# Unemployment Benefit am I entitled?



## poopin (7 Nov 2007)

Hi all,

New to this fourm, 1st time poster. Hope you can help. My husband is self employed paying class S prsi contributions and I work part time paying class A0 prsi contributions we have 2 children. My employer has just informed me that due to a down turn in work he will no longer need my services and I will effectively be unemployed in 6 weeks my leaving date is 21/12/07. I am working for this company since Jan06. My question is will I be entitled to claim Unemployment benefit even though my husband is self employed or should this have nothing to do with it? I gather from trying to make sense of the welfare website that I will only be entitled to claim UB if I make the claim in 2008 because prior to Jan2006 I did not work so effectively will not have any prsi contributions paid - am I correct in this? Any help will be appreciated.


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## ClubMan (7 Nov 2007)

You should just sign on on the first day of unemployment anyway and see what they say about what, if anything, you're entitled to.


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## whampiri (7 Nov 2007)

what you're reading is true. they work on the governing year which they take to be 2 years ago(rolling). so now we're looking at 2005 for people claiming in 2007 and next year they'll look at 2006 for people claiming in 2008.there's 2 rules you can qualify for Jobseekers benefit on.
1. 39+ contributions paid in 2006.
2. 26 paid in 2004+26 paid in 2005.

as of jan 1st,just add 1 year onto those figures and you'll know whether you'll qualify or not. If you don't qualify this year or they offer to put you on Jobseekers assistance at a reduced rate(and you're sure that you will qualify on jan 1st) don't sign anything.AFAIK you can't change from assistance to benefit after you submit those forms and they've been assessed. if your husband is earning anything over 400pw, then you can forget applying for assistance anyway and just wait till jan 1st to apply for benefit.
sorry if it sounds confusing, i sometimes end up scratching my head too.


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## FredBloggs (7 Nov 2007)

someone who is better acquainted with labour law than me will be able to verify this but my understanding is that you will be entitled to be paid for all the bank holidays at christmas by your present employer when he finishes you up on 21/12/07 because you'll have worked in the month preceeding them.   Maybe someone else could verify?


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## tomred1 (8 Nov 2007)

> you can't change from assistance to benefit


Whampiri information is wrong! You can get assistance for the rest of this year (if you quailfy)and change over in the new year to Benefit then. You should quailfy Benefit in the new year as you should have 39 cons paid in 2006.


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## Welfarite (8 Nov 2007)

whampiri said:


> If you don't qualify this year or they offer to put you on Jobseekers assistance at a reduced rate(and you're sure that you will qualify on jan 1st) don't sign anything.AFAIK you can't change from assistance to benefit after you submit those forms and they've been assessed. if your husband is earning anything over 400pw, then you can forget applying for assistance anyway and just wait till jan 1st to apply for benefit.
> sorry if it sounds confusing, i sometimes end up scratching my head too.


 
This is incorrect. You can sign on for JA and, if you are entitled to JB from 1/1/08, youwill get that. If you are better off on JA, you can opt to stay on that. 

Also, Sign on irrespective of whether you get anything on JA as you are preserving your PRSI record for pension purposes ...you will get a credit for each week you sign, whether you get paid SW or not.


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## poopin (8 Nov 2007)

Hi guys,

thanks a lot for all replys - makes sense to me now!!!
Here's hoping I will get myself a position before the new year and not have to worry about signing on and qualifying for benefit etc. Its just a bummer that its so close to christmas and im not looking forward to the prospect of no wages over the xmas time but anyhow fingers crossed I'l get something before then. Thanks again guys. Much appreciated........


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## Welfarite (8 Nov 2007)

Ther may be another twist to this if your Jan 06 job was the first time you paid PRSI? If so, you will get credits (Called "pre-entry" credits) for the two years prior to entry into the job world. This would give you the necessary record for 2005 for claiming JB. Also, if your worked before but if your Jan 06 job was your first after leaving college/school, you may get "student" credits to cover you for the gap yeqars (i.e 2004 and 2005).


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