Government Benefits Megathread

road_high

Lyle wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. We were last paid by work on Friday the 6th of March, we worked a half day on Monday 9th, but one fella in the office was in or around Milan from March 3rd to 8th so we were all sent home when that came out on our lunch break and told to isolate for two weeks and ultimately none of us have been back since because the company didn't keep going after March 16th.

I applied for the PUP on March 18th (maybe 19th?) with March 9th as my last day worked, and received my first Pandemic Unemployment Payment on March 31st. Two co-workers I've spoken to are the same. I don't think we'll receive payment for the week of March 9th, but I did think we'd receive backpay for the weeks beginning March 16th and 23rd. No word on it and no clear reply from queries made to DEASP yet either. Hopefully it is just a case of the workload currently being too great to go through it all and it'll come to us at some stage so I can replace the few quid I took out of my savings to get by those first few weeks!

May I ask, what role and industry are you in?
I’ve not heard of many office based lay offs but I’m sure things like supply chain to leisure or marketing must be hit hard in the background

road_high

Wanderer78 wrote: »

disagree, our governments had little or no knowledge of pandemics pre pandemic, they done the best they could, and i think ours done reasonably well

They did ok. I wouldn’t be eulogising them or anything. I think dealing with the longer term fallout is the real test.

Dempo1

road_high wrote: »

They did ok. I wouldn’t be eulogising them or anything. I think dealing with the longer term fallout is the real test.

Couldn't agree more but it's alarming how this new coalition seem not terribly bothered or focused.

Dempo1

road_high wrote: »

They did ok. I wouldn’t be eulogising them or anything. I think dealing with the longer term fallout is the real test.

Couldn't agree more but it's alarming how this new coalition seem not terribly bothered or focused.

Wanderer78

road_high wrote: »

They did ok. I wouldn’t be eulogising them or anything. I think dealing with the longer term fallout is the real test.

i think they do deserve some sort of praise though, i think we showed a sign of maturity by our politicians stepping back and allowed the medical professionals to take control of the situation.

Dempo1 wrote: »

Couldn't agree more but it's alarming how this new coalition seem not terribly bothered or focused.

disagree there, its a new government, both of these parties have a checkered past together, this is a very new world for both of them, it ll take time. id imagine theyre getting to work in the background

Dempo1

Wanderer78 wrote: »

i think they do deserve some sort of praise though, i think we showed a sign of maturity by our politicians stepping back and allowed the medical professionals to take control of the situation.



disagree there, its a new government, both of these parties have a checkered past together, this is a very new world for both of them, it ll take time. id imagine theyre getting to work in the background

I'm curious as to how you think it's a new government? FG guided the country thr this mess with complete support of FF via their pact. I do believe the previous government did an excellent job but I also believe Leo played a blinder, took the deal and passed the buck to FF for all the difficult decisions. My concern is an apparent heads in the sands since the new government came in. There's an obsession with the TWSS despite it costing far more than pup and a bizzare situation were 1000" s are still furloughed and getting up to €2800 pm. PUP recipients had little choice but claim separately and I'll be fascinated how approx 400k are going to find roles in the short term

Lyle

road_high wrote: »

May I ask, what role and industry are you in?
I’ve not heard of many office based lay offs but I’m sure things like supply chain to leisure or marketing must be hit hard in the background

Tourism, hospitality and event organisation. We organise tours, business conferences, trade fairs and stuff like that for people coming into Ireland and people attending the same in other countries. We're looking pretty f*cked despite the diverse portfolio of interest the company handles (in that it's not just holidaying tourists, etc). The US branch of our company has sacked everyone and a planned expansion in Asian markets, particularly China, is gone as well. One colleague whose duties had been totally focused on a move to China has been laid off, the rest of us are just hoping we'll have anything to go back to. Although, more presently, we're just praying the PUP gets extended for another while longer. Hard times.

Dempo1

Lyle wrote: »

Tourism, hospitality and event organisation. We organise tours, business conferences, trade fairs and stuff like that for people coming into Ireland and people attending the same in other countries. We're looking pretty f*cked despite the diverse portfolio of interest the company handles (in that it's not just holidaying tourists, etc). The US branch of our company has sacked everyone and a planned expansion in Asian markets, particularly China, is gone as well. One colleague whose duties had been totally focused on a move to China has been laid off, the rest of us are just hoping we'll have anything to go back to. Although, more presently, we're just praying the PUP gets extended for another while longer. Hard times.

Sorry to hear this, I understand your industry particularly badly hit and with such uncertainty re foreign travel its not looking positive. I was in the hotel business for years and many former colleagues in the same both. This July stimulus plan seems to geared towards supporting tourism etc, I hope something in it for you but personal income immediately is far more pressing, this is why I'm so shocked that little or no information about its status after 10th August. Keep positive

Wanderer78

Dempo1 wrote: »

I'm curious as to how you think it's a new government? FG guided the country thr this mess with complete support of FF via their pact. I do believe the previous government did an excellent job but I also believe Leo played a blinder, took the deal and passed the buck to FF for all the difficult decisions. My concern is an apparent heads in the sands since the new government came in. There's an obsession with the TWSS despite it costing far more than pup and a bizzare situation were 1000" s are still furloughed and getting up to €2800 pm. PUP recipients had little choice but claim separately and I'll be fascinated how approx 400k are going to find roles in the short term

lots of good points there, but id some what disagree about the previous government, they defaulted to the same thinking pre crash, if this new government behaves in a similar way, both parties could find themselves in serious trouble going forward. i do agree though, theres a lot of gamesmanship going on between ff and fg, neither wants to take ownership of the big pile of sh!t, it ll be interesting to see how they play the game. i personally think the covid payments should remain in place for a while longer, to stimulate the economy, and i also agree with your thinking, many of these individuals will struggle to gain employment

Dempo1

Wanderer78 wrote: »

lots of good points there, but id some what disagree about the previous government, they defaulted to the same thinking pre crash, if this new government behaves in a similar way, both parties could find themselves in serious trouble going forward. i do agree though, theres a lot of gamesmanship going on between ff and fg, neither wants to take ownership of the big pile of sh!t, it ll be interesting to see how they play the game. i personally think the covid payments should remain in place for a while longer, to stimulate the economy, and i also agree with your thinking, many of these individuals will struggle to gain employment

Your spot on and it's just really alarming that so many left hanging on a thread, not knowing what's happening, I just hope some support will continue, I'm back in August so we'll see. Take care,

Lyle

Dempo1 wrote: »

Sorry to hear this, I understand your industry particularly badly hit and with such uncertainty re foreign travel its not looking positive. I was in the hotel business for years and many former colleagues in the same both. This July stimulus plan seems to geared towards supporting tourism etc, I hope something in it for you but personal income immediately is far more pressing, this is why I'm so shocked that little or no information about its status after 10th August. Keep positive

Cheers bud. Yeah, keeping the head up as best as possible. Lost one grandparent to Covid so I know things could be a lot worse, at least the health is intact and we're not in danger of losing the house or anything so hopefully it'll all work out alright in the long run, even if the run is a very long one.

Wanderer78

Lyle wrote: »

Cheers bud. Yeah, keeping the head up as best as possible. Lost one grandparent to Covid so I know things could be a lot worse, at least the health is intact and we're not in danger of losing the house or anything so hopefully it'll all work out alright in the long run, even if the run is a very long one.

very sorry to hear about your grandparent, best of luck

Dempo1

Lyle wrote: »

Cheers bud. Yeah, keeping the head up as best as possible. Lost one grandparent to Covid so I know things could be a lot worse, at least the health is intact and we're not in danger of losing the house or anything so hopefully it'll all work out alright in the long run, even if the run is a very long one.

So sorry about your loss

Parrot2019

RE: Arrears of PUP

Response from DEASP today.

“ The Department is aware that many people are due some arrears. However, the circumstances in each case are different. As a result, considerable work and resources will be needed to deal with each of these. Working through all of the cases will then take considerable time and effort.
I appreciate this isn’t ideal but unfortunately the current circumstances mean that it will be a number of months before the Department will be able to fully tackle arrears issues.
You can be assured that all cases will be examined and if arrears arise in your circumstances then they will be processed and you will be notified and there is no need for you to do anything further ”

PTH2009

Anyone else get a load of Xs and Os forms even though there still on the covid payment ?

natc

PTH2009 wrote: »

Anyone else get a load of Xs and Os forms even though there still on the covid payment ?

Nothing arrived here today anyway.

PTH2009

natc wrote: »

Nothing arrived here today anyway.

OK

Could be just an automated thing, I haven't closed my covid and was approved in the eligibilty form

I emailed them last week when I thought I was going back to work earlier but turned out I wasant. Never heard anything back from that email

sunnyost

Hi All,

Long time lurker first time poster. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar situation to myself. I’m a student and while in college I was working two part time jobs because I needed the income. When covid hit one of my jobs let me go because of covid but my second part job is still ongoing. I saw the PUP scheme being rolled out and I read the conditions carefully before applying. The place I worked at closed down indefinitely so I technically qualified for it in that I had lost employment due to covid.

When I filled in my form, I ticked the box that asked if I was working PT due to my other job. My payment was approved and I thought nothing of it. I also assumed that due to the close sharing of information between revenue and DEASP, if there were any issues I’d be contacted. But now I’m reading about having to pay back money and I’m really anxious that they may have paid me when I didn’t qualify. I did reconfirm my status as requested and I haven’t heard anything back in terms of not being eligible anymore. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

UrbanSprawl

PTH2009 wrote: »

Anyone else get a load of Xs and Os forms even though there still on the covid payment ?

I got snakes and ladders but the ladder had no rungs

Dempo1

sunnyost wrote: »

Hi All,

Long time lurker first time poster. Just wondering if anyone is in a similar situation to myself. I’m a student and while in college I was working two part time jobs because I needed the income. When covid hit one of my jobs let me go because of covid but my second part job is still ongoing. I saw the PUP scheme being rolled out and I read the conditions carefully before applying. The place I worked at closed down indefinitely so I technically qualified for it in that I had lost employment due to covid.

When I filled in my form, I ticked the box that asked if I was working PT due to my other job. My payment was approved and I thought nothing of it. I also assumed that due to the close sharing of information between revenue and DEASP, if there were any issues I’d be contacted. But now I’m reading about having to pay back money and I’m really anxious that they may have paid me when I didn’t qualify. I did reconfirm my status as requested and I haven’t heard anything back in terms of not being eligible anymore. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Somewhat confusing post. Are you saying you continued working part time in one job throughout the pandemic crisis? If you did, this could be a problem I'm afraid. If not, nothing to worry about.

Let's assume you we're working and made a claim (the application clearly states unemployed) and you are paying taxes etc, at some stage Revenue will Puck this up and share with social welfare. To be very clear, the PUP is only to be claimed if fully unemployed, Laid off etc. If you lost both part time jobs or were laid off from second part time job your fine but of course if you've returned, even part time, the rules are clear.

sunnyost

Dempo1 wrote: »

Somewhat confusing post. Are you saying you continued working part time in one job throughout the pandemic crisis? If you did, this could be a problem I'm afraid. If not, nothing to worry about.

Let's assume you we're working and made a claim (the application clearly states unemployed) and you are paying taxes etc, at some stage Revenue will Puck this up and share with social welfare. To be very clear, the PUP is only to be claimed if fully unemployed, Laid off etc. If you lost both part time jobs or were laid off from second part time job your fine but of course if you've returned, even part time, the rules are clear.

Thanks for getting back to me Yes I still had one part time job as I was made unemployed by the other. I couldn’t afford to live off the one income. I declared on the form that I was still working part time as I figured if this disqualified me they would refuse the payment.

I couldn’t find anything online about having two jobs and the PUP just the WSS. If I have to pay them back I’m not really sure how I’d go about it. Will they wait a few months and reach out to me or how does it go? Should I call them and ask?

Just to add I’m freaking out that I could have claimed something I wasn’t entitled to and intend to pay it all back if it is the case I wasn’t. Would the DEASP mind if I did it in instalments? Also, will this affect me in the future?

Dempo1

sunnyost wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me Yes I still had one part time job as I was made unemployed by the other. I couldn’t afford to live off the one income. I declared on the form that I was still working part time as I figured if this disqualified me they would refuse the payment.

I couldn’t find anything online about having two jobs and the PUP just the WSS. If I have to pay them back I’m not really sure how I’d go about it. Will they wait a few months and reach out to me or how does it go? Should I call them and ask?

Just to add I’m freaking out that I could have claimed something I wasn’t entitled to and intend to pay it all back if it is the case I wasn’t. Would the DEASP mind if I did it in instalments? Also, will this affect me in the future?

I'm a little surprised they approved payment if you stated you were working part-time. I understood fully unemployed was a condition of payment. This said, if you stated you were working part-time and they approved pup for you, then perhaps you've nothing to worry about.

Just out of curiosity, have to completed the eligibility request? On this form, your again asked if fully unemployed. This must be completed by 13th July

sunnyost

Dempo1 wrote: »

I'm a little surprised they approved payment if you stated you were working part-time. I understood fully unemployed was a condition of payment. This said, if you stated you were working part-time and they approved pup for you, then perhaps you've nothing to worry about.

Just out of curiosity, have to completed the eligibility request? On this form, your again asked if fully unemployed. This must be completed by 13th July

I was surprised too but I figured since I had lost one of my jobs it also made sense. I did the eligibility confirmation and there was nothing about being fully unemployed just if I was employed or self employed, if I’d had a conversation with my employer about returning and if I was a full time student. I wouldn’t have minded filling it in and then being told no because I don’t want something I’m not not actually entitled to. Both of my jobs are registered with the Revenue so I assume if there was an issue it would have been flagged by now?

Dempo1

sunnyost wrote: »

I was surprised too but I figured since I had lost one of my jobs it also made sense. I did the eligibility confirmation and there was nothing about being fully unemployed just if I was employed or self employed, if I’d had a conversation with my employer about returning and if I was a full time student. I wouldn’t have minded filling it in and then being told no because I don’t want something I’m not not actually entitled to. Both of my jobs are registered with the Revenue so I assume if there was an issue it would have been flagged by now?

The question "employed or self employed" speaks for itself????, I have to be honest, your in a grey area here, particularly the fact you've further complicated the issue by confirming eligibility??, my gut feeling is, if as you've stated that you told them on initial claim you were working PT and they approved, your fine. Re revenue, it will be months before they check everything.

As a final thought and if your worried, perhaps a call to them to reafirm your entitlement might be worth doing.

sunnyost

Dempo1 wrote: »

The question "employed or self employed" speaks for itself????, I have to be honest, your in a grey area here, particularly the fact you've further complicated the issue by confirming eligibility??, my gut feeling is, if as you've stated that you told them on initial claim you were working PT and they approved, your fine. Re revenue, it will be months before they check everything.

As a final thought and if your worried, perhaps a call to them to reafirm your entitlement might be worth doing.

I selected employed because that’s what applied. I figured if I confirmed eligibility and I was no longer eligible then they would have been in contact but they haven’t been.

I’m a bit worried about it to be honest so I’ll give them a call on Monday and if I get through I’ll update here. Thanks a mil for the advice

Just to add, if I get in touch and they say “oh sorry you were actually never meant to get this it was an accident“, would I be looked upon as a kind of scammer? I’m just really conscious of any potential fallout.

Dempo1

sunnyost wrote: »

I selected employed because that’s what applied. I figured if I confirmed eligibility and I was no longer eligible then they would have been in contact but they haven’t been.

I’m a bit worried about it to be honest so I’ll give them a call on Monday and if I get through I’ll update here. Thanks a mil for the advice

Just to add, if I get in touch and they say “oh sorry you were actually never meant to get this it was an accident“, would I be looked upon as a kind of scammer? I’m just really conscious of any potential fallout.

I've gone back to check the eligibility form and your correct, 2 options, employed, self employed so I think based on an assumption you've fully informed them from the start you had part time work etc, I think just leave it as is. Calling them will only create more headaches than its worth. The payment is due to end in 4 weeks roughly. Finally, did your payment drop to €203?. Honestly, I think you've done everything correct as you understood. If there is an error, and it's months away, at worst you can pay back in installments etc, it won't affect you needing to claim in the future.

So relax, nothing to see here and hopefully life will return to normal soon

sunnyost

Dempo1 wrote: »

I've gone back to check the eligibility form and your correct, 2 options, employed, self employed so I think based on an assumption you've fully informed them from the start you had part time work etc, I think just leave it as is. Calling them will only create more headaches than its worth. The payment is due to end in 4 weeks roughly. Finally, did your payment drop to €203?. Honestly, I think you've done everything correct as you understood. If there is an error, and it's months away, at worst you can pay back in installments etc, it won't affect you needing to claim in the future.

So relax, nothing to see here and hopefully life will return to normal soon

It didn’t drop to €203 last week but I reasoned that’s because I sent it off after the cut off for the week. I’ll keep an eye on it this week and see what the story is. I was doing roughy 10-15 hours a week at the second job and I was on €15 so I have no idea how they’ll calculate that. I am in the process of asking my current job for more hours so I can cancel the payment and just get on with it.

Hopefully we’re back to normal soon!

Dempo1

sunnyost wrote: »

It didn’t drop to €203 last week but I reasoned that’s because I sent it off after the cut off for the week. I’ll keep an eye on it this week and see what the story is. I was doing roughy 10-15 hours a week at the second job and I was on €15 so I have no idea how they’ll calculate that. I am in the process of asking my current job for more hours so I can cancel the payment and just get on with it.

Hopefully we’re back to normal soon!

No, lucky you, your payment is based on past earnings so they've assessed you as earning over €199 pw in 2019 averaged, so your fine, it will stay on €350 until it ends

sunnyost

Dempo1 wrote: »

No, lucky you, your payment is based on past earnings so they've assessed you as earning over €199 pw in 2019 averaged, so your fine, it will stay on €350 until it ends

I really hope it isn’t some big mix up as the payment really has gotten me through a tough time. Sure if I hear anything back I’ll update! Thanks again for the help

rahmalec

I was in a similar (but probably worse) position. I had 6 paye employments and self employment. All gone bar one employment of 3 hours a week (and down more than 90% of income). I claimed, put down still working part time, got accepted. Got kicked off 2 months later. No sign of having to pay anything back yet.

This is a big issue that’s affecting everyone with portfolio careers, and will be damaging to getting my industry back up and running. People will be asked to do the odd job here and there and won’t be able to without risking getting cut off. Much better would be to have some sort of self assessment in combination with automated checks from revenue and a proportional reduction in welfare as opposed to complete cutoff when that first 50 euro comes in.

Thankfully I’ve had a few bits and pieces trickling in and am earning roughly 300 a week, but there are many in my field that wouldn’t have this and would be in serious trouble.