No job, sick boyfriend, is there any welfare I can get?

foobally

Hello there,

My boyfriend recently had to go in for open heart surgery, which has a 3 month recovery period. I said I would look after him and asked my job to be allowed to temporarily work from home for at least the first month. Two days before the operation they refused my request so I quit my job to look after him. He's on Supplementary Welfare because he isn't eligible for anything else.

I'm ineligible for Carer's Allowance because he's not completely incapacitated, he can go to the toilet, walk around the house, I just have to cook, clean, go with him for walks, open anything he's not able and a few other things like that. I looked into Jobseeker's Allowance/Benefit but they say I'm ineligible because I'll be looking after him and not available for work. So I rang about Supplementary Welfare and they say I'm ineligible for that too because I 'chose' to quit and it's up to him to get someone from the HSE to look after him (even though he checked about that before the operation and was told the HSE didn't offer that).

I currently have no income, is there anything I'm eligible for I haven't thought of, or can I re-phrase the way I asked for one of the payments listed above so that I'll be eligible? Or maybe there's some charity who could help out in this situation? Any help is greatly appreciated.

ekimiam

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/otheroffice/community-welfare-office-contact.aspx

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Supplementary-Welfare-Allowance.aspx

there should be something on that list ( link 2) that you can apply for
unless you have a fortune in the bank you should be getting something nominal.

Nomis21

I think you should be able to qualify as a "Qualified Adult" on his benefit.

If you are co-habiting and he is on a social welfare benefit then he can claim for you on his benefit and the extra money (I think it's about 128 Euro) is paid to him.

Best to go see your Community Welfare Officer in your local health centre, let him/her advise you.

jopax

I think the citizens advice centre would be a good place to get the information you need.
You should be eligible for job seekers as you have no income, but you are excluding yourself by telling them you are looking after your boyfriend. You would need to tell them that you are available and seeking work to be eligible.
I wish you luck on getting some thing sorted.

Nomis21

You can't get paid Jobseekers immediately if you have voluntarily quit your job.

If you register for JA though, you will get JA after a few weeks (13 weeks I think) have passed, but then only if you are available for work

tenifan

Can you ask your employer to give you your job back, perhaps with some flexibility in terms of when you can take annual leave and even some unpaid leave or a shorter working week for a few months? You don't really need to cook and clean. Decent quality meals (meat and veg) can actually be purchased from restaurants, while a cleaner once a week could cost, what, Eur30 max?

DanDublin1982

How do you know you're ineligible for carers? Did you apply for it? Did you look into carers benefit before quitting?