Social Welfare

Deise1649

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone can help me with this;

Currently I am off sick from work, I have been off around one month now. Work do not offer sick pay, so I went to the social welfare to see if I was entilited to Illness Benefit.

However, as they base it on the previous yrs contributions, I was just short of the required number of contributions, so was given an appointment to see a Community Welfare Officer to see if they could give me the Supplementary Welfare Allownance (SWA), which the CWO granted me a weekly payment of €186.

I visited my doctor today as I am no better and she feels that a lot of my issues are due to my work environment and she has written me a letter stating she feels I should not return to my work place as the environment is causing me to be unwell etc.

If I hand my notice in and quit the job I currently have and go to my local Social Welfare Office and ask to fill in the application to go onto Jobseekers instead of the SWA will I still be penalised (9wks without a payment from the SW for quitting a job?)

Any information would be appreciated.

As I cannot be 9 wks without money, so I am wondering if its best to keep getting certs to hand into my current workplace and into the social welfare (for the SWA) so that I will have a payment each week while I search for another job (which I have been doing for a while now) or do I try move to Jobseekers?

Thanks for your help in advance :-)

MFlack2012

Deise1649 wrote: »

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone can help me with this;

Currently I am off sick from work, I have been off around one month now. Work do not offer sick pay, so I went to the social welfare to see if I was entilited to Illness Benefit.

However, as they base it on the previous yrs contributions, I was just short of the required number of contributions, so was given an appointment to see a Community Welfare Officer to see if they could give me the Supplementary Welfare Allownance (SWA), which the CWO granted me a weekly payment of €186.

I visited my doctor today as I am no better and she feels that a lot of my issues are due to my work environment and she has written me a letter stating she feels I should not return to my work place as the environment is causing me to be unwell etc.

If I hand my notice in and quit the job I currently have and go to my local Social Welfare Office and ask to fill in the application to go onto Jobseekers instead of the SWA will I still be penalised (9wks without a payment from the SW for quitting a job?)

Any information would be appreciated.

As I cannot be 9 wks without money, so I am wondering if its best to keep getting certs to hand into my current workplace and into the social welfare (for the SWA) so that I will have a payment each week while I search for another job (which I have been doing for a while now) or do I try move to Jobseekers?

Thanks for your help in advance :-)

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I advise going to Social Welfare BEFORE you quit. Explain your situation and tell them how unwell you are and how much stress it's causing you. In my case, I was willing to hold out for a few weeks but the lady was lovely and told me to leave ASAP and waived the penalty. You're health is more important.

Deise1649

MFlack2012 wrote: »

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I advise going to Social Welfare BEFORE you quit. Explain your situation and tell them how unwell you are and how much stress it's causing you. In my case, I was willing to hold out for a few weeks but the lady was lovely and told me to leave ASAP and waived the penalty. You're health is more important.

Thanks a lot for your reply :-)

I will go and speak with somebody at my local office this week.