Rent allowance suspended

PennyJane

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm on rent allowance at the moment and applied for two weeks holiday, sent my form in. When I got back the landlord informed me the rent hadn't been paid.

When I called to ask what was happening, they said my rent payments had been suspended as I went on holiday?! They want to know how I can afford it and must bring in travel documents for them to inspect. Can they do this? Nobody informed me about this when I left in the holiday form. Seems unfair if I've saved for a year to go somewhere and stay with friends, not like I'm bloody rolling in it!

Stheno

From Citizens advice

Rent Supplement is not normally payable while you are outside the country. You should contact the officer dealing with your claim if you intend to leave the country, even for a short absence. Payment may be made in certain circumstances for short absences from the country, such as holidays etc., if the officer dealing with your claims agrees to it.

Is it possible that it wasn't approved while you were on holiday?

PennyJane

My regular job seekers benefits were put on hold, I filled out their form, I don't understand why this happened. They won't give me any information other than a condescending "how can you afford to go away?"

Gatling

Did you have a rent supplement review in the last year

PennyJane

I think the last one was February or March.

haveringchick

Where did you go OP and how long were you gone for? Of course the department can stop your allowances at any time if they are suspicious that your claiming financial assitance fraudulently. If your on JSA and RA then it's because you've claimed that you can't house yourself due to your financial situation. If you then appear to be in a position to go on a nice holiday then you must understand that this would raise a red flag.

ComfortKid

You should not be able to save while on benefits, even if they find out you were only saving ten euros a week, your payment should be cut by ten euros.
This kind of thing is gold for the dole bashers to accuse every one on benefits of going on holidays, new cars ect.

Balagan

PennyJane wrote: »

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm on rent allowance at the moment and applied for two weeks holiday, sent my form in. When I got back the landlord informed me the rent hadn't been paid.

When I called to ask what was happening, they said my rent payments had been suspended as I went on holiday?! They want to know how I can afford it and must bring in travel documents for them to inspect. Can they do this? Nobody informed me about this when I left in the holiday form. Seems unfair if I've saved for a year to go somewhere and stay with friends, not like I'm bloody rolling in it!

As you know, you are allowed a total of 12 days per annum holidays while on JA and have to apply for it from the Dept of Social Protection a bit in advance and then report back when you return from your holiday. Your only mistake was not going in advance to the Rent Supplement officer and asking for clearance (as Stheno mentioned in repy with quote from Citizens Info sheet). Bring in your travel tickets as requested and also try to get evidence you did everything right in giving notice to Dep of Social Protection and bring that with you. Point out that you were unaware of the need to get permission in advance. The Rent Supplement is now also handled within the Dept of Social Protection and to be honest they should know that you applied for your JA holiday but there's nothing to be gained from pointing that out to them in the present circumstances. Good luck!

PennyJane

ComfortKid wrote: »

You should not be able to save while on benefits, even if they find out you were only saving ten euros a week, your payment should be cut by ten euros.
This kind of thing is gold for the dole bashers to accuse every one on benefits of going on holidays, new cars ect.

Firstly, I was bringing my kids to visit their father who lives in another EU country. We are not together and they see him a couple of times a year. Secondly, we live a very simple life. Don't have a car, don't drink, don't smoke, don't eat meat, can't remember the last time I was out anywhere, so if we have meals with variations of beans and rice so that they can go once to see their father, how bloody dare someone judge me for that.

I've worked all my life, I've paid my taxes and due to circumstances out of my control, I now find myself in this position. Not happy about it, not proud of it, but there you go.

Balagan

ComfortKid wrote: »

You should not be able to save while on benefits, even if they find out you were only saving ten euros a week, your payment should be cut by ten euros.
This kind of thing is gold for the dole bashers to accuse every one on benefits of going on holidays, new cars ect.

Holidays and social welfare payments
In general you can take up to 2 weeks holidays each year and have your social welfare payment paid. However you must always contact your local Intreo centre or social welfare office or your Department of Social Protection representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer) to check your entitlements before planning or taking holidays. If you plan to take longer holidays or to be abroad for an extended period your social welfare payment may not be paid.

If you are getting Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit you can go on holiday for a maximum of 2 weeks and get the 2 weeks payment on your return. You must notify your Intreo centre or social welfare local office before taking your holiday. Some social welfare offices allow you to apply for holidays online. Both payments can also be paid on your return from representing Ireland in an amateur capacity at international sporting event. You must get written confirmation of the sport and time involved from the governing sporting body.

If you are getting Pre-Retirement Allowance you can go on holiday for a maximum of 2 weeks and cash your payment order on your return. If you go on holiday for more than 2 weeks you must return your payment book before you go on holiday abroad. When you return you will get your payment book back but will only get a payment for 2 weeks of your holiday.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/claiming_a_social_welfare_payment/going_abroad_and_social_welfare_payments.html

ComfortKid

Balagan wrote:

Holidays and social welfare payments In general you can take up to 2 weeks holidays each year and have your social welfare payment paid. However you must always contact your local Intreo centre or social welfare office or your Department of Social Protection representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer) to check your entitlements before planning or taking holidays. If you plan to take longer holidays or to be abroad for an extended period your social welfare payment may not be paid.

Balagan wrote:

Holidays and social welfare payments In general you can take up to 2 weeks holidays each year and have your social welfare payment paid. However you must always contact your local Intreo centre or social welfare office or your Department of Social Protection representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer) to check your entitlements before planning or taking holidays. If you plan to take longer holidays or to be abroad for an extended period your social welfare payment may not be paid.

Balagan wrote:

If you are getting Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit you can go on holiday for a maximum of 2 weeks and get the 2 weeks payment on your return. You must notify your Intreo centre or social welfare local office before taking your holiday. Some social welfare offices allow you to apply for holidays online. Both payments can also be paid on your return from representing Ireland in an amateur capacity at international sporting event. You must get written confirmation of the sport and time involved from the governing sporting body.

Balagan wrote:

If you are getting Pre-Retirement Allowance you can go on holiday for a maximum of 2 weeks and cash your payment order on your return. If you go on holiday for more than 2 weeks you must return your payment book before you go on holiday abroad. When you return you will get your payment book back but will only get a payment for 2 weeks of your holiday.

What has that got to do with being able to save money while on the dole? The dole should be for basic human necessitys like food, shelter ect.

ComfortKid

PennyJane wrote:

Firstly, I was bringing my kids to visit their father who lives in another EU country. We are not together and they see him a couple of times a year. Secondly, we live a very simple life. Don't have a car, don't drink, don't smoke, don't eat meat, can't remember the last time I was out anywhere, so if we have meals with variations of beans and rice so that they can go once to see their father, how bloody dare someone judge me for that.

I'm not judging you at all. You said a holiday, nothing about visiting there father. I think you should eat and feed your kids properly, much more important.

I'm on the dole myself, so I am not one of the usual dole bashers.

Balagan

ComfortKid wrote: »

What has that got to do with being able to save money while on the dole? The dole should be for basic human necessitys like food, shelter ect.

You should have a look at the information about means testing.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html and http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

Basically, for Jobseekers Allowance you are allowed to have savings (all savings including any made out of your social welfare payment) of €20,000 without that means being taken into account and after that it is taken into account on a sliding scale.

For other social welfare payments, including Rent Supplement, you are allowed €5,000 without means testing and then on a sliding scale.

What you do with savings within those guidelines is totally up to the individual concerned with the proviso that, where holidays are involved, you inform the Dept of Social Protection of holidays planned within the limit of days allowed and obtain, in advance, the permission of the Rent Supplement officer.

ComfortKid

Balagan wrote:

Basically, for Jobseekers Allowance you are allowed to have savings (all savings including any made out of your social welfare payment) of €20,000 without that means being taken into account and after that it is taken into account on a sliding scale.

Balagan wrote:

For other social welfare payments, including Rent Supplement, you are allowed €5,000 without means testing and then on a sliding scale.

Balagan wrote:

What you do with savings within those guidelines is totally up to the individual concerned.

Yes, you can have savings that you saved whilst employed, but surely you should not be aloud to save while receiving benefits?

Starokan

PennyJane wrote: »

Firstly, I was bringing my kids to visit their father who lives in another EU country. We are not together and they see him a couple of times a year. Secondly, we live a very simple life. Don't have a car, don't drink, don't smoke, don't eat meat, can't remember the last time I was out anywhere, so if we have meals with variations of beans and rice so that they can go once to see their father, how bloody dare someone judge me for that.

I've worked all my life, I've paid my taxes and due to circumstances out of my control, I now find myself in this position. Not happy about it, not proud of it, but there you go.

Its not so much that the social welfare is judging you, its rather you are being treated this way due to the amount of miscreants and gougers who abuse the social welfare system on a daily basis. So while you are not deceiving them unfortunately many others are and all are tarred by the same brush.

You are on their radar now and they will examine and inspect everything until they are 100% satisfied that you are not working for cash somewhere.

If you can show a saving pattern over the previous year to accumulate the holiday amount then just show them - job done, investigation over

If you saved X amount per week in cash then just itemise your costs per week and show the inspector how you did it. If it's the truth there will not be a problem. If you do not want to do this you can always say that you borrowed the money from someone.

Its worth bearing in mind that the social welfare are just ordinary people doing a difficult job, you can make it easy on you and them by providing the answers they need or you can take the viewpoint you are showing here which is that they are not entitled to ask you this. They are entitled too because you are effectively getting money for doing nothing and approaching it aggressively will get you nowhere but will instead lead to further delays getting your payments back on track.

I understand your frustration , i spent 3 years on the dole which i never imagined would happen to me, i endured the accusing questions , the doubting looks etc and I decided to just let it slide as i know damn well why its happening and that is because an enormous amount of people signing on are scamming the system. There is a culture in Ireland never to "rat" out someone earning cash, its rather pat them on the back.

As someone who needed the dole badly I can honestly say the welfare system here is a godsend compared to what other countries offer those that are unemployed. Give them the information they need and let them see that you are not in any way scamming the system and all will be fine.

Balagan

ComfortKid wrote: »

Yes, you can have savings that you saved whilst employed, but surely you should not be aloud to save while receiving benefits?

Savings increases that reach a level to make your last means test invalid for the differing amounts for JA and Rent Supplement etc., should be declared as they constitute a change in circumstances and would necessitate a new means test but, apart from that, yes, people have autonomy over their payments.

FishOnABike

OP, first call is to contact the DSP Rent Allowance section about the suspension of your rent allowance in order to have it reinstated as soon as possible. If you can, clarify what documentation they will be looking from you to support your eligibility for rent allowance. This might help get things sorted first time off rather than having to go back and forth drop feeding requests for information.

If it will take too long to have your rent allowance reinstated contact the DSP about exceptional needs payment until your rent allowance is resolved.

If all else fails contact your local Vincent de Paul, Lyons or Rotary societies for support until your rent allowance is resolved.

This trigger happy abuse of authority just beggars belief. Is the DSP part of the same government that is pushing through the Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill which will "prohibit discrimination in relation to a tenant or prospective tenant on the basis that the person is or is not in receipt of a housing assistance payment, rent supplement, or that the person’s income in whole or in part is or is not provided by the State as a social welfare payment."

Yet they carry on with this sort of nonsense which is precisely why landlords are reluctant to accept RA tenants. You really have to ask sometimes if our government knows it's arse from it's elbow!