Early retirement and social welfare

Fisherman

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If I take early retirement at 64 will I be entitled to any social welfare for the remaining 2 years to state pension
 
Jobseekers benefit after a waiting period of 9 weeks till you are 66.
 
If you wait until you are 65 you can claim Jobseekers Benefit for the full year until you reach 66.
There is a concession for persons aged 65 signing on - the 9 month rule isn't applied.
The concession won't apply if you sign on at age 64.
 
I presume to qualify for Jobseeker's, even at 65, you have to be seeking a job?

No, from the 1st January 2014:

"The Department of Social Protection is putting new administrative provisions in place to ease the transition from the labour force into retirement. From 1 January 2014, if you are claiming Jobseeker’s Benefit or Allowance and are aged 62 or over, the following will apply:

You will no longer be required to engage with the activation process and you will not be subject to penalty rates for non-engagement
You can voluntarily avail of a range of supports (for example, training or employment support programmes) from the Department of Social Protection"
 
I doubt they would be hassled as much as a 20 year old in all fairness.
 
Just to note if you take early retirement you do not have to wait 9 weeks for jobseekers benefit.
 
A person could sign on for a class contributions or if a public or civil servant they can sign for wops.
 
Firstly, thanks for all your replies and interest shown.....

Wont 'look a gift horse in the mouth', but why do they allow you to draw JB if you effectively leave your job and have a pension.

I presume if you pension was large enough to pay tax on, the JB would be taxable .
 
why do they allow you to draw JB if you effectively leave your job and have a pension.

JSB is not a means tested payment, but you must be genuinely seeking and looking for work to claim it.
 
If you wait until you are 65 you can claim Jobseekers Benefit for the full year until you reach 66.
There is a concession for persons aged 65 signing on - the 9 month rule isn't applied.
The concession won't apply if you sign on at age 64.

So what would happen if you started claiming JB in say February aged 64 yrs and then turned 65 in the August having only claimed 6 months benefit.

My understanding of the new rule is that if you are claiming JB and turned 65 while still claiming it that they will continue to pay you JB until you reach pension age. I could be wrong but that is how I read it.
 
I had a look at the operational guidelines and it's not 100% clear, but you may be right. The guidelines appear to say that if there is an entitlement to JB on the 65th birthday, it will be extended to 66.
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Jobseekers-Benefit.aspx

If a person signed on at age 64 they might exhaust their entitlement before age 65.

That is exactly my understanding of it, as I was facing the same situation until I discovered the 'earnings related' clause, which made JSA a better option in my case,

This is from the State Pension info

If you are getting Jobseeker's Benefit (JB) and are aged between 65 and 66 when your JB would normally end, you may continue to receive it until the age of 66, provided you meet the PRSI requirements.
 
So for the OP the best thing to do is to wait until he is 64 and 3 months, he applies for JB which he is entitled to for 9 months (less 9 weeks I guess) and then at 65 because he is already on JB it will continue until he reaches retirement.

Have I got that right. Because of the 9 week rule, maybe he should be 64 and 1 month?

It's awfully complicated these rules.

Gipeman, what is the 'activation' process?
 
Activation is where jobseekers are directed towards training or education with a view to getting the jobseeker back into the workforce. Failure to engage in activation can result in reduced payment.
 
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