Disability Allowance and one-off work

Morby

A friend's disabled teen has recently been offered a job for just two days. It would be two 12 hour shifts so 24hrs in total at a rate of €13.50 per hour (before tax etc...)

They're excited about the prospect of getting this work as they've never had a "real" job and he's never earned his own money before.

They're unsure as to how much of his disability he would lose for working those hours.

It is just a once off and it's only these two days he has been offered. He won't be receiving any hours or doing any other days after this.

Now I've used the benefit of work calculator and from what I can see is that if he works for 24hrs at €13.50 per hour he would receive €319.64 and instead of his full rate of Disability for that week he would instead receive €113 and essentially "lose" approx €90 of his disability money for that week.

That's if I have it right of course. Perhaps if he worked 24 hours at €13.50 an hour he might be over some threshold and lose all his entitlement to disability for that week?

What his mother wants to know is what's the max hours he could work, legally, whilst still retaining 100% of his disability allowance?

She is wondering if he would be better off working less hours so as not to lose any of his disability allowance as he might actually come out with more cash at the end of the day this way?

I haven't a clue how to calculate it or advise them as I'm unfamilar with that payment and legalities and rules of it.


I'm not sure whether to advise he work the full 24 hours offered or to accept a few less hours (which is possible) and get his full DA on top of whatever he gets for the hours he does work?

Could anyone please advise?

gipi

Have a look at the section on DA and work on this site, it explains the way income is assessed

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_allowance.html

Morby

gipi wrote: »

Have a look at the section on DA and work on this site, it explains the way income is assessed

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_allowance.html

Hi,

Thanks for that, appreciate you taking the time out to reply.

I have been reading those pages however to be honest I find it confusing and I'm not sure how to calculate.

I used the benefit of work for disability allowance estimator for them and that's where I got the figures above from- they would be earning 319.64 and get 113 of their disability allowance, so "losing" about 90 for that week.

However I have just downloaded a booklet in it, it states that if weekly means are assessed at over €202.50 then he would be entitled to Nil
Disability allowance

He obviously wouldn't want to lose his disability allowance in case he lost it completely and had to reapply all over again, in which place it wouldn't be worth his while doing these few hours given that it's only a one-off.

The more I read the more confused I get and the estimator of work calculator appears to be broken now into the bargain

nothing

First, ring the disability dept to let them know, as it's a temporary one off, it's unlikely to have any impact. They look at income over the whole year, not just one offs.

I've worked small jobs in the past, earning up to a few grand, and it's never effected my payment as when it was spread out over the year, it didn't take me over the threshold, and they were one offs.

Morby

nothing wrote: »

First, ring the disability dept to let them know, as it's a temporary one off, it's unlikely to have any impact. They look at income over the whole year, not just one offs.

I've worked small jobs in the past, earning up to a few grand, and it's never effected my payment as when it was spread out over the year, it didn't take me over the threshold, and they were one offs.

Hi there,

That's very helpful and beneficial to know, I will be sure to let them know so they can ring themselves.

That's something I would never even have thought of, I just automatically assumed that any hours worked would result in a decrease in payment.

He'll be delighted to hear that as he's saving up for some sort of games console!

nothing

Morby wrote: »

Hi there,

That's very helpful and beneficial to know, I will be sure to let them know so they can ring themselves.

That's something I would never even have thought of, I just automatically assumed that any hours worked would result in a decrease in payment.

He'll be delighted to hear that as he's saving up for some sort of games console!

They are very fair about things like that once you're up front with them

radiotrickster

Morby wrote: »

He obviously wouldn't want to lose his disability allowance in case he lost it completely and had to reapply all over again, in which place it wouldn't be worth his while doing these few hours given that it's only a one-off.

The people in the local social welfare office should be familiar with how this works and able to help. He should ring up/go in (if allowed) saying that he’s been asked to do two days of work and he’s looking for guidance on the protocol for declaring work. He can always to them that say he’s not sure it’s going ahead or if he’s able for it, just to keep his options open.

It’s not the exact same but I was on jobseekers a couple of years ago and did a good bit of casual work while claiming. Every week, I told the office what I was working and they gave me a form to fill out and get signed by my manager. Usually I did come away with less money for working though. It was only €50-60 worth of work each time and they deducted €63 from me per day, then add on transport and I could be down up to about €15 each day I worked.

At the end of the day, if the person wants to work then this will be a start for them and a foot in the door to the working world. Money was incredibly tight for me when I was doing casual work but getting out there, getting experience, new skills and feeling like I was contributing something was the priority for me. It’s only a once-off bit of work so they have to think of it as more than just what makes the most sense financially.

But if they’re not looking to/able to work long-term, then a social welfare advisor should be able to guide them on what the course of action is for once-off work.

Morby

What a fantastic post, I'm going to send this onto them so the son can read it and hopefully inspire and motivate him.

He's limited what he can do, for now, but hopefully if he successfully does these two days it will encourage him to seek out more.

Thank you for sharing your story, I'm glad things are easier and better for you nowadays.

As mentioned, the social are very reasonable when it comes to disability allowance and working. They're not going to touch his payment for the sake of a couple of days work.

Cherry Blossom

The first €140 of wages has no impact on DA. Between €140 and €350 you loose 50% of that amount of benefit. 24 hours x €13.50 is €324.00. I’m not sure where your getting the other amount from? 324-140 is 184. You divide 184 by 2 to get 50% which is €92. He’d lose €92 from his weeks DA.

Now with that said I started a temporary job in January and it took them three months to reassess my means. They didn’t backdate it either when they did. So for three months I got the rate I was already on plus wages. They were a bit quicker the second time round after that job finished and I started another a few weeks later. Id say if he just rings them up and explains they’ll do nothing. There is no point going in to your local social welfare office as they do not deal with DA. All DA claims are dealt with in Longford. He’ll need to ring the office in Ballinalee road.

Wish him luck with his first job.

Morby

Thanks everyone, this is all very helpful.

I'll get his Mother to ring DA section and update you all here when I hear what news they get.