Can I delay applying and/or receiving pay-related jobseekers beyond 6 weeks?

[NextStages]

Does anyone here have experience of how the new-ish pay-related jobseekers' benefit works in practice - specifically about delaying application for, and receiving, it?

The rules state you need to apply for PRJB within 6 weeks of finishing work (which is v soon, for me). This is quite restrictive for someone who wants or needs to take a clear break, and is not seeking/available for work immediately.

I left employment on September 30th (voluntary redundancy - I was burnt out).
I'm 61 (62 in autumn 2026), and have almost full PRSI class A credits for full contributory pension at 66 (lots of time to get to 2,080 with credits).

I have nearly four decades of PRSI class A contributions and qualify (severance payment does not disqualify) for full PRJB, the only jobseekers I will ever get I imagine.
I have never signed on or received benefits before, so this is new to me.
I am entitled to (only) 9 months of pay-related benefit, and I definitely want (and will need) to claim the full 9 months, but I do not need or want to start it immediately.
I do not qualify for Jobseekers' Allowance (spouse earning & we're jointly assessed).

Ideally I would like to delay starting PRJB for a few months, for two reasons:
1. I am burnt out and exhausted, and I need a couple of months break before figuring out my work future. I do not want to sign that I'm seeking and available for work, because I am not capable. I hope I will be able for it after Christmas.
2. If I get PRJB payments in this calendar year, it will be liable for 40% tax, and we would have to pay a tax bill in 2026 from my benefits in 2025. It makes more sense (from tax pov) to me to start the 39 weeks of PRJB in January rather than now.

But the PRJB rules don't define what is considered "good cause" for not applying within 6 weeks of ceasing employment.
Also, it's also not clear to me if in applying you can choose not to have payments backdated to when employment ceased (but start the 39 weeks of payments later, on application).

The Intreo office said PRJB applications are handled and adjudicated centrally, not in the local office, and they do not know what would be considered a valid reason for late application, or how it would be handled.
I don't want to lie and say I'm available for work now, and I don't want to lose 40% of the value of the first 2 or 3 months of the payment. (Nor lose some of the 39 weeks payment)
I would like to delay starting the 39 weeks of PRJB till January.
I'm not trying to game the system, but I want both to be honest and to maximise the (meagre enough) entitlements I have contributed to for years.
The Citizens Advice centre could only refer to the published guidelines (which aren't clear on my query), and they do not know if others have successfully applied late, or been able to defer drawing down PRJB, so I'm hoping AAM might have some experience or advice!
(And thank you.)

 

[S class]

Pay related Jobseekers Benefit has a lot of awkward new rules.
Many of these new rules are discriminatory against full time employees.

Condition 2 is a nasty rule.
This is what causes the no more than 6 weeks delay problem.

To get around this you would need to take up a new employment for 4 weeks.

If you decide to delay and then get 4 Prsi contributions you need to be careful that you will then meet condition 3.

Also be aware that your total earnings for the 12 month period before your claim will be reduced. This might limit the amount of payments you would receive.

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"Condition 2:​

You must have paid at least 4 PRSI insurable employment contributions at Class A or H in the 10 weeks prior to making your application.

Condition 3:​

You must have paid at least 26 PRSI insurable employment contributions at Class A or H in the 52 weeks prior to your first day of unemployment."



You can get a class A Prsi contribution from an employment of minimum €38 euro per week. Could you get an employment of this type ?

Check this post

Key Post - PRSI and planning retirement

Is there any point several years from applying for contributory pension in getting homemaker credits and years spent in the US addressed on my and my wife’s statements? Or is that something we deal with on application? For the US years I believe our social security numbers and names of...

www.askaboutmoney.com

 

[NextStages]

Thank you @S class, that's a very interesting possibility to consider. (It's a lot to organise, to delay taking up an entitlement. PRJB does seem to have nasty rules.)
I don't feel up to work over the next few weeks, but if I could find a way to get employment for 4 weeks for €38 or so a week, paying Class A stamps, it would probably be part-time. (The post you linked is useful.)
Would it being part-time negate my entitlement to pay-related JB, and I might instead only get regular jobseekers' benefit? (IE Would the benefit be based on the most recent four weeks being part-time, after decades of full-time employment?)

I would meet condition 3 (26 weeks of stamps) I think, and would also still be within income requirement over 12 months for full PRJB.

The scheme is new, and seems to be administered centrally (in the department rather than local Intreo offices?)
Is there a sense yet about how sticky deciding officers are about late applications for PRJB? (Say, 13 or 14 weeks after employment finishes, rather than 6 weeks.) The rules seem to indicate you risk losing the entitlement if application is late.

 

[S class]

Would it being part-time negate my entitlement to pay-related JB, and I might instead only get regular jobseekers' benefit?

No, you would still be eligible for Pay related JB. Part time workers can be eligible for PRJB or JB. They will get whichever gives the highest payment.

I am aware of a person who had not worked for over 10 years (no Prsi contributions during that period) who then took up 26 weeks of part time employment @ €38 per week and qualified for PRJB.



As usual the wording by DSP is open to different interpretations.
It seems to imply that if a person managed to convince the deciding officer that they had good reason for delaying their claim, that their claim would then be awarded backdated to the date of their unemployment.

The highlighted part at the end also seems to imply that the claim has to be backdated to the origional unemployment date, as the 4 Prsi contributions in the previous 10 weeks rule must always be met.

If you managed to get an acceptable excuse for delaying your claim, you might run into another problem.

If you delayed to January 2026 and had your claim backdated to October 2025, would DSP provide data to revenue that the backdated payments should be included in your 2025 income.

Because you would be entitled to Prsi credits from your original unemployment date and these must be awarded during the actual payment weeks, in order to award you the correct number of credits you would need to have Jobseekers payments on your 2025 income record.

If this happens you will end up paying 40% PAYE.


These are the rules for PRJB Late claims

"A person can be unemployed up to 6 weeks before making their claim for Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit and the claim back-dated to the date of unemployment. However, if a person does not make their claim within the first 6 weeks of becoming unemployed and wishes to have their claim backdated to the date of unemployment, they must show ‘good cause’ for the delay in making their claim.
If a person makes a claim for Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit within a 6 month period of becoming unemployed, the claim will be examined under the late claims’ legislation.
A claim may be backdated for a maximum of 6 months where the person can prove to the satisfaction of the Deciding Officer or Appeals Officer that they satisfied the qualifying conditions throughout the period and that there was good cause for delay in making the claim.
If good cause is demonstrated, entitlement to Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit will be backdated to the date of unemployment provided that the person met the scheme conditions during that period.
Where there is no good cause and scheme conditions are not met then Jobseeker’s Pay- Related Benefit is not payable.
If a person does not meet the scheme conditions including have 4 contributions paid in the 10 weeks prior to making their claim, then Jobseeker’s Pay- Related Benefit is not payable."

 

[SWAT25]

You could apply for Illness Benefit and ask for that payment to be backdated to the date you finished work.....less the 5 days SSP. Then when you're ready to look for work you apply for JPRB.

JPRB works differently when a person moves from Illness Benefit. Not sure if I can post links yet as I had to rejoin as the email I registered with is an an old eircom.net account.

I suggest you look up JPRB operational guidelines.....specifically the section that deals with Jobseeker Pay-Related Benefit Interaction with other Social Protection Scheme.

Another point to note is a person has to be fully unemployed to qualify for JPRB. A person working part-time may only qualify for Casual Jobseekers Benefit or Casual Jobseekers Allowance.

If you were to get a job paying €38 pw to qualify for a Class A PRSI contribution this would be factored in when calculating the rate of JPRB. JPRB is calculated using 60% of previous earnings and the weekly earnings of €38 would bring that average down quite considerably.

To recap.....your best option is to apply for Illness Benefit now and apply for JPRB when you are fit for work, etc.

Hope this helps

 

[S class]

If you were to get a job paying €38 pw to qualify for a Class A PRSI contribution this would be factored in when calculating the rate of JPRB. JPRB is calculated using 60% of previous earnings and the weekly earnings of €38 would bring that average down quite considerably.

"We will calculate your weekly average gross earnings for the 12 months previous to the 8 weeks before you lost your employment. We will get this information directly from Revenue"

If @NextStages took part time employment for the last 4 weeks of 2025 @ €38 euro per week and claimed PRJB from January 2026. Their earnings from early November 2024 to early November 2025 are used to calculate their payments. If their earnings during this period are at least 39k, they would receive maximum PRJB payments.

 

[SWAT25]

Thanks for clarification.