so confused ! JSB

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Hi
I work part time mostly Saturdays and sundays , come March I'm going to be left go for about 12 weeks, my husband has just gone back to work in November after being out for 10months, I rang the social welfare and was told that i had to have 26 stamps but I only have 23 so could not get JSB, so is that it ? I worked for the company for 7 years,

cee_jay

What were you doing in 2009? How many weeks did you work and earn over €38?

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I was working in 2009 and and only earned around 3000

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sorry did not read that right, i worked 23 weeks and earned around 150.00 per weekend

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Sorry cee_jay I'm really clueless on this, but how do I know how many weeks I have worked I'm just going on the amount of stamps I have which is 23

cee_jay

You say you worked in your job for 7 years - did you work every week in 2009?
To qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit you need 39 PRSI contributions in 2009 (either paid or credited) or 26 paid in 2009 & 26 paid in 2008.
If you have only 23 you won't qualify for Benefit - however if you worked every week or thereabouts you can have your record checked. Your P60 for 2009 should have the correct number of stamps you have paid.

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I would not have worked every weekend in either 2009 or 2008, but i think I would have worked more then 23 weekends, as an example this January I worked the weekend of the 8th and 9th but my name was not on the rota so I did not get paid till this week when I was working again so i got a double weeks money but only 1 stamp as both weekends were put on the one wage slip, I think this is the reason I am short stamps

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if a person has not got 13 paid contributions in the relevant Tax Year they can still qualify if they have 13 paid contributions in the two years before the relevant Tax Year, in the tax year after the relevant Tax Year or in the current Tax year
can you put this in easy english for me

cee_jay

To qualify for JSB you need 39 contributions either paid or credited in the relevant tax year. So for example in 2011 you need to claim JSB, and in 2009 you were out of work on Illness Benefit for the year, you would have 52 contributions in 2009. But as you said you need 13 paid to help you qualify. If you don't have 13 paid in 2009, and paid 13 in 2008 instead (or 2007/2010) you would qualify for JSB (say you went back to work and started paying PRSI again).

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in 2007 I have 33 and in 2010 I have 30

cee_jay

You still need to have at least 39 contributions in 2009 - be they credited or paid. So in 2009 you have to have been working for the year, claiming some sort of Social Welfare for the year, or a mixture of both. There are other types of credits - you can read more information on credits here.

cee_jay

I forgot to add, you also need 104 paid contributions overall since you started working.

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thanks cee_jay think I'm a lost cause

cee_jay

Ask your local Social Welfare office to show you your contributions when explaining the scheme to you - when you see what you actually have, and what you need to have, it'll make more sense.

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will do, thanks again