Job Seekers Benefit for a very short period

[MandaC]

I am being made redundant from my position in mid July, and am expecting to take up a new position which is becoming available first week in August.

In the meantime, am I able to sign on for jobseekers benefit for the interim. Have read up some of the threads on the board and people are saying it is taking ages to go through, so I would be signed back off again before they even read through my application. Also, it will mean lodging my P45 with them, so I wont have my P45 for my new employer, so it will probably take ages to sort my tax.

Also, one of the terms of the jobseekers allowance is that you have to be looking for work and given that I know something is starting for me within the two weeks, there is no point in me looking for something else, so technically I will not be "looking" for work!

Do I qualify in these circumstances, or is it just better to leave it. Having said that, I will be down two weeks wages, and if I qualified, it would pay half my mortgage for the month.

Thanks

 

[eileen alana]

Hi MandaC,
Having read some of the threads relating to delays in Job Seekers Benefit, it appears some areas are affected more than others.
You pay PRSI to cover you for periods when you not working and although you have been offered a job to commence in two weeks, technically that should not stop you from applying for other jobs in the meantime.
You have a mortgage and other bills to pay so if I were in your shoes I would put in a claim for JB.

 

[MandaC]

Thanks for that. I am still waiting on the offer in writing, so even at the moment am still looking until everything signed sealed and delivered as dont want to count chickens before they are hatched, so to speak.

It is a sign of the times the number of people posting here having been made redundant or put on short time, and I really feel for them as it's tough going looking for jobs out there at the moment.

 

[Welfarite]

Youa re entitled to sign on for the two weeks. Remember also that you will be getting a credit for that time on JB which counts for pension averages in years to come. There are huge delays in some offices due to the increases in people laid off since January. AFAIK, the P45 is in a few parts so you will be only giving one part to SW, the other to your new employer.