Benefit System is retarded....

[Jackass]

Ok, so today i signed on and whilst i was there, I enquired about back to education allownce and was told that if I'm out of employment between now and September, I should qualify for BTEA, which is about 150 per week as far as I know, for the duration of my degree (3 years) - roughly around 600 a month.

Now, obviously, whilst doing a full time degree, and with the job market, it would be tough to find a job that fits around my schedule that could earn me 150 per week, so that would be an excellent help.

BUT i then get contacted about a decent job interview this week and it seems like it's a good job and I should be able to get it, but it's only contract and will bring me up to college before I'd have to leave the full time job for full time college, so about 6 months of full time employment...

But now my dilema is, whilst I'm desperate for a job, where is my insentive to work, when I can sit on my ass for the next months and secure income for 3 years to support my degree instead of working for 6 months to save up cash...

I'm going to go for the job and take it if I get it, but it just annoys me how the system is SO badly designed, that it encourages it's own abuse, and the more / longer you claim benefits, it seems the more over time you can become eligable for...

And also, another one of my problems, not ONCE since i went to the dole office to apply for JSB have I had to prove my identity. I had my social welfare card and my PPS number (which could be found on the card) and I went into office, set up JSB, went to the post office and collected it every week, even signed on for the first time today and I wasn't even asked for ID...

So my point is, i can assure you that half the country is off in Canada, OZ or wherever and have lads going in collecting their dole for them, and I'm sure these social welfare cards are worth a mint being traded amongst immigrants who go off to UK to collect benefits and can have people claim benefits for them here too, or better yet, sell and trade these cards, as it's a free money card, just go in each week and collect your money, sell it for 500 bucks..

Pathetic Irish civil service.

Would it be so hard to think of that the card is set up with your photo on it and every signing on session each month you must produce your passport or drivers licence to prove your identity, eventually looking to install the finger print reading devices found on laptops etc, to be used when claiming your dole.

We are being fu*king raped blind here and doing nothing about it, by our own and by being the immigrant bank of Europe where our laws and welfare have been so abused over the years...

Like I'm a genuine hard worker who fell on hard times, and alllll the great benefits I supported and paid for whilst working and were abused are gone now to the bare minimum when i need it because of all of the abuse, but we don't even try to do anything about it...

McSween

i posted the same query as you the other day. where is the incentive to find a job? since my post i have received a pfo from the civil service summer term work for the 2nd year in a row even though i worked there for in 2009. althought other job interviews will come up no doubt, i have to wonder why they cannot sit down with you and work out an arrangement, you can work a short contract and then we will arrange something for the back to education allowance. it is crazy.

wmpdd3

Yes it is crazy, if you work for just 2 days during the summer you can't get BTEA, but you can work part time during the school term!

Though better not complain or they will just do away with it!

willielovesall

Ah its even worse if you your under 23 and your parents don't support you. I know people that are in this situation in college and they have no financial support from their parents. There are expected to live off a grant.

The government should have a state loan system for college students where you pay back the loan when you are working(via wages). So that way students can have a decent standard of living while there in college!!

eastbono

"And also, another one of my problems, not ONCE since i went to the dole office to apply for JSB have I had to prove my identity. I had my social welfare card and my PPS number (which could be found on the card) and I went into office, set up JSB, went to the post office and collected it every week, even signed on for the first time today and I wasn't even asked for ID.."


I find it extradonary that you were not asked for proof of ID when you made your claim. Have you claimed before because if you had then they would have had proof of ID from previous claim. Its one of the first things we ask for when someone is making a claim. If we personally know the person we do not have to ask for it. With regard to your "rant" about back to education they are the rules and we have to abide by them. I would advise you to take it up with the Minister. Tbh if you are on JSB you could apply for a grant for college.

With regard to the Post Office they can ask at anytime for photo id. And the same applies to you signing. With regard to signing the signature is almost always checked to make sure it is the same as the one that you would have signed when making your claim.

hawthorne

I have the feeling that this post was started to discredit anybody on social welfare and to knit on the myth that there is large-scale fraud in the system.
Like the stupid talk that thousands of Eastern Europeans are flying in once a month to collect money and disappear again for another four weeks.
Or whole cities from the Six Counties signing on in the South.
This is all propaganda and repeated by virtualy anybody living out his/her aggressions on unlucky fellow citizens.
Certain politicians are another group of people who use this crude stick to disguise their failed employment policies.
When you claim JB/JA, you ALWAYS have to proof your identity. Birth cert- long version- is one of the documents the DoSP is asking for.They never go without it.
I don't think there are thousands of fakes around...
Passport, drivers licence,etc, are additional documents they want to see. Everybody has a PPS number.
Everything is carefully checked and rechecked.
Years ago- back in the 80tees- it was possible to set up multible claims in different dole offices around the country. That was before the digitalisation /computerisation of the system. Virtually nothing was checked and I know about people- mainly students then- who had several claims running in different towns under different names. The money was basically used to have a "good time"- drink, cigarettes,travelling.
But these days are long long gone...
When being in town in the post office on a pay day, I never noticed unfamiliar faces or large amounts of Ulster people/Polish etc. fellows collecting their money...

[Jackass]

Em, no, not to discredit anyone.

I've been around on here long enough to not be some troll.

Everything I said is fact and it's my first time on welfare and I don't appreciate your baseless assertion and address your mass paranoia.

cee_jay

State Benefits is not a forum for criticising state departments or staff of them.
Thread locked.