moving from UK to Ireland next year ?

we are planning to move back home next year, new house built and paid for sitting empty in the Midlands.
At the moment, we are both getting cold feet with the way the work situation is heading in Ireland. my husband is a carpenter and i have my own cleaning and gardening business so we do quite well here. planning to rent out our house in London rather than selling.
if we move to Ireland and then cant find any work, would we be entitled to claim any kind of benefits from the UK or maybe claim in Ireland. we have been paying our tax and NI contributions for over 20 years in the UK and have 2 children aged 9 and 8.
Any advice/guidance appreciated please.

Welcome,

AFAIK we have a cross water agreement when it comes to welfare benefits.

You might find more here - [broken link removed]

Not the best time to be changing your Sterling to Euro

Havealaugh, thank you for your response, lots of useful information in the link provided. Neither of us have ever claimed a day of benefits in either country so we haven't a clue about our entitlements. Just want to educate ourselves on what we may be entitled to if the worst scenario happens and we cant find any work in Ireland. Really do want to move over next year as we want to settle the children and really keen to send them to local Convent school. Secondary schools here in London have become a nightmare, there is now a policeman on duty all day in every school in our borough ! and even scanners checking the kids for knives so got to get out for my sanity!

i moved back a few years ago no children so not that difficult. you dont say how long you have been away.

there is a website called move to ireland .com, run by a usa person but a small charge to join.

to claim benefits here you must work for at least 1 week and then you can claim based on your uk contributions. you cant just leave the job ie it cant be voluntary.

keeeping house in uk is a good idea, I would say the best thing about Ireland is bringing up children here apart from that there's not a lot, everything is more expesnive apart from petrol/diesel. Work situation is getting bad in buidding trade ie very bad, good openings in gardening if good price.

naoh

I don't intend to sound discouraging but I think this is a really bad idea just now. Economically Ireland has slowed down a lot, many people have lost their jobs, especially in construction. I'd say carpentry is particularly badly affected, and because Ireland is so small, the effects are felt much quicker than in the UK.

I'm sorry to say you and your partner, might very likely not find work here, despite your best efforts. A lot of jobs in Ireland are got through contacts and word of mouth, and being out of Ireland for years means you're at a disadvantage straight away.

The credit crunch is here, so my advice is if you have a job, small business or cash flow income of any kind do not give it up under any circumstances. Unless you're planning to retire, downshift your life, etc..... Far away hills, even the ones in Ireland, are not always greener.

It might not be a bad idea to consider a year or 2 out in Australia as an option as trades work is in greater demand. It may not be ireland but your kids wont be checked for knives on the way to school

Noah, been away 22 years so actually at this stage have spent longer in the UK than Ireland.
My other fear is that once the children reach secondary school age, it is very difficult to then get them to move away. Everything is such a big deal when they become teenagers.
We are actually open to doing any kind of work, anything that keeps the wolf from the door! We will have no mortgage in Ireland so that is a big plus but we do not want to be subbing our wages with our savings. I do also want a different environment / lifestyle at this point in my life (just turned 40). Going forward long term, we would hope that we would be ok financially if we sell our main home in London in say 10+ years time and we have a substantial buy to let portfolio as well which we can flog. so I guess my concerns are really based on the short term over the next 5-10 years by which stage the children will probably want to go to college in the UK ! its a vicious circle and I have grown very tired of London and my feet have got very itchy.

mooney76, i have absolutely no desire or need to go to Australia at this point. i just haven't got the drive to even consider that option, anyway my husband is soon to be 48 so i think we would be over the age limit maybe.

You (or/and hubby) would be able to claim Jobseeker's Allowance straight away (without working here first). See www.welfare.ie fopr more information on this.

Welfarite, thank you, i will study the website mentioned so i can clarify in my mind the way forward because once i leave London, I really dont want to have to go back to live there. this would be a final move for our family.