp22,

Thank you very much for your reply. Could I ask you about ''€60 (disregard)'' part of your message? Is this an error or is it some sort of deduction applied by the SW seeing as though you factored it in your calculations?

Thanks a lot for your help.

wellieboot

Spouse’s, civil partner’s or cohabitant's income from work

Your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Their income from work is assessed in the same way as your income from work (if any). To work out what your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's means from work is:

• Deduct €20 per day from your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's assessable earnings for each day worked up to a maximum of €60 (including Sunday)
• Next get 60% of the balance. This is assessed as his or her weekly means from work.

Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day (maximum €60 for 3 days work) = total x 60% = weekly means from work.
This figure is halved if your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is also:

• Getting a social welfare payment (except Child Benefit, Disablement Pension, guardian's payment, Supplementary Welfare Allowance, Domiciliary Care Allowance and half-rate Carer's Allowance)
• On a FÁS course or on a VTOS course and getting an allowance in his or her own right

Note: If means are halved, an increase for a qualified adult is not payable but you can get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.




http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/work_and_jobseekers_allowance.html#lee4ad

wmpdd3

I cant understand why you JSB is running out after 5 months. Are they just making you apply early? is it really not due to run out until September, It should last for 9 months.

Were you on a 3 days week before? Have you been working for more than 3 years straight? I think being on maternity leave doesnt affect your JSB.

You should order a copy of your PRSI record here:

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/secure/RequestSIContributionRecord.aspx



Just in case there are errors in their records.

cee_jay

Normally, the form is sent out automatically by the system at least 12 weeks before your JSB runs out. If it is not sent back, a reminder/new form (can't remember which) is sent out automatically 4 weeks beforehand.
If returned straight away it gives time for the means test to be done, so there is little to no disturbance of payments when JSB expires, and transfer across to JSA happens.

eastbono

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I cant understand why you JSB is running out after 5 months. Are they just making you apply early? is it really not due to run out until September, It should last for 9 months.

Were you on a 3 days week before? Have you been working for more than 3 years straight? I think being on maternity leave doesnt affect your JSB.

You should order a copy of your PRSI record here:

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/secure/RequestSIContributionRecord.aspx



Just in case there are errors in their records.

Budget 2013 reduced the length of time jsb is paid for depending on your total number of contributions.
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Jobseeker's-Benefit.aspx

dangerus06

hi my sis had this same prob ,her hubby was laid off work got his dole from stamps for about a year ,after year appliled for jsa got nothing from them there rent was 1200 a month luckily for them that had a little savings that paid there rent till he got another job ,any advice i can give you is go on housing list with local council they might give you some rent allowence ,try your local county welfare officer he might be able to tell you what you can get best of luck:)

HannahL

wellieboot thank you for explaining the €60 part that I was unsure of.
wmpdd3 thanks for the link regarding the PRSI records but as per cee_jay's explanation SW send letters a few weeks in advance which means that in my case JB will run out early July so I will be on it just under 9 months. As I mentioned in my first post I don't have a problem with it as there have been some budget changes in the matter.

dangerus06 thanks a lot for your advice but can I get any rent allowance if my husband is working ? From what I've noticed if two people don't work the money is still (despite the recession) thrown at them (example of my neighbours: married couple with 2 children getting legitimately €2200 a month in all benefits & allowances) but as soon as one person is working and the spouse is not they are on their own. Anyway, I am going to send out the JSA form as soon as possible.

dangerus06

hi i advise u to go to county welfare officer for your area they will tell you what you can apply for there good like that best of luck

HannahL

Thank you very much dangerus06 I will definitely do that. Will update this thread to say how I got on. Thanks again.