Was I entitled to social welfare?

J

jim

Registered User
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Hi,

I quit my job in the UK in mid January 2014 and started a new job in Ireland in mid March 2014.

1. Could I have been claiming social welfare for those 2 months and if so;

2. Which country should I have claimed it in?

3. And finally, can I retrospectively claim it?

Thanks,
Jim
 
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I imagine you claim it where you live. And there is an EU agreement that allows it to be transferred to another country. In Irealand there is a penalty if you 'quit' your job rather than being fired. I think it's 9 weeks - check social welfare.ie.

I'd say you've no hope of retrospective claims, you need to sign on practically immediately. But the social welfare website is your first port of call, Citizen's advice might also help you.

Is the UK tax year Jan to Jan or or still April to April - you may be in line for tax back.
 
Ideally you would have claimed it in the UK before you left and transferred your payment over here, however if you quit your job there is a 9 week exclusion period here so not sure if same applies in UK in which case you wouldn't have qualified for it anyway.
 
Interestingly, I phone my local tax office just now. The first lady I spoe to said I wouldnt be able to retrospectively claim then she asked me to go on hold....a few minutes later a man came on the phone and said that if I had been looking to retrospectively claim going back 6 months then possibly I could have it back dated...then he went on to say that it is discretionary and that potentially if I supply the various documents someone might take the view that it is ok to ack-date.

All in all a mixed bag of responses over the course of 3 minute call! The mind boggles.
 
Be very surprised if social welfare would backdate that far and especially if you left a job as opposed to being made redundant, worth a try I suppose.
 
Definitly worth a try.

The way I see it though, if they can back date taxes owed (and rightly so) - why not back date social welfare entitlements within reason especially when I was genuinely entitled to this but simply neglected to claim it due to not been aware of the entitltment.
 
I don't believe for one minute you'll get social welfare. You've already talked to two people in social welfare and the two of them were not singing off the same hymn sheet. Was this an Irish social welfare office? What documents do they want?
 
Yes Irish social welfare office.

They want a variety of docs including id, proof of address, p60, p45 or equivelent, bank statements, mortage statsmenyt (dont have and not relevant) and details of health insurance (dont know if its relevant).

I will be surprised if I get it back dated but at the same time I was entitled to it and they have said in exceptional circumstances they do back date it. Why are you so sure it wont be backdated?
 
The following paragraph is taken from the operational guidelines on Jobseekers Benefit. There is a similar paragraph in the operational guidelines on Jobseeker's Allowance.

(c) Late Claims
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 s/he satisfied the qualifying conditions throughout the period and that there was good cause for delay in making the claim.
Circumstances which may constitute 'good cause' for a delay in making a claim are not defined in legislation and Deciding Officers must decide each individual case on its merits.
In all cases, without exception, the maximum period that a claim may be back-dated in this way is 6 months.

It is possible you may have your claim backdated. It will be up to you to satisfy the Department that you met the qualifying conditions, and there was a good reason for not making the claim on time. The fact that there is no general rule and each case is decided on its own merits may explain the conflicting information you received.

You will also have to satisfy the general conditions for Jobseekers Benefit (PRSI-contribution based) or Jobseeker's Allowance (means-tested), and for Jobseeker's Allowance, you have to meet Habitual Residence Conditions.
 
firstly you need to pay an a con in ireland (even for one week) and become unemployed in ireland to then transfer your contributions from uk to make jobseekers benefit claim in ireland or the other option would have been that you made your claim in uk and then transfered your benefit to ireland.
the other option would have been to make a jobseekers allowance claim which is a means tested payment and can be subject to the habitual residence condition which is probably why they requested so much information ,bank statements ,mortgage statement etc also you would have to show that you lived in ireland during your time of unemployment and prove that you were actively seeking work ,and then there is the fact that you chose to leave your job .
 
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