Jobseeker's Allowance and work

JoKu

Hi,

I am getting Jobseekers Allowance and work 1 day per week. Sometimes I work two days some weeks I do not work at all. According to this I complete the Declaration of Unemployment (docket) and bring it to the social welfare office every week.

However, there is no difference in payment, no matter if I work during the week or not.
Example:
A. I work 1 day / week - my weekly JA payment is 116 euro
B. I don't work at all - my weekly JA payment is 116 euro

It looks like the information from the dockets are not taken into account at all. Is it correct?
I asked the officer to clarify this but she was very unhelpful and said once the weekly JA payment is calculated it won't change until the next review. Why do they need the dockets then?
Could anyone explain this to me? I will be very grateful.

Whiplashy

JoKu wrote: »

Hi,

I am getting Jobseekers Allowance and work 1 day per week. Sometimes I work two days some weeks I do not work at all. According to this I complete the Declaration of Unemployment (docket) and bring it to the social welfare office every week.

However, there is no difference in payment, no matter if I work during the week or not.
Example:
A. I work 1 day / week - my weekly JA payment is 116 euro
B. I don't work at all - my weekly JA payment is 116 euro

It looks like the information from the dockets are not taken into account at all. Is it correct?
I asked the officer to clarify this but she was very unhelpful and said once the weekly JA payment is calculated it won't change until the next review. Why do they need the dockets then?
Could anyone explain this to me? I will be very grateful.

There's something wrong there. I get €116 if I work 3 days and I get more if I work less days. The information on the dockets is taken into account. If I don't work at all in a week I get the full JSA of €188.

JoKu

Whiplashy wrote: »

There's something wrong there. I get €116 if I work 3 days and I get more if I work less days. The information on the dockets is taken into account. If I don't work at all in a week I get the full JSA of €188.

Thank you Whiplashy.
That's what I thought but two officers told mw that it doesn't work this way and that I can't expect them to assess my weekly means and payment every week. I could not find any official regulation concerning this situation ( clearly explaining that the JA changes according to what I earn every week). Had to leave the Social Welfare office with nothing. So I get no wage and still my JA is reduced. Loosing double.
Thanks again for your prompt answer.
JoKu

Technocentral

JoKu wrote:

Thank you Whiplashy. That's what I thought but two officers told mw that it doesn't work this way and that I can't expect them to assess my weekly means and payment every week.

What! But that's exactly how it works, they process your dockets to see how many days you have worked and then make up your cheque every friday, how else could it be done if not on a weekly basis? Ring the INOU.

pelluci

Is your spouse or partner on a Social Welfare payment also? If so, there'll be a maximum allowed to be paid to the household, which will be split between both of you.

JoKu

Technocentral wrote: »

What! But that's exactly how it works, they process your dockets to see how many days you have worked and then make up your cheque every friday, how else could it be done if not on a weekly basis? Ring the INOU.

Thanks so much! I wilk contact the INOU. I try to explain this to the officers but a they don't accept that. Thanks again!

JoKu

Technocentral wrote: »

What! But that's exactly how it works, they process your dockets to see how many days you have worked and then make up your cheque every friday, how else could it be done if not on a weekly basis? Ring the INOU.

Thanks so much! I wilk contact the INOU. I try to explain this to the officers but they don't accept that. Thanks again!

tomhenryford

What type of work do you do? Are you a regular employee for a company regardless of how many days you work each week, is it the same employer all the time like?

Because if it's not, that might be the reason, otherwise I have no idea what they are on about!

JoKu

pelluci wrote: »

Is your spouse or partner on a Social Welfare payment also? If so, there'll be a maximum allowed to be paid to the household, which will be split between both of you.

Hi,
My partner is getting JA and work as well. Our max. JA payment is 171.30 (each of us gets this amount) . My payment and his payment are reduced by my and his weekly means. However, sometimes I don't work at all (I am a sub teacher, have no contract) and still our payments are reduced by my weekly means.
Many thanks for your reply.

JoKu

tomhenryford wrote: »

What type of work do you do? Are you a regular employee for a company regardless of how many days you work each week, is it the same employer all the time like?

Because if it's not, that might be the reason, otherwise I have no idea what they are on about!

Hi,
It is the same employer - secondary school. I get substitution there sometimes. Usually it was 40 min per week. Some weeks I had no classes so no income from them. Still my and my partner's JA was reduced by the weekly means calculated when I started working in school (October).

JoKu

tomhenryford wrote: »

What type of work do you do? Are you a regular employee for a company regardless of how many days you work each week, is it the same employer all the time like?

Because if it's not, that might be the reason, otherwise I have no idea what they are on about!

Hi,
I am a teacher and was working 40 min per week in the same School. Had no contract. I suppose it is like a substitute teacher.

tomhenryford

JoKu wrote: »

Hi,
I am a teacher and was working 40 min per week in the same School. Had no contract. I suppose it is like a substitute teacher.

I would say that's the problem to be honest. The majority of people that are on casual dockets work for the same employer and have employment every week with the odd exception. Retail workers are a good example. They have a contract for say 15 hours per week and their rate of pay is €9 per hour. Some weeks they may work 3 x 5hr days and other weeks they may work 2 x 7.5hr days so their payment from social welfare varies but the base rate doesn't change.

You said above that they told you, you had to wait until your next review and that's why I think it has do to with your sporadic employment.

The casual dockets are meant to supplement income for those that do not earn enough to live on. 40 mins per week for an odd week here or there isn't proper employment like say the example of the retail worker above.

The social welfare office base your means on the information you give them, for example above, they are able to work out exactly the workers means from work because they have a contract. I can understand where the SW are coming from when they say they cannot work it out for you every week as they have nothing structured to base it on.

If you were a regular sub with a contract for say 6 months covering maternity leave for 3 days per week every week at a daily rate of €100 then you wouldn't have the problem you are having because those details wouldn't change and the SW would know what to calculate from.

You'd be better off looking for work in an alternative field even if it's just part-time but something more secure and regular that would give you a regular decent payment. Easier said than done I know.