JSA Help

Cayke

I may have screwed myself over a little bit. Here's the story:

I was getting Job Seeker's payment last year, when I got an internship in September. The internship was unpaid for the first month, so obviously I kept collecting my JS payments. I was getting paid in October, but I didn't get my first paycheque until the end of November.

The rate of pay for the internship was €1,000 per month. And after emergency tax, I got 1,022 for October and November (or €511 per month). Obviously, this was very difficult to live on. I was working 40 hours a week, making significantly less than minimum wage. So after getting my first pay cheque, I kept collecting my social welfare payment for 4 more weeks.

I got my second pay cheque on the 19th of December (five hundred and something euro - still dealing with emergency tax). So I collected my final JS payment, and stopped collecting after that. I had enough to live on, and I was due a raise to real money in January.

I was made redundant due to budget cuts last month, so I'm looking to sign on to get payments again. After my initial application, they asked for my P60 for last year. Then today, I got a voicemail asking if I could call back to discuss my JS application.

So am I in trouble? Did I basically commit fraud because I collected payments for 4 weeks after getting my tiny pay cheque? I feel like if it was no big deal, they wouldn't be calling me about it.

Yeah, I know you need to tell the Social Welfare Office when you start earning any money. But I was working 40 hours a week, earning next to nothing, and only collecting payments for 4 weeks after. I'm not trying to make excuses; I just genuinely didn't think it would be this big a deal. Bring on the judgement!

mp22

Fraud


Closed