Government Benefits Megathread

uptherebels

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624139#Comment_117624139

Seeing as we all have to pay the money the government has to borrow It is their buisness

Relax brah

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624139#Comment_117624139

I’d like to but my tax money is funding this fraud. So it’ll be actioned accordingly

Rows Grower

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624242#Comment_117624242

"Alleged fraud", don't be so certain that the source of the rumour is accurate, many's a slip twixt cup and lip and even more slips between pint glasses and lips.

Dempo1

I sense a spot of PUP recepient bashing here, previous attempts and outlandish claims put back in their boxes quickly.

Hearing a rumour does not make it true. Both Revenue and DEASP involved in monitoring PUP payments and it would be both a foolish employer and employee to be actively defrauding the state, a Rumor generally starts with gossip, I also doubt anyone involved in such behaviour would be advertising that fact.

And just to finish, the Hospitality sector has spent the last few months moaning about staff refusing to return to work, this the very sector who could have retained staff by availing of wage subsidy schemes, but no, they dropped staff like bad habits and now making absurd claims about lack of staff, guess what, they've moved on and I'd doubt they'll ever return.

Swaine

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624242#Comment_117624242

Billions upon billions of our tax money is currently been pissed away on a so called deadly virus but you're worried about a lad getting €50 under the table.

Hilarious.

Relax brah

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624279#Comment_117624279

It’s not a rumour, I was told by an employee working in the place. They are 20 years of age and being taken advantage of and were told if they did not accept them conditions than they would not have a job to come back to.

Relax brah

Well your “senses,” are entirely incorrect.

I have no issue with PUP, a lot of people have been hit badly by this pandemic and they deserve/require help, equally, I acknowledge that pubs have suffered gravely too.

However, taking advantage of employees in this manner is fraud and absolutely wrong.

Ironically, you are the one making assumptions without all of the facts here.

ozmo

I received a letter to my house for receipt of pup payments / to a name i did not recognise.

reported it. Someone was using my address.

Dempo1

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624425#Comment_117624425

So assuming and just assuming this 20 year old is a student, he's likely on the lowest rate of PUP @ €203 per week, if he is a student, he loses this on 7th September. Wether they are on pup or not, it's more likely the employer actually cares less and is just paying under the table. PUP has infact actually nothing to do with employers with the one exception whereby they can report an employee on pup for refusing to return to work. Last time I checked, 85 employers did so at a time over 280k were in receipt of the payment, out of that the DEASP found little or no evidence of breaches. The original POST seem to hint at the employee misbehaving, now it's being suggested the employer is, ultimately I'm not doubting some abuses occurring but very, very, very few and this according to the actual Department overseeing the PUP scheme and be under no illusions, thouragh checks including eligibility confirmation ongoing and regular

is_that_so

https://boards.ie/discussion/2058199305/abuse-of-the-pup

It is inevitable there'll be some. Report it if you wish but bear in mind a publican's thinking after such a long shutdown. It will all begin to unwind from September/October anyway.

rajqo

I got an email saying that I have received a notification from mywelfare stating that someone from welfare will be calling me in a week commencing 19th of july.. Does anyone know what number they're calling from and what they want? I don't pick up random calls as I got many scam calls recently from every kind of Irish phone numbers.. is there a way to call them instead of someone calling me?

Dempo1

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117629392#Comment_117629392

At a guess this may be similar to calls made after an announcement on the 26th May that some people would be contacted, offering supports, options if you have lost your job completely, however this was flagged under customer notices on the DEASP website, I don't see any such announcements regarding your notification, have you confirmed eligibility? I don't believe you need to worry it maybe just confirm your employment situation is etc.

The calls made back in early June came from a Dublin number, its highly unlikely DEASP will call from a mobile number and NO you can't call them re this notification.

head82

I received a call from a DEASP officer on Tuesday 6th.. from a 087 number (having been previously notified thru MyWelfare.IE that I could expect a call after the 5th July).

I agree, it is a little bizarre DEASP allowing officers use mobiles to make official calls considering peoples reluctance to answer unknown numbers in light of the current wave of spam calls.

The officer I spoke to was a lovely lady. No way pushy at all.

I got the impression she was operating according to script.. informing me of retraining/upskilling options available etc. In fact, she went out of her way to caution me about signing off PUP until I was assured of my return to work as from 7 July I could not reapply and would be reduced to Jobseekers. We even had a little chat about the possibility/threat of another Wave!

Dempo1

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631260#Comment_117631260

Really odd decision by DEASP to be calling from mobile numbers but I agree its possible albeit odd given the reasons you outline, mine was also perfectly pleasant.

The OP"s notification of a call is however Not, I believe part of any planned reaching out exercise for those on PUP, they don't clarify if they are on PUP or another payment.

GreenGrass2019

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117620082#Comment_117620082

Update: Spoke with local SW office, they said they got an alert last week that there was an issue with the system. She said they don't deal with PUP and to confirm all is in order I would need to call the 1890 number or email them, I've chased again via email to ensure all is in order.

Dempo1

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631948#Comment_117631948

Great, the fact there was an alert that there was a systems issue suggests all will be fine, Plus you have screen shots etc

head82

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631948#Comment_117631948

I submitted my 'eligibility confirmation' form on the 8 July, having received notification to do so on the 6 July.

I assumed everything was fine as I immediately received notification that my form had been received.

Another email was sent out to me on the 13 July stating that I needed to 'confirm eligibility' by the 20th or I would loose my payment.

( I somehow missed this email and only double checked today as a result of this thread.. thanks for the 'heads-up' BTW! )

I resubmitted the form and fingers crossed this should be the end of it.

It's reassuring to hear that it was "an issue with the system" but also disconcerting that this 'glitch' doesn't appear to have affected everyone.

Dempo1

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117632378#Comment_117632378

I'm sure it will be fine, if you can, I'd take a screen shot of original thank you for confirming eligibility and if there's any issue (I don't think there will be), you can email the screenshot over etc etc.

It looks like a very small amount of people affected by this issue and unfortunate absolutely no announcements about it by DEASP, leading to unnecessary concern for those impacted.

GreenGrass2019

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117632378#Comment_117632378

UPDATE:

I received the following confirmation yesterday in response to my chaser email.

"We aware that a number of customers who had already confirmed their eligibility for PUP, received a reminder the next day.

If you have already successfully confirmed your eligibility, you can be advised to ignore this reminder and we offer our apologies for any confusion or inconvenience caused.

If you have, after receiving the reminder, confirmed your eligibility a second time, you can be advised that this will not negatively impact your claim."

Dempo1

I see DEASP has extended by a full week the cut off point to confirm PUP eligibility, new date 27th July

d51984

Will the PUP be in the banks early this weekend as its a bank holiday?

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117682719#Comment_117682719

Latest Updates

29 July

August Bank Holiday Payment Arrangements and Opening Hours

Monday 2 August is a Bank Holiday and as a result any Social Welfare payments due to be in your account on Monday 2 August will now be paid on Friday 30 July instead.

Not sure if this includes PUP but last few B/H Weekends it was paid late Friday, early Sat depending on your banks processing days for electronic transfers.

d51984

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117684227#Comment_117684227

Cheers Dempo, helpful as always.

d51984

Sister said its in bank now.

GreenGrass2019

Hi

Has anyone discussed with Social Welfare if they need to transfer from PUP to JSB / JSA - What the process is and how long it may take to process?

Thanks!

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696062#Comment_117696062

Hi,

My understanding is they'll make contact with those who's rate reduces to the lowest amount, the first tranche is on the 7th September. Students returning to full time education will lose PUP on that date, presumably last payment the following week. It's likely they won't qualify for JSA as this was case before PUP was introduced.

Those moving to €250 on pup will transition in November I believe.

I'd expect either contacts to be made in the coming weeks and there'll be customer notices on the DEASP website very soon.

It really has not been clarified what the process will be, all that's been said is claimants with Transfer to JSA terms but I'd certainly expect an application process, means test etc will be required.

If I see anything I'll post here 😉

Hi All,

I've been on PUP more or less continuously since March 13th 2020, but I have signed off for a few days here or there in the end of March to end of June time period to work as requested and signed back on after the work. These are claimed by submission of time-sheets in arrears, so correlation of days worked with payments are not clear.

My PUP has now been suspended because "Information available to the Department from the Revenue Commissioners indicates that you are in receipt of an employment income. "

I've replied to the email I received this morning outlining the above. I haven't done anything underhand and followed the instructions on welfare.ie as I understood them.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice on what else I can do?

Thanks,

B.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117714478#Comment_117714478

Morning, so sorry to hear this. When were you informed of suspension?

So as to be clear, you had occasional work and during those times, you closed your pup payment? and then reapplied?

Was this work recent or more than a few months ago?

SW generally get a monthly update from Revenue of payroll data, it is this that SW cross reference to insure anyone on PUP is not earning taxable income, the time frame not precise so there could be a delay, depending on how an employer submits payroll data.

If you are confident you closed PUP at any stage you were in receipt of Income, I see no reas3why you can not appeal. My initial thought is your employer may have delayed a return and it may appear you were earning whilst on PUP.

I'M a liitle confused about the time sheets your mentioning, the only information SW are looking at is taxable income at the same time as PUP payment.

There is an appeals process listed on the website and I'd follow that, I'd also see if your employer could confirm dates you actually worked ASAP.

I've mentioned this before, any income, holiday pay, owed wages etc that is paid through payroll innocently and ligitimately, whilst on PUP causes serious problems. Hopefully you can get this resolved but it can take time.

Hi Dempo,

Thanks for your reply. Yes anytime I worked I was signed off PUP, but of course if I'm paid in July for work done in May/June how do they correlate my time on PUP to money being paid by my employer?

I've replied to the email and have explained myself to them as best I can but this is a mess for me, I'd have been better off not taking any work and stayed on the PUP instead, but this would have been completely wrong IMO.

I'm back to work anyway the end of August, but looks like I'll have a quiet few weeks until I get my first salary in September.

B.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117715510#Comment_117715510

Yes, I can see what's happened here and its quite disgraceful people being suspended without at least seeking an explanation. Honestly I think the only way to explain this quickly is to see if your employer could confirm the dates you actually worked, this can then be easily reconciled with the dates you correctly closed your pup payment. Even an email from employer, you could forward to SW by way of an explanation.

I'm confident you'll be reinstated, it's just the time it takes, get cracking with employer ASAP. 😉