Cohabit payment question

ms.sunnyb

Can anyone help me here. I live with my bf,cohabit., I am on back to education and get 188 and he gets reduced rate of 124 and is about to start an internship so extra 50. I have a job for the summer that will pay around 390weekly. Will my boyfriend still get his reduced rate of 124?

wmpdd3

As far as I can see, your household will be reassessed for means.

The €50 that your partner gets as part of his course may be disregarded, as it was for us, but when I got a small pay increase, we had to be reassessed for means.

He may be better off applying in his own right for JSA, or just splitting off his payment from yours, I think this is quite quick to do. He will get the same amount as now but still be entitled to do his internship. If he closes his claim he might be in trouble.

Really other than that I dont know. Hopefully someone else can add to this.

Balagan

ms.sunnyb wrote: »

Can anyone help me here. I live with my bf,cohabit., I am on back to education and get 188 and he gets reduced rate of 124 and is about to start an internship so extra 50. I have a job for the summer that will pay around 390weekly. Will my boyfriend still get his reduced rate of 124?

Not in answer to your specific question, but something you should know anyway...
If your partner had his own claim in his own name, he would not be assessed against your BTEA payment during term time while you are in receipt of it. You would receive 188 and he would, if over 26, receive 188 because BTEA payments to a partner are not assessed as income.

Cash income not taken into account

The following cash income is not taken into account for all schemes except Family Income Supplement (FIS), Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) and Rent Allowance (Rent Allowance is not the same as Rent Supplement):...

... The following payments to your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant: Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Back to Education Allowance, Back to Work Allowance or Part-Time Job Incentive, payments from FÁS or VTOS (not including Community Employment).
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/cash_income_not_included_in_the_social_welfare_means_test.html

ms.sunnyb

Thank you, Ya he is already on his own claim ,when I get a job and don't switch my beta to job seekers cos il tell them of job, does my boyfriend need to tell them I got a job or will it automatically get cut or because he is already on a reduced rate will his payment remain the same or how much would be getting then do you know? I can't work it out from their website,

ms.sunnyb

Hi balagan, I printed this out and brought it the welfare office before and they would not listen and told me cohabit couple could not both get a full payment, even tho I am trying to fund my education through my payment, I was convinced we should both get full amount but they were having none of it

Balagan

Below is the same info from Dept of Social Protection's own site which was updated on 30 Dec 2013. If your partner had his own claim separate from yours at the time you made the query, what they told you was incorrect. You should write a letter to the SW explaining what happened. Take the letter into the SW office and if you have any documentation about when they turned you down, bring it with you, or if you know the name of the staff member who did so, use it in the letter, or if they are still there and you can identify them, do so. If this incorrect info caused you to lose out, then there should also be backpayments.

Means Assessment
Income Excluded

The following exclusions apply to all Schemes covered by this guideline:

(Family Income Supplement and Supplementary Allowance are covered by different guidelines)

...Any payment to a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant in respect of Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Back to Education Allowance or Part-Time Job Incentive http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Means-Assessment.aspx#sect2 Last modified:30/12/2013

wmpdd3

It depends on when BTEA was granted, it changed a few years ago. My other half went on it 4 years ago and has always gotten €188 even though I was working, but he was told that if he took deferred 4th year and tried to get back onto BTEA he would get a means tested payment based on my earnings.

ms.sunnyb

I only started 2013 in sept. So if my bf gets a job by next semester, I will not get the full 188 for beta? I can't find info on this anywhere.

Balagan

ms.sunnyb wrote: »

I only started 2013 in sept. So if my bf gets a job by next semester, I will not get the full 188 for beta? I can't find info on this anywhere.

While you continue on the course for which you were given BTEA i.e., do not defer a year and then apply to go back on BTEA etc., you will continue on the same payment during term time until the course and BTEA for it ends. If you do not get a job in the summers between course years you will be means tested and your partner's earnings would be a factor during that Jobseekers time but not a factor when the next academic begins and BTEA resumes. To answer your earlier question, if you get a job in the summer, your partner's payment will be affected by it for the duration of your job and he should declare your earnings as a change in circumstances.