Refusal for supplementary welfare ?Cant make ends meet.

I just recieved a letter from the HSE refusing my supplementary welfare claim. I cannot understand why they are refusing us.

Myself and my boyfriend are both unemployed. My stamps have run out so I am waiting for JA now, he is still on JB. We applied for supplementary welfare 3 months ago and just got the letter.

Our Mortgage interest per month is 961 euro-total mortgage is 1200.
We have a car loan of 320 euro per month.

We were making 406 euro per week(1624) per month. after bills it leaves us with 100 pm for food. We had a mortgage break for six months that ended nov and we have missed our payments since then.

I dont know what to do. Should we appeal.

The reason for refusal should be clearly stated on the letter you received.

If your income has changed since you applied for SWA (it sounds as if it did as you're no longer on JB yourself), you can re-apply to the CWO as your circumstances have changed. That may lead to a different decision, depending on the claim you made at the time.

We were making 406 euro per week(1624) per month.

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That is quite a lot of money for two people to live on if both are out of work.

You seem to feel that social welfare should cover your excessive car loan and mortgage which is clearly not the case.

Sell the car pronto.

Is supplementary benefit the same as mortgage interest supplement ? I presume this is what the OP applied for.

elcato said:

Is supplementary benefit the same as mortgage interest supplement ? I presume this is what the OP applied for.

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No, SWA is basically an emergency weekly payment by HSE while awaiting a decision on a Social Welfare claim. maybe OP can confirm that it was indeed SWA as stated or MIS tghat was refused?

Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) is the name of the overall scheme. There are different elements of the schem which form part of SWA:

- Basic SWA, a weekly payment for certain persons who have little or no income (e.g. as Welfarite said, persons waiting on SW payments).

- Supplements, which are payments made on a regular basis to supplement another payment for an ongoing need (e.g Rent or Mortgage Supplement)

- Exceptional Need Payments, which are once-off payments to assist with something unforeseen and exceptional which cannot be met from regular income (e.g. help with clothing, flood damage, etc).

A letter of refusal would probably include wording along the lines of "....refused Supplementary Welfare Allowance", irrespective of the specific type of application made (weekly basic payment, rent supplement etc).

You were probably turned down cos HSE consider the interest too high for your circumstances at 221.76 euro per week. You should definitely appeal that decision in writing outlining your outgoings versus your income including loans - financial hardship . Appeals take 6 to 8 weeks or more depending on where you live. Worse case, You could ask them to pay the amount they do consider reasonable for you.

You could also ask the lending institution to consider 'interest only' repayments to relieve the pressure.

Failing that do pay something towards your mortgage to show willing rather than completely stopping repayments altogether.

A

try the st vincent de paul for some help you mightnt get much but it could help, is it through the community welfare officer you applied for the supplemenary allowance