JSB Restrictions

lougem

This post is a little long, bear with me!

I am having problems at the moment as I am on JSA and I want to transfer to JSB. The only reason I want to do this is because I want to leave Ireland to look for a job in Europe, and you are entitled to JSB for a little over 3 months if you are searching for a job somewhere else in the EU.

My problem is this: In 2009, I was doing a Masters, having worked for a year prior to that, to afford it. Normally you are entitled to student credits for this, but because I worked before the MA, I am not! They have to take the credits from just before you entered employment, so they had to use the credits from my degree instead, which I finished in 2007. The result is, that my MA year, the year they would normally count, is a complete blank, and therefore I'm not entitled to JSB! I'm sure I am not the only one who had to work to pay for their MA or any postgrad education, this means that ALL OF US who did this around the period of 2008-2009 are locked to this country until at least next January, when we might be entitled to open a new claim for JSB. I find this ridiculous.

My point is, aren't the JSB rules unreasonably restrictive? I'm not the only person who returned to college since 2008 who is in this situation. I understand that the government want to restrict the number of people who go on JSB abroad as a way of preventing fraud, but restricting numbers of people who are entitled to JSB itself, is a pretty ineffective way of doing that. They also need to realise that putting restrictions in place is, in effect, 'locking' people to this country, which is of course, going to cost them more money since our economy is up **** creek and we have no chance of a job, as recent graduates.

The prospects for me (and I'm not alone) are that I may be restricted to living in Ireland until 2013 at least....a very sorry prospect as I work in an industry which is not really represented here. In other words, I will probably be unemployed for the next 18 months, if not more, because of these rules.

The fact that the JSB rules are effectively keeping myself, and others like me, on the dole, by preventing us from seeking work abroad, is unacceptable. I am going to speak to a local FG Councillor about it, but apart from that, I can't really think of another way of changing these policies and others like them.

Has anyone got any similar stories? Any advice?! I will go mad if I have to stay here when I know I could get a good job abroad!!

mrsbyrne

The PRSI rules relating to entitlement to JSB were not formulated since the start of the recession but have been in place for many years, with a small amount of tweaking here and there. You will agree, im sure, that only claimants with sufficent contributions paid should get the "benefit" of those contributions? I know you feel frustrated but if a thorough examination of your PRSI record has deemed you disqaulified for JSB then theres nothing any TD of any denomination can do about it. When it comes to SW the rules are the rules and if there was any flexibility the whole system would descend into total chaos. With 460000 people claiming to be unemployed and many more retiring, sick, going on maternity leave or caring for others you must be abe to see that.

cee_jay

You may get credits for time spent in full-time education for example third level, if you:

have worked before starting the course and have paid PRSI contributions at Class A,
started the course before reaching age 23, and
have returned to full-time insurable employment.

When you apply for student credits, you must give:

written confirmation from the school or college stating that you were a student there,
the dates you attended the school or college, and
proof that you have returned to full time employment.
You can only get student credits once.

So if you got student credits for your degree course, you wouldn't be entitled to them for your Masters.

You can search for a job abroad while still living here. I know of people who found jobs in Norway, Australia, Canada, UK and Saudi Arabia while still living in Ireland. Then you can move without the need to transfer your JSB.

tenchi-fan

I know it would be nice to get settled in abroad while claiming Irish dole, but I think I agree with the previous poster. You can do a lot of your job-hunting from home and return flights to (say) the UK can cost as little as €50. Sometimes the hiring company offers to pay towards your travel expenses. You can also take a 2-week "holiday" from jobseekers allowance.

It's a bit of a stretch to say you are stuck in Ireland until "2013 at least" just because you can't transfer JSB.

lougem

mrsbyrne wrote: »

The PRSI rules relating to entitlement to JSB were not formulated since the start of the recession but have been in place for many years, with a small amount of tweaking here and there. You will agree, im sure, that only claimants with sufficent contributions paid should get the "benefit" of those contributions? I know you feel frustrated but if a thorough examination of your PRSI record has deemed you disqaulified for JSB then theres nothing any TD of any denomination can do about it. When it comes to SW the rules are the rules and if there was any flexibility the whole system would descend into total chaos. With 460000 people claiming to be unemployed and many more retiring, sick, going on maternity leave or caring for others you must be abe to see that.

Yes I agree that of course you should only claim JSB if you have paid sufficient contributions- which I have done. My point is, wouldn't it make more sense for them to take into account your highest level of education as your student credits? Such as a Masters, then I wouldn't be in this situation. Nor would others like me, who are in reality, probably going to have to stay on JSA for longer than they would if they were able to go on this JSB system abroad. After all, it is cut off after 70 days or so. From what I can see, we would be saving the country money in many cases.

The system is already pretty chaotic as far as I can see, with overly complicated rules and a total lack of transparency and communication between different departments, leading to a system that is more much more vulnerable to exploitation. But that's another day's work!

lougem

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I know it would be nice to get settled in abroad while claiming Irish dole, but I think I agree with the previous poster. You can do a lot of your job-hunting from home and return flights to (say) the UK can cost as little as €50. Sometimes the hiring company offers to pay towards your travel expenses. You can also take a 2-week "holiday" from jobseekers allowance.

It's a bit of a stretch to say you are stuck in Ireland until "2013 at least" just because you can't transfer JSB.

Firstly, that's not strictly true. There are a lot of people who leave hoping to find work when they get over there.

Secondly, of course you can do most of your job hunting online. The problem is that most graduate jobs have been renamed as 'internships' and are now paid from 0 - 800 (max) per month, and they are looking for very highly-qualified individuals. If these internships were in Ireland you could do them legitimately on JSA- I asked, and was told this was the case. But with the JSB system the way it is we can't do them.

I am not asking to be handed money for nothing. I represent a legitimate graduate demographic that as it is anyway, is disproportionately represented in the dole queue. It's bad enough with employer discrimination being practiced in the form of internships, (which in an ideal world should only be available to undergrads and never unpaid), but government policy keeping graduates in the dole queue makes it even worse in my eyes.