JSA and unpaid work

james_brown

Hello,

I'm currently on jobseeker's allowance and was wondering if doing a few days of unpaid work would affect my payments? The work is in the area that I'm trained in and will almost certainly lead to paid work down the road.

The reason I'm asking boards is because when I called my local office earlier today, the person on the other end was incredibly rude, didn't explain anything to me and basically said that she is going to have to stop my payments immediately because I didn't "authorise" the work with them. Bear in mind, I haven't started this work yet and was only looking for information. Before I could explain this, she told me to "hold for a moment" and hung up on me. I called back, somebody else answered, took my contact details and said they would get back within a few minutes. Of course I never heard back from them.

Sorry for the rant; I've had constant problems trying to deal with my local office and my experience today was just especially frustrating...

billy2012

I think unpaid work is fine, ring up again in the morning and ask to speak to the supervisor.

Balagan

The only 'unpaid' work you can do while on a Jobseekers payment is a JobBridge Internship http://www.jobbridge.ie
You can volunteer and retain your eligibility for JA/JB but you need to get advance permission from the SW and there are specific requirements re the voluntary position http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/voluntary_work_and_social_welfare_payments.html

james_brown

Thanks for the info. So basically what that means is no matter what it might mean for my future employment, and even if it's only for a few days, I would still need to fill out that form and get the job approved in advance or potentially risk being cut off?

billy2012

billy2012 wrote: »

I think unpaid work is fine, ring up again in the morning and ask to speak to the supervisor.

Not so. Unless you've cleared it with Welfare, you're not available for work, therefore not eligible for dole. Be very careful of getting swayed by unscrupulous employers, who are only after one thing - cheap/free labour and NO prospect of gainful employment if it means parting with a cent!

madfcuker

Late last year I had the opportunity to improve my skills in area I am reskilling in but it was unpaid. Went to the social welfare, explained the situation and was advised to get a letter from the employer. Got that and everything went well and they said it was grand to work. 4 week's later my payments stopped. They said due to my unpaid work it doesn't qualify as its not a voluntary work ie a charity.

Be very wary what the social tell you. From speaking to other people regarding this, you can only do a few hours a week, like 2 hours. They don't take into consideration that it could lead to an actual job.