Claiming Unemployment here years after moving from UK?

[johnb25]

Hi,

We moved back here from Britain 5 years ago. (I am Irish, my wife British). We were both in long-term employment in Britain when we moved. At the time my wife was looking at a part-time self-employed business, and also taking time to get our child settled in here.
Child well-settled, but no real second income, and no success getting a job.
Cannot get jobseekers allowance, as she has no PRSI paid here. We did nothing about welfare/benefits at the time of moving. We both have over 20 years experience with the tax system, but none with social welfare.
She will not qualify for allowances, as my income is a little too high.
If she can get even short-term work, does the five-year gap in contributions mean they cannot be combined with Irish contributions when working out insurable weeks?
Anyone got any other options or ideas?

 

[ClubMan]

Cannot get jobseekers allowance, as she has no PRSI paid here.

You mean Jobseeker's Benefit? JB is PRSI linked. JA is not but is means tested.

Anyone got any other options or ideas?

You should be able to get PRSI credits or your UK National/Social Insurance payments transferred or otherwise taken into consideration for the purposes of Irish benefit claims. Have you asked SW about this?

 

[Welfarite]

You should be able to get PRSI credits or your UK National/Social Insurance payments transferred or otherwise taken into consideration for the purposes of Irish benefit claims. Have you asked SW about this?

Only after you pay PRSI in Ireland.

 

[Welfarite]

If she can get even short-term work, does the five-year gap in contributions mean they cannot be combined with Irish contributions when working out insurable weeks?

Not entirely sure what you mean here, but guessing you mean can she qualify for JB using a combination of Irish PRSI paid and UK contributions.
If she worked here for a minimum of 1 week and this is her first employment in the country there is a good likelihood she could qualify as she will be awarded "Pre-entry credits" for the two years prior to paying her first contribution.

Say she found work now for, say 10 weeks, then was let go. She would sign on and SW would request her UK record to combine it with the Irish one, therefore giving her the required 39 paid contributions. Then, they would award credits for the two years prior to her entry into Irish insurance, thus giving her 52 pre-entry credits for the relevant tax year (2006 for claims made in 2008)

 

[ClubMan]

Only after you pay PRSI in Ireland.

I see - thanks.

 

[johnb25]

Not entirely sure what you mean here, but guessing you mean can she qualify for JB using a combination of Irish PRSI paid and UK contributions.
If she worked here for a minimum of 1 week and this is her first employment in the country there is a good likelihood she could qualify as she will be awarded "Pre-entry credits" for the two years prior to paying her first contribution.

Say she found work now for, say 10 weeks, then was let go. She would sign on and SW would request her UK record to combine it with the Irish one, therefore giving her the required 39 paid contributions. Then, they would award credits for the two years prior to her entry into Irish insurance, thus giving her 52 pre-entry credits for the relevant tax year (2006 for claims made in 2008)

Thanks for the replies.
I spoke to the welfare office late yesterday. Because my wife's last contributions in the UK were in 2003, and they are now paying against 2006 tax year, as you say, her UK contributions are now 'lost' for unemployment purposes. They only count towards her pension. They said she was effectively starting from scratch here. I did not think to ask about pre-entry credits specifically, but I guess that only becomes relevant after she gets a job anyway!

 

[Welfarite]

I did not think to ask about pre-entry credits specifically, but I guess that only becomes relevant after she gets a job anyway!

Exactly. and I doubt they would have mentioned them as they won't have known she was never previously employed in Ireland. Bear it in mind for future use!