# If on 3-day wk,Am I entitled to benefit?



## ladyhawke (4 Dec 2009)

Hi all, Im very confused .. If my hubby is put on a 3-day week,How much is he entitled to from SW for the other 2 days. This might be a long winded story but here goes.
He learned that the general manager at his company made a speech at the AGM,stating that he would recommend that all the staff go on a 3-day week . He said that the staff would not financially be affected as the social welfare benefits will top up their wages to the same as if they were working a normal 39hr week!!  I found this strange as if this were the case ..wouldnt everyone have no problem being put on a 3-day week!!
If anyone can help me ,it would be great, my hubby earns just under 39k and Im a health care professional,on about 45k.We have 2 kids under the age of 5.  I would love to know how much he would get for the 2 days he isnt working?
Any help?


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## fababby (4 Dec 2009)

This is known as systematic short time.  He will be entitled to two fifths of the weekly rate of JB for his circumstances.  His weekly rate would be €204.3, he won't get the child dependent rate for the children or the qualified adult rate for you if your income is over €400 per week, which I would estimate it is?  Therefore his JB rate for the 2 days he is not working is €81.72 (€204.3/5*2).  Best to confirm with your local social welfare office of course....

A


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## whampiri (4 Dec 2009)

close fababy, it's actually paid based on a 6-day week so they'll get half the weekly rate of 204.30


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## ladyhawke (4 Dec 2009)

Still abit miffed...........your saying hes entitled to 100 quid on top of his 3 day wk wage?  thats 50 euro a day, he is roughly earning 158 euro a day now(full weeks work). so the gm wasnt correct when he said that no employee would lose out on income. so this sw payment doesnt take into account married statis,kids,if spouse is working or not,etc.....so, if another employee is say,20yrs old,living at home,no bills etc.He will still get the same as the employee with 5 kids,mortgage,bills etc.
thanks for all your replies.


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## vandriver (4 Dec 2009)

You should be able to save quite a bit me tax as well by bringing more (all?) of your wages into the lower bracket. BTW the first poster was right,its €82 benefit.


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## fababby (4 Dec 2009)

No Ladyhawke - he wouldn't get the same as a 20 year old with no kids.  His rate is less because of your income.  The personal rate is based on prsi and would be the same as any 20 year old man or woman,  or anyone else complying with qualifying prsi conditions and this is the €204.3 part of his weekly payment (which is divided by 5 to get the daily rate).  It is not means tested but the payment for you is.  The qualified adult rate is nil because of your income.  So if the 20 years old's wife was also earning over €400 per week then he would also get nil for wife and kid(s). And the child dep rate is nil because he is not getting a payment for you.  Just to be clear, the daily rate in your husband's circumstances is €40.86 and for two days that is €81.72.

But it would be unusual that anyone would get the same daily rate on social welfare as they would for employment, else where's the incentive?  So GM was way out!  Maybe not being familiar with Social Welfare, thought it was based on your husband's weekly income?  Should educate himself before making such rash statements!


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## Welfarite (5 Dec 2009)

whampiri said:


> close fababy, it's actually paid based on a 6-day week so they'll get half the weekly rate of 204.30


 You're confusing 'casual' worker with'systematic short-time' worker, which is what OP's hubby is. One-fifth rate applies in this scenario.

The GM cannot universally state that nbo employee will 'lose' money; that's what 'putting a spin' on it is, I think! Too many factors come into it; tax, marital status, number of kids, contribution record in 2007, 'substantial loss of earnings' rule, whether partner/spouse in working, etc., etc. I can guarantee you won't work it out yourself! Only SW can tell you what the entitlement is. Best to go to them.


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## oldnick (6 Dec 2009)

Although the GM was "putting a spin"  and was certainly wrong about welfare payments equalling  loss of salary,  in one way he was correct if he meant that ,overall, there would be no major loss.

It has happened in varying degrees with more than one of my staff that i put on a three day week. 

Obviously, as Welfarite has pointed out, there are many different factors and every case is different. But in the case of one of my staff earning 30k with her husband on 50k she was shocked to learn  that the actual gross loss of 40% of her income -12k - was ,in fact, a nett loss of only 6k.

Considering that she is now getting over 4k in jobseekers this means she has "lost" only 2k p.a. - 40 euro a week.

In return she has two extra days per week at home , no commuting costs and a reduction in creche fees (and she only has one child -with two children she really would make a big saving).

She has certainly gained by going on a three day week. And she has no incentive nor desire to go back to a five day week. 

I repeat, every case is different and things will change after the budget.


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## ladyhawke (7 Dec 2009)

Oldnick,  I believe you are putting a spin on it, You probably had to put some of your staff on  a 3 day week cause the auld travel business isnt great at the minute. Im sure you didnt put the member of staff you are referring about on a 3 day week cause you were worried about her commuting and childcare costs. By saying that ,she has certainly gained by going on short time is really putting a spin on the situation,.I dont believe that you helped her out.If she thought she was better off on short time rather than 39hrs/week Im sure she would have suggested it to you before you put her on one.
Your right about one thing all right, that every case is different and what im saying to you is that it would probably sink us if my hubby went on a 3 day week.


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## glasto (7 Dec 2009)

if I thought I could do a 3 day week instead of a 5 day week, and only drop €40 a week I'd bite my employer's hand off! If that is feasible, where would you fine out about such a thing? I wuoldn't want to ask HR in case they downsized me and it wasn't such a good deal! It really does sound a bit unlikely though.


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## oldnick (7 Dec 2009)

Perhaps, Ladyhawke, i have made a mistake in my calculations and I would welcome welfarite or other experts' opinions.

Looking at your own case where your husband was on a much higher salary than my staff it is clear the loss will be much bigger - but perhaps not quite as bad as you may think....
Your combined income is 84k.  (45k & 39k)
I assume that your husband loses 40% of his salary of 39k - so the combined income will be 68.4k.

On a two-income family (and I'm excluding variables such as disability, child allowances etc) earning gross of  84k the nett is 64.3.
On the new lower income of 68.4k the nett is 56.7k.

therefore the loss is 11.7k
(calculations based on www.taxcalc.eu)

But he gets 4.3k dole (52 wks x 82)..

overall financial loss = 7.4k.

this is still a nasty loss of 142 euros per week. But for many people  there may be  saving in the costs of commuting and the cost of child care for two small children, which would mean that the loss of 142 would be even smaller.

Again - I repeat -every case is different and the above will all change in 48 hours.

The point is that for many people who "lose" part of an income that is on the top tax-band, the nett loss is half of the gross. 
With dole payments and saving of other costs (besides two extra days at home) there is often far less grief than at first imagined.


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## Welfarite (7 Dec 2009)

What one must remember is that JB will only last for 312 days; after that the loss can really kick in if if reduced rate JB is payable and JA is not payable.


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## ALBIE (15 Dec 2009)

hi, new to this, not sure if im in the right area, hopefully someone can help, my wife's work was cut to a 3 day week and she applied for JB for the other 3 days, when she applied i was working earning approx 340 euros now i have been let go and am getting 204 + 13 half rate for one child JB payment, she was getting approx 52 euros in JB pay, should she now get more or not.
any help? thanks in advance.


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