Claim rejected for Jobseekers allowance

mjp

Wife has been out of work post birth of first child for past 9 months now. Has been applying for numerous roles during this time with no joy and proving more difficult now since covid has arrived. Had been working full time for past 15 years prior to this without ever claiming unemployment benefits.

Jobseekers benefit has expired and she applied for jobseekers allowance where she got a refusal letter today for below reasons:

Jobseekers Allowance is not paid if a person's weekly means are more than the amount of Jobseekers Allowance that would be payable to them based on their family circumstances.
The reason for this decision is that the weekly rate payable to you based on your family circumstances is
(€386.00. Your weekly means are €454.00.)

I'm currently in full time employment and had to submit copy of latest payslip along with application. Have outgoing of mortgage along with other bills but application form didnt seem to take this into consideration and no areas on it to complete.

Extremely unhappy over this as my wife has sat a number of interviews and applied for numerous roles and doesnt choose to be on these benefits but for these to be stripped completely form her is unfair.

Looking to appeal this decision but can anyone elaborate how the above means tests are calculated or what the best course of action you can take over this.

Help much appreciated.

wifey28

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html




This is the explanation of the means test for JSA.

Unfortunately they do not take your outgoings into account for this.

And if you are above the means then there is nothing to appeal as it clearly states if your above the means for what your family would get on welfare then you simply arent entitled to it

lughildanach

The calculation goes from your gross weekly wage. The only deductions they allow are PRSI, Union subscriptions and pension contributions. They don't even take off income tax or USC, and certainly no personal expenses like housing or medical costs.

There is a 60 Euro disregard, and they assess 60% of what is remaining from your claim.

So let's say you earn 700 euro gross.

Minus 60 euro is 640. 60% of 640 is 384 euro. So they take 384 euro off your wife's entitlement. If you are not claiming for any children, the max rate is 350 for a couple. If the amount they assess is more than the maximum entitlement, you get nothing.

One thing you need to look out for is whether they have your wage calculated correctly. If you are paid fortnightly, they sometimes think this weekly, and if your income has changed recently, they may be assessing you unfairly on a higher income than you currently have. But if they have accurately calculated your income, there is very little room for them to make a mistake, as the calculations are done automatically.

If their calculations on your wage turn out to be correct, then make an application for Working Family Payment as your family is below the cut off point for this. It won't be as much as jobseekers, its 60% of the difference between your wage and the cut off point depending on how many kids you have

lughildanach

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If their calculations on your wage turn out to be correct, then make an application for Working Family Payment as your family is below the cut off point for this. It won't be as much as jobseekers, its 60% of the difference between your wage and the cut off point depending on how many kids you have

I don't think WFP will apply. To get a means assessment of 454 per week for Jobseekers, this suggests a gross wage of over 800 euro per week. The family rate given is the rate for a couple with one child. WFP income limit for one child family is 531 per week.

WFP (unlike Jobseekers) is calculated from net pay, but still unlikely to qualify on those figures.

lughildanach

Even if she can't get a Jobseekers payment, she should make sure that she continues to sign for credits. This will protect her entitlements in future years and help build pension entitlement.

If you do have a child at home, and your wife hasn't earned more than 7000 euro this year, she can claim Home Carer Tax Credit, provided you are assessed jointly. This can reduce your tax bill by 1600. Also, you should be able to avail of any unused tax credits and tax band that your wife nó longer requires.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/income_tax_credits_and_reliefs/home_carers_tax_credit.html#l62fd2

Irish_peppa

lughildanach wrote: »

Even if she can't get a Jobseekers payment, she should make sure that she continues to sign for credits. This will protect her entitlements in future years and help build pension entitlement.

If you do have a child at home, and your wife hasn't earned more than 7000 euro this year, she can claim Home Carer Tax Credit, provided you are assessed jointly. This can reduce your tax bill by 1600. Also, you should be able to avail of any unused tax credits and tax band that your wife nó longer requires.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/income_tax_credits_and_reliefs/home_carers_tax_credit.html#l62fd2

Maybe silly question but wouldnt that mean all stay at home mums that dont work and earn zero would be entitled too Home carer tax credits also?

Irish_peppa

mjp wrote: »

Wife has been out of work post birth of first child for past 9 months now. Has been applying for numerous roles during this time with no joy and proving more difficult now since covid has arrived. Had been working full time for past 15 years prior to this without ever claiming unemployment benefits.

Jobseekers benefit has expired and she applied for jobseekers allowance where she got a refusal letter today for below reasons:

Jobseekers Allowance is not paid if a person's weekly means are more than the amount of Jobseekers Allowance that would be payable to them based on their family circumstances.
The reason for this decision is that the weekly rate payable to you based on your family circumstances is
(€386.00. Your weekly means are €454.00.)

I'm currently in full time employment and had to submit copy of latest payslip along with application. Have outgoing of mortgage along with other bills but application form didnt seem to take this into consideration and no areas on it to complete.

Extremely unhappy over this as my wife has sat a number of interviews and applied for numerous roles and doesnt choose to be on these benefits but for these to be stripped completely form her is unfair.

Looking to appeal this decision but can anyone elaborate how the above means tests are calculated or what the best course of action you can take over this.

Help much appreciated.

Its weird all right. Ie if you live in social housing and never had a mortgage you would be probably doing better off right now. They dont take into account if you might have a mortgage that was taken out at top of housing bubble. So you could be paying back 2k per month on a mortgage but it makes not an iota of a difference to your payment.

StackSteevens

Irish_peppa wrote: »

Maybe silly question but wouldnt that mean all stay at home mums that dont work and earn zero would be entitled too Home carer tax credits also?

That's exactly what it's for!

Employees are eligible for the PAYE allowance and stay at home parents aren't - so this the equivalent for people (male or female) who stay at home to mind the kids.

lughildanach

StackSteevens wrote: »

That's exactly what it's for!

Employees are eligible for the PAYE allowance and stay at home parents aren't - so this the equivalent for people (male or female) who stay at home to mind the kids.

Actually, the stay at home parent can get a PAYE allowance to allocate towards the limited employment income that they can earn, or any social welfare income that they have (eg. carers allowance).