Q re BTWEA and spousal swap

Hi All,

I am in receipt of BTWEA and have a company set up. Business is ok, only a couple of months up and running,so I still have high hopes! I am using my savings to fund the business and these are running low to say the least. I don't want to give up on the company this early in the game just because of finances so I have started to look for employment.

My husband is a dependant on my allowance and he is also looking for a job as we have 3 kids and it's getting very hard to manage on the allowance alone.

I was looking at the welfare site regarding spousal swap and I am a bit confused. Our idea was that if I get a job then I would transfer the allowance to him, if he gets a job then we would leave the allowance as it is (in my name). Whoever the allowance is allocated to will continue to run the company and we would use the wages coming in to supplement our allowance and to buy stock etc. Is this allowed under the spousal swap or is it just allowed if it was the case that one person wanted to take over the running of the company but both people were still essentially unemployed?

It also mentions credits, that whoever isn't the named person on the allowance should sign on for credits to keep them up to date. Nothing was mentioned to me about this when I applied - should my husband be signing on for credits and if so can you get them back dated?

Any advice or suggestions very welcome!

Thanks in advance

Rachel

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/btw_eall.aspx

2.5 Qualified Adult - Spousal Swap

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Where a person is partaking in the BTWA scheme and they cease employment or self-employment before exhausting entitlement their qualified adult may avail of entitlement under the scheme for the duration remaining on the original claim.
For the purpose of these arrangements, known as a spousal swap, an adult dependant is a spouse in respect of whom a qualified adult allowance is payable. 'Spouse' includes each of a married couple who are living together or a man and a woman who are not married to each other but are cohabiting as husband and wife.
Qualified adults whose spouse/partner is eligible i.e. satisfies the qualifying conditions, the customer and their spouse/partner may exchange places as follows:

1. the Qualified Adult does not need to be in receipt of a Social Welfare Payment in their own right to become eligible
2. for the purposes of spousal swap: to be considered a Qualified Adult the person has to be an adult dependant on a qualifying payment for the specified period, for example:
   • i. JA a qualified adult for one year
   • ii. JB a qualified adult for two years
   • iii. Illness Benefit a qualified adult for three years
   • iv. Disability Allowance, Blind Person's Pension, Carer's Allowance (On ceasing caring duties), Farm Assist, Invalidity Pension, Incapacity Supplement, Pre-Retirement Allowance, Widows/Widowers Non-Contributory Pension, Deserted Wife's Benefit/Allowance and Prisoners Wife's Allowance a qualified adult for as least 12 months
3. when the Qualified Adult commences BTWEA, a separate claim should be set up in his/her name. S/he can claim an increase for the existing JA recipient, who should sign for credits instead. There should be no loss suffered by the couple when entering this arrangement.

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Also from same page

It is of vital importance that the existing recipient is made aware of the importance of credits in keeping his/her record up to date. It is usual that this person will have the principal social insurance record in the household on which future pension entitlements will be based. The normal rules for entitlement to credits will apply to persons whose partner is on BTWEA.

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Thanks for that Ildánach.
The link I looked up wasn't the official one so didn't have as much info. In the meantime I went to social welfare office to ask about it, they said they had never come across my particular situation before so they had to check it out. They rang yesterday and said it's no prob to do spousal swap after commencing btwea, and that it's fine for me to take up employment - now I just have to find a job :-0 !!