Social Welfare & Work

Boxman101

Hi all,

Have a little query.

I left my job a year ago that I had been in part-time for 6/7 years and planned to go out looking for work which I did. I had no luck after a few interviews and could not find anything. So I decided to go and work with my Dad who is self employed.

When I finished my job of 6/7 years I didn't notify social welfare, I didn't really know I had to as I had planned on getting other employment. I have been working with my dad a few days here and there over the past year to get by and still have not notified social welfare. Just wondering would it be difficult for me to get back in the system now? What are my options? Should I get my Dad to contact the welfare office and say that I'm working with him?

Any help would be great...

Mrs OBumble

Your work with your Dad - is he putting you through the books and paying tax for you? If he is, then would he write a letter saying that he has to lay you off because he no longer has enough work for you?

Have you ever been full-time anywhere?

livedadream

pop into themselves, try and ignore the bad press, in general they are helpful.

Tell them the situation and see what they say, its possible you might be able to sign on and get some payment for the days your not working

or sign on to job seekers and finish up with your dad.

RoyalMarine

Ultimately, as long as you didn't claim social welfare while working with your dad if you were off the books, then I'm sure it won't be that big an issue.

stefanovich

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Boxman101 wrote:

Any help would be great...

Have you paid your income tax?

Boxman101

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Your work with your Dad - is he putting you through the books and paying tax for you? If he is, then would he write a letter saying that he has to lay you off because he no longer has enough work for you?

Have you ever been full-time anywhere?

I don't think hes been paying anything for me. I don't really work every week with him , just handy jobs. Would it be much work getting him to put me on the books seeing as I havn't been in the system for the past year? Sorry a bit confusing....

Yes I worked straight out of school. Finished up last year as I didn't enjoy it anymore and needed a change....

Boxman101

stefanovich wrote: »

Have you paid your income tax?

I meant any help from the users would be great.

I paid tax for around 6 years in my previous job. Don't think I'm actually on the books with my Dad as I don't do much days. just wondering would it be much hassle getting back in the system working with my Dad really, dont really want to go on social welfare?

Have not a clue about these topics..

Thanks

livedadream

okay from my reading of this:

just wondering would it be much hassle getting back in the system working with my Dad really, dont really want to go on social welfare?

im not sure what you mean by 'the system'

if you want ot start working and be a registered employee you need your dad to set you up, or you need to set yourself up as self employed.

If you are talking about social welfare its as simple as not working for your dad and telling them you arejob seeking while unemployed and need job seekers payments.

Stheno

If your father is going to put you on the books as an employee, then he will have to pay employers PRSI of approx. 10% for you on top of what he pays you and do your taxes and payroll.

You could set yourself up as selfemployed, and invoice him for your work, but that also involves potential VAT.

At the moment you are not "in the system" as you call it, you are working in the black market.

If Revenue audit your father and discover this, he could be in a spot of trouble.

Mrs OBumble

livedadream wrote: »

If you are talking about social welfare its as simple as not working for your dad and telling them you arejob seeking while unemployed and need job seekers payments.

Not necessarily.

In general, you are only eligible for the dole if you have lost a job that was supporting you.

There's an exemption on this for school/college leavers - but this doesn't apply to the OP because s/he worked part time after leaving school.

I don't know, but there might be some other exemptions which apply to someone who has been contributing to a family business in exchange for living for free in the family home.

If I was the OP, I'd be inclined to approach Welfare from that perspective: say that you weren't getting cash (beyond minimal pocket money) from Dad but that it's now become clear that the business just won't expand to a point where it will support you both.

livedadream

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not necessarily.

In general, you are only eligible for the dole if you have lost a job that was supporting you.

There's an exemption on this for school/college leavers - but this doesn't apply to the OP because s/he worked part time after leaving school.

I don't know, but there might be some other exemptions which apply to someone who has been contributing to a family business in exchange for living for free in the family home.

If I was the OP, I'd be inclined to approach Welfare from that perspective: say that you weren't getting cash (beyond minimal pocket money) from Dad but that it's now become clear that the business just won't expand to a point where it will support you both.

if he was not registered as an employee the DSP have no record of him working since his last job.

you are eligible for jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance based on you actively looking for a job.

as has been well reported over the past few weeks due to election nonsense there approximately 3% of the Irish population have no nor will not ever gain full paid employment.

The OP said he didnt sign on for the past year after stopping employment, the DSP will check a number of things:

depending on his age he will be means tested
he can openly say he had been working for cash in hand for his dad, this will be fine for the DSP but can open a can of worms with the Revenue.
he may be asked to produce bank statements as part of the assessment

he does say that he doesnt want to go to social welfare though so im not sure what system he is talking about.

Mrs OBumble

livedadream wrote: »

you are eligible for jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance based on you actively looking for a job.

Sorry, but there's more to it.

Habitual Residence is one of the other criteria. We know that it's not relevant in this case. But because it's a long time since he left his last job, and because he left voluntarily, Welfare may suspect that he was actually away travelling so to test him on this.

And there are some others, which I don't know the technical names of. Whether they are applied or not depends on various things, I suspect including the whim of the Welfare inspector.

OP, the best thing you can do is go and see Welfare. If they say "no", then you can appeal their decision - get help from Citizen's Information if it gets to this.

hawkeyethenoo

do you live at home ye? just go into the social welfare and say you've been working for your dad for your keep and it wasn't paid employment but the work has dried up. you should be able to get job seekers allowance.

livedadream

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Sorry, but there's more to it.

.

obviously, there numerous criteria that are detailed and can come down to a final decision by the case officer, i didnt feel the need to write a thesis about the differences people experience in their local DSP office... for example some of the basic rules are

being over 18 and under 66 is a criteria that obviously doesnt apply here if he was working for 6 years after school he is a minimum of 23/24

leaving your job willingly -only disqualifys you applying for 9 weeks- this guy is obviously outside that 9 weeks having been working for his dad for a year.

genuinely looking for work- this is up to the officer to figure out,

Habitual Residence- if he worked for 6 years and then for his da for a year then he is obviously a habitual resident.- even if he was away travelling that doesnt come into it. he has paid into the system for over 6 years, and been off for a year, he could have been sick, in school self funding, even if he was travelling its irrelevant. I would have thought this was obvious.

LEGALLY the four main criteria for an Irish citizen to gain access are:

You must also be:

Unemployed (you must be fully unemployed or unemployed for at least 4 days out of 7)
Capable of work
Available for work
Genuinely seeking work

everything else like:

he must have paid Class A, H or P PRSI contributions while he was working and have at least 104 weeks PRSI paid since he first started working and 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or which a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions, so it all depends.

either way the longest the social welfare can refuse a payment to him is 9 weeks from when he attends. it can be docked or stopped if he does not engage but again i didnt feel that was necessary to add as its completely irrelevant.