Debt free- but where do we go from here?

zorba said:

This will be my last response to these comments from sustanon:

When making my claim for benefit, I declared my household income and all other relevant information requested by the officer at the social welfare office, as any person must. Since being put on reduced hours I have written to many companies (and not just within my field), looking for part time work of any kind. Most companies didn't bother to reply. I followed up every possibly personal contact and lead with a view to getting additional work, all to no avail. In short I have been actively seeking work and never said otherwise. If you persist in a baseless argument to the contrary I'm going to dismiss it as the work of a "troll". Have a nice day.

Again, thanks to everbody else for actually responding to my initial query, cheers!

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Thanks for clearing it up, sorry if I upset you.

You seem to have bits of money everywhere. If your pension type investments are not performing how about taking out what is in there and putting the money to better use. Check out the link on AAM to the financial best buys to see what better return you can get on deposits. Make the money work for you.

I can't believe the OP is being criticised for claiming his job-seeker's benefit, on the basis that he and his wife are hard-working and responsible.

I find it absolutely incredible that someone should resent someone like the op getting very limited job seeker's benefit for a bare 12 months after many years of supporting social welfare through his taxes. Who do you think paid for the social welfare that is paid to all of the people who live permanently off the system??

zorba said:

Having worked, paid taxes and PRSI for more than 15 years, strangely enough, I feel I am quite entitled to claim my Jobseeker's benefit. I could probably say a lot more, but I won't- however I do hope that I can return to working a 5 day week sometime soon.

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i think Jobseeker benefit should be restricted to people who have no work and are looking for a job....i.e. job-seeking?!

The op already clearly stated that he is looking for work. I would have thought that would have gone without saying anyway, given his history!!

Kate10 said:

The op already clearly stated that he is looking for work. I would have thought that would have gone without saying anyway, given his history!!

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he's hardly on the breadline though in all fairness, 37 years of age and debt free, 3 day week = 32k? plus JobSeeker on top of that....

gembem, in essence what you are trying to suggest is that the insurance payout should be means-tested? Bet those overworked social welfare officers would love that.
He hasn't claimed he is on the breadline and he is in the good position he is in because he has worked towards it. To take the extreme example, why should someone who has squandered their income and finds themselves in a pickle have a greater entitlement to the insurance payout than a person who has been careful? That is basically what you are suggesting. That because he has been sensible he should now be penalised for this?

It is simple. He is not falsely claiming an allowance he has no entitlement to. He is claiming on an insurance policy he has paid for.

+ 1 so-crates
and to add ... in fairness it so miserable after 15 years of contributions that your only entitled to 1 year return when people who have never worked a day in their lives is entitled to it indefinately.....
Just to say well done to the OP! I wish I was in your situation. Congrats...

To be pedantic DinkDong, those who have not worked are not entitled to it, they cannot receive JS Benefit as they have not made contributions.

What they are entitled to is to claim JS Allowance, which is means-tested. Since those who never work rarely have means that will exceed the threshold they generally qualify. Zorba would be entitled to ask for JSA but probably wouldn't qualify.

so-crates I should have been more specific in saying welfare benefit rater than JSB or JSA.

DinkDong that would be less specific rather than more. Zorba (and from your other post your DH) have an entitlement to JSB. This is based on their having worked. Those who haven't do not have that entitlement. JSA is open to all (except those currently in receipt of JSB [ignoring other exceptions and attempting to simplify the comparison here]), Zorba and your DH are as entitled to that as indefinitely as anyone else BUT it is means tested and they would likely fail that means test due to the household income. IF (God forbid) circumstances worsened in the household they may then qualify

What I am trying to say is that you are mixing up two different things in your post and equating JSA and JSB in error.

Just thought I'd check in on this after a week; I'm still amazed that a simple personal query about our household finances and planning for the future has descended into a debate about the social welfare system! I should never have included my statutory entitlement in my opening post (thankfully I didn't mention Children's Allowance either ). There would appear to be a lot of ignorance and confusion out there in relation to Jobseeker's benefit vs. Jobseeker's allowance. Then again I suppose I didn't know much about either until I was actually in the unfortunate situation where I needed to make a claim. I didn't know much about redundancy entitlements either, until I was made redundant in the recent past. The broader debate about the social welfare system and the implications of the McCarthy report would probably find a better home on another thread.