unemp benefit

Ms Beanbag

My boyf has been unemp since Dec. He first attemted to claim benefit in Feb... Hes been up and down to them since then and they've been stringing him along sayin this that and the other... (I think hes filled out some sort of forms too).
Just last week, they said they need to have proof that hes looked for jobs
i.e. handed in CV's. They told him they need letters off the managers where hes handed in the CV. I find the whole situation and system is fcuked up.
What are other peoples experiences... and what should my boyf do... please help.

RicardoSmith

Big problem these days is that no one sends you replies. As you generally apply online, you've no copies of letters to show either. But if you use the online service like Recruit Ireland, then they have a history of all your applications. You can print that off and show the social. Incidentally it does take a few weeks to get on it. But then they back date it to when you applied. But its not quick.

K!LL!@N

They will accept print outs of emails.
Anything that's verifiable will do.

Killian

RicardoSmith

It may seem like that to you. However I reckon you're doing the opposite of what you intended and that you've not read my posts fully. We're obviously not going to agree. But such is life. :cool:

Ms Beanbag - theres a book called what color is your parachute which has some good job hunting advice. its a bit american and dry. But a quick skim night reveal some ideas for a new approach. You can get it in the library.

Ms Beanbag

BTW Thank you Ricardo Smith for your helpful advice

eth0_

WHy don't you get your boyfriend to ring the department of social affairs and see if what he's being told is correct?

I was on the dole for 3 months last year, all I gave them was my P45, a bank statement, my PPS number and a photocopy of my passport. They didn't ask me for any proof that I was living with my parents at the time. I got my money through in about 2 weeks.

For the first month I didn't look for jobs, but after that I started applying. Not once was I asked to produce evidence that I had been applying for jobs....in fact they never even asked me if I had bothered looking for work. Just so long as I signed on every couple of weeks, they paid me my 135 euro a week.

It sounds VERY strange that they're asking your boyfriend to insist on letters of rejection, i've never heard of that before with someone who's only been on the dole 3 months.

IIRC unemployment benefit is what you get when you first lose your job, and then after an extended period (6 months to one year) you go on unemployment assistance, which is less money and they hound you to get a job.

RicardoSmith

I think it depends which officer you get. I had very different experiences from different officers. One particular nasty woman messed me around no end. Insisting on a load of proof I was job seeking. There was no excuse since 10 secs looking at my CV, experience and details you'd know I wasn't going to be claiming very long. I guess you meet stupid people everywhere. I got another officer who was sound and who sorted it all out and made the process simple.

nesf - It could be argued that by choosing not to get the dole and just let your parents pay for you upkeep, all you are doing is scabbing off your parents. Not everyone has that luxury. To be honest its a bit be all high and mighty about the dole, when you've never needed it.

All you claiming on the dole is a fraction of the money you've put into the system, or will put into the system in the future.

nesf

zervi2003 wrote:

Bravo to all those people out there who were unemployed and never needed to get assistance to pay those damn bills, rent and to generally live.

I truly commend you. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Does me on benefits make me "not" want to work? Does it mean I am lazy on my arse looking for work? Of course not. Not one bit.

I am unemployed at the moment, and shovelling CVs through doors, agencies, email, you name it, have done it.

But noone is biting. Frustrating. And to make it worse, the general perception of people towards me at the moment, is that i'm "lazy" cause I dont work!

Like I said, unemployment benifit is for people who can't work be it because of a medical problem or there not being any work available to them. If as in your case you are trying to get work then you will eventually get a job. I would only think it wrong to draw the dole if you were refusing to take jobs for ego reasons (refusing to take on potentially dangerous work is fair enough).

What I disagree with is the way some people treat the dole. Some of my relatives are these people, for example one of my uncles is a qualified stainless steel welder but he chooses not to work and draws the dole instead. He regularily recieves offers of work at good wages for the job he is trained for, (well trained stainless steel welders are pretty rare back home). But he turns them down because it is easier for him not to work.

I'm sorry but I just can't agree with people that have his attitude.

Our man in Havana

Welcome Mr. Beanbag.

Firstly you need to sort out the dole office once and for all. Go back there and insist you speak with the manager, you want the organ grinder and not the monkies. Ask very direct closed questions. "Are the forms completed correctly?" "Why Haven't I received benefit?" etc. Get them to make a decision on your claim so you can launch an appeal to a higher body.

Head asap to your local Community welfare officer at your local health centre and explain you are waiting for your benefits. He/she should pay you in lieu until the dole office gets its finger out.

Try those and get back to us. BTW, good luck with the job hunting, I know its hard sometimes, I have been there.

WhiteWashMan

well, if you have any helpful suggestions as to the modding of the forum, im open to listening to them, however, as with other forums, i dont consider 'off-topicness' to be a bad thing. and we are still talking about unemployment!

besides, you would have been banned long ago...

however, there is not reason why people with experience with being unemployed cant post up as Bond -007 did.

if you want i will split the debate on unemployment out and make it a seperate thread if you want.
just because i have a different opinion does not mean that i dont do my job.

WhiteWashMan

ok, tried to leave in anything that was 'useful'.

if you want to continue the debate on me being a bad person , then please feel free to visit the thread entitled 'wwman and ricardo whinging about unemp benefits'

Mr. Beanbag

WhiteWashMan thats pretty pathic moving my post from were it is relevent to a thread were it has nothing to do with the new thread. !!!

Mr. Beanbag

This is what I had posted before it was moved w/o any good reason.... !!!

Ok I've been following this thread since it's begining and I just tought it was time I posted...

I've being unemp since December, I've being looking for a job since the second I left my last job... I was told to sign up for benifit in mid Janurary but I didn't go to the offices untill the 9th of Feburary...
In total I've being up to the offices over 15 times now !!!
I've filled out one form over 4 times now, and no I didn't make a mistake which made me have to redo it...
I've had to give my personel details 3 times already, also I've given the details in which the places I've handed out C.V.s over 5 times now...

I was told that I wouldn't get benifit, a week later I was told I could recieve it, then a week later I wasn't able to get it... 3 weeks past then I was told I was getting it... They told me that they needed proof that I was looking for a job and were I had handed out C.V.s...

I was told that proof was need before I'd recieve any benifit...

This is the first time I've ever "TRIED" to recieve benifit...
This is a serious joke, I've seen 3 different ppl up there and each person is telling me that the other is handling my case...
It's like paper, rock, sissors...

WhiteWashMan you can't just label ppl who look for benifit as someone who just sits on there asses all day leeching of the system...

I feel like I'm a rag doll being tossed around and all my GF (Ms. Beanbag) did was ask for sum help...
Criticism and Stereotyping dosn't constatute as help !!!

I'd also like to add that we were looking for help and not opinions !!!

WhiteWashMan

Mr. Beanbag wrote:

WhiteWashMan thats pretty pathic moving my post from were it is relevent to a thread were it has nothing to do with the new thread. !!!

why didnt you PM me to request it be put back in?

nesf

Mr. Beanbag wrote:

I'd also like to add that we were looking for help and not opinions !!!

Welcome to internet bulletin boards, where threads are created and opinions are given about situations.

Opinions are a fact of life online, and a fact of life anyways. If you walked into the pub and started bitching about the dole system you would get responses varying from people empathising and sharing their experiences to people giving their opinion on the dole system and the people who abuse it. Most responses would fall somewhere in between.

If you can't deal with people giving their honest opinion, then don't talk to people.

Otherwise you will have to learn to deal with it just like everybody else.

Mr. Beanbag

The whole reason a thread was made was so that some help might be gotten for my situation... Nowere did we ask for opinions...

Trojan

Mr. Beanbag wrote:

The whole reason a thread was made was so that some help might be gotten for my situation... Nowere did we ask for opinions...

I suggest that in the future if you do not want opinions then you would be well advised not post on an internet bulletin board with 35,000 registered users.

RicardoSmith

Mr. Beanbag wrote:

The whole reason a thread was made was so that some help might be gotten for my situation... Nowere did we ask for opinions...

You have to take the good with the bad. Such is life. Yin Yang and all that.