# Jobseekers benefit after maternity leave



## Super critical (3 Nov 2019)

Is it possible to qualify for jobseekers benefit after maternity benefit payments end?

my wife was made redundant a few months before she was due to go on maternity leave she found apart time job to bridge the gap between her redundancy and the birth to ensure eligibility for maternity benefit. As she was only working 3 days a week she also claimed jobseekers benefit in this time for the days she wasn’t working.

So maternity benefit has now ended and she intends to go back to work in Jan/feb. Would she still be eligible to apply for JB, she had worked for more than a decade before being made redundant so has loads of prsi payments. She will be “looking for work” so can tick that box, though has no intention of taking a job starting before Jan at the earliest.

Jobseeker’s Allowance is out of the question as she wouldn’t qualify due to my salary but the extra income from JB would be very helpful over the coming months until she goes back to work with an expensive time of year coming up and not wanting to be using savings as we plan to apply for a mortgage as soon as possible after she gets back to work.


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## Feemar5 (4 Nov 2019)

Jobseekers benefit is paid for 9 months or 234 days so you need to check if she still qualifies.    You must be unemployed for 4 days out of 7.


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## Gerry2019 (4 Nov 2019)

Would that 9 months kick in though from the date the maternity leave ends?


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## Super critical (4 Nov 2019)

I’m assuming the 9 months is from when she started to claim at the start of the year. She has only claimed for about 5 months and most of that was only claiming 2 days per week so I think she would definitely have a good chunk of her 9 month entitlement remaining provided there is no stipulations in claiming after claiming maternity benefit.

She stopped to claim once she started claiming the maternity benefit so the question is really can she just start her claim again?


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## dereko1969 (4 Nov 2019)

Was the redundancy process fair? Is there any chance she was chosen for redundancy after her pregnancy was known about?


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## Super critical (4 Nov 2019)

No issue at all on that side, redundancy was actually even supposed to happen a 6 months earlier but got pushed out further and the date was set long before she was pregnant.


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## Super critical (14 Nov 2019)

Just to update, she was successful in getting the JB.


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