Jobbridge and 9 weeks disqualification period

LegacyUser

Hi,
I was just wondering; does the 9 weeks disqualification period I had at the start of my jobseekers allowance claim count as part of the 78 days waiting period for Jobbridge?

E.g. Do I have to wait 9 weeks plus 78 days to be eligible for Jobbridge?

Or are the 9 weeks seen as me having a live claim, just without being given payment for it?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide, any one with personal experience of dealing with this would be especially good to hear from.

eastbono

The 9 weeks do not count.

LegacyUser

eastbono wrote: »

The 9 weeks do not count.

Is this from your own experience or do you work within the system? I can't find concrete information for it anywhere online.

Balagan

Disqualifications: General

A person may be disqualified from receipt of JA in certain circumstances. Any period during which a person is disqualified is not counted as part of the continuous period of unemployment. http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Jobseekers-Allowance.aspx#disqual

eastbono

There is no further need for me to comment Balgan has shown that the disqualification period does not count.

Cushie Butterfield

Apart from your own peace of mind, & it is a bit of a long shot but you should certainly make further official enquiries about this:

1. Eligibility and Payment Queries.
   Should you have any queries relating to your eligibility for the Scheme or the payment of your internship allowance please contact your local social welfare office directly.

From: http://www.jobbridge.ie/toolkit/generalguidelines.pdf :

In order to be eligible to participate in JobBridge the National Internship Scheme an individual must be:

- Currently in receipt of a live claim (Jobseekers Allowance/Jobseekers Benefit/Jobseeker Transition Payment/One Parent Family Payment/Disability Allowance/Signing for Credits).

- And have been in receipt of Jobseekers Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance/Jobseeker Transition Payment, One Parent Family Payment, Disability Allowance or signing for Social Insurance Contribution Credits for a total of 3 months(78 days) or more in the last 6 months.


From: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Credit-Contributions---SW-12.aspx :

Note
If you are not getting a social welfare payment, you may still qualify for credits.

From: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/jajbfaq.aspx :

Credited contributions are awarded for the duration of the above disqualifications, subject to the conditions of being available for and capable of work being fulfilled.


You could first get confirmation that you were awarded credited contributions for the duration of your disqualifaction period. If you were credited it could be said that you were actually signing for credits during your disqualification period. Once confirmed that you were you could then see if this period could be added to the period that you were in receipt of your JSA payment, as there doesn't seem to be any guidelines floating about that cover this exact scenario.

As I said it's a long shot, but the only grey area would really be whether or not you can combine both periods to satisy the criteria. At least by making an enquiry & getting an official yay or nay you'll be satisfied that you've done your level best & left no stone unturned.

LegacyUser

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

Note
If you are not getting a social welfare payment, you may still qualify for credits.

From: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/jajbfaq.aspx :

Credited contributions are awarded for the duration of the above disqualifications, subject to the conditions of being available for and capable of work being fulfilled.


You could first get confirmation that you were awarded credited contributions for the duration of your disqualifaction period. If you were credited it could be said that you were actually signing for credits during your disqualification period. Once confirmed that you were you could then see if this period could be added to the period that you were in receipt of your JSA payment, as there doesn't seem to be any guidelines floating about that cover this exact scenario.

As I said it's a long shot, but the only grey area would really be whether or not you can combine both periods to satisy the criteria. At least by making an enquiry & getting an official yay or nay you'll be satisfied that you've done your level best & left no stone unturned.

It was this information that initially confused me when I found it online as to whether the disqualification period could be worked around. I'll pop into them today and ask what can be done. I'd start the Jobbridge unpaid until I was elgible for payment if they would let me! Just want to get some relevant experience in a properly structured environment.

Thank you to eastbono,Balagan and Cushie Butterfield for the advice!

j.s. pill II

Balagan wrote: »

Disqualifications: General

A person may be disqualified from receipt of JA in certain circumstances. Any period during which a person is disqualified is not counted as part of the continuous period of unemployment.

The above linked information makes no reference whatsoever to JobBridge eligibility

As suggested by Cushie Butterfield, direct this enquiry to your local office. Just make sure the person you end up speaking to knows what they're talking about. I made an enquiry for someone else recently regarding JobBridge eligibility - Long story short, I received a lot of conflicting information from staff in the local office regarding the eligibility question I asked about. I requested the query to be referred to somebody more senior. The final (and correct) response I got was completely at odds with what the first person I spoke to had asserted.

I know the website says questions regarding eligibility need to be directed to your local office but there's no harm giving the job bridge free-phone no. a ring (1800 303 515) for a second opinion. They were quite happy to speak to me about the eligibility question.